BRICS Promotes Cultural Diversity in Contrast to Western Marginalization

BRICS is a forum for cultural exchange, while the West remains excluded due to its insistence that only Western cultures and civilisations are important, Russian philosopher, political scientist and sociologist Alexander Dugin said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Thursday.

"BRICS is a dialogue of cultures. Speaking of it, we are already talking about this completely new multipolar model where there is no West... while it is out of the game because it insists that there are no cultures or civilisations, there is only one Western civilisation, and it is the only one. That is why the BRICS countries oppose this hegemony, this racist colonial approach," Dugin emphasized during the meeting of the BRICS Expert Forum.

The philosopher described the alliance as the "unity of the different", underlying the many contrasts between its member nations: between the Islamic world and India, the Chinese and the Islamic model, India and China, Africa and the Islamic world, and Russia, characterised by its Orthodox tradition, which embodies a different set of values.

Yet all these nations share a common foundation of civilisation based on traditional values, whilst the West, according to him, imposes non-traditional values and believes that antitraditional worth should be the only one.

He highlighted the bloc as the embodiment of a multipolar world, reflecting a rich tapestry of civilisations and cultures.

"A multipolar world of different actors, civilisations and cultures is emerging before our eyes. BRICS is the fundamental movement towards the institutionalisation of this multipolar world that is taking place before our eyes and is already a multipolar world in its embodiment. But the BRICS group is not just countries, but great civilisations that include a number of countries," Dugin underscored.

Dugin stressed that the primary essence of the group nations and their cultural discourse revolves around mutual comprehension, presenting it as the fundamental philosophical dilemma within their cultural exchange.

"The main message and the cultural basis of BRICS dialogue is to understand each other. This is the main philosophical problem of our cultural dialogue," Dugin highlighted.

Meanwhile, on 1 January, Russia assumed the role of BRICS chair for the coming year, bringing together new members such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia with existing members such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Russia's leadership within the organisation is guided by a commitment to strengthening multilateralism to promote equitable global development and security.

During its tenure, the Russian Federation has organised a wide range of over 200 political, economic and public events. Earlier, Russia's sous-sherpa in BRICS, Pavel Knyazev, expected 20-25 countries to attend the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Council in Nizhny Novgorod.

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