Tragedy of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and the Future of BRICS

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in Ukraine yesterday. All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 were killed in the resulting plane crash. It is not yet known as to who is responsible but signs are pointing towards the Eastern Ukraine separatists. Russia supports the separatists in many ways including supplying them with military equipment.

Earlier this week the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) announced the formation of the BRICS Bank. The purpose of the bank is to provide funds in the manner of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The hope is that the BRICS Bank will impose fewer conditions attached to funding. Moreover, it is felt that the Bretton Woods institutions are controlled by western governments and serve the interests of USA, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Japan.

BRICS is a loose grouping of emerging countries. They are considered emerging because they are experiencing tremendous economic growth despite having not achieved the development levels of North America, Western Europe, and Japan. Economic growth brings new challenges.

The relationship between BRICS and North America and Western Europe is nuanced. One of the reasons Western Europe is finding it difficult to punish Russia for interference in Ukraine is that Europe depends on Russia for energy supply. Similarly, USA criticizes China of human rights violations but American corporations are moving their manufacturing plants to China to reduce production costs. Further, American corporations are outsourcing technical support centers and software development to India. Western corporations are investing heavily in Brazil and South Africa.  

BRICS have a growing middle class that has an increasing appetite for consumerism. Resources are needed to feed this consumerism. BRICS are in full drive in developing countries befriending governments by funding projects in exchange for resources. Here are some examples.

Brazil is getting coal from Mozambique and building a railway through Malawi and Mozambique that will be used to transport the coal to the nearest Indian Ocean port en route to Brazil. India is extending credit to Malawi in exchange for exports from India to Malawi. China has built a parliament and a conference center in Malawi and is now building a football stadium and electricity generation stations. In exchange, China is getting different types of minerals from Malawi. South Africa owned companies are building shopping malls in Malawi. In exchange, Malawi buys many products from South Africa. Russia sells military equipment to many African countries including many that were friends of the Soviet Union. Similar relations are being established between the BRICS and many developing countries all over the world.

Developing countries have various leadership types ranging from very democratic to dictatorial. Some of the governments have bad human rights records. Moreover, some of these governments mismanage their funds. BRICS funding is preferred by these governments because it has no strings attached. Funds are made available regardless of poor human rights records, rampant corruption, and currencies that are not aligned to actual trade.

But what is the future of BRICS? Economic growth rates in all BRICS countries have cooled down in recent years. Each of the BRICS countries has hosted major international sporting events recently that resulted in backlash. And now Russia seems to be linked to the shooting of a civilian aircraft. Is the shooting of this plane to Russia what the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie was to Libya? These BRICS problems may derail the lofty goals of BRICS. And if BRICS are unable to achieve their goals then the rest of the developing world may go down with them.

End of innocence: FIFA World Cup and Poverty

Let me start by paying my respects to my mother-in-law who passed away on Tuesday July 1 in Blantyre. Mrs. Lucy-Jesse Nakhomba Manondo was in her early 90s. Thanks to her for giving birth to my beautiful wife Tambudzai and all her sisters and brothers. Above all, I am fortunate that I have never had in-law problems as she loved and accepted me in her home.

Before going into this week’s topic, let me congratulate the Malawi Netball Team for being ranked first in Africa and fifth in the world. Malawi women are outstanding and represent both the country and the continent very well.

On July 6, 2014 Malawi celebrated the 50th anniversary of independence from Britain. Independence celebrations in Malawi always end with a football match between the Malawi Men’s National Football team against another country’s national team. This year’s match was against neighboring Mozambique. It ended in a 1-1 tie. This is a great improvement over the result of the match played 52 years ago whose result was Ghana 12, Malawi 0. But it is a step back from the golden days of the 1970s and 1980s. The Daily Times of Malawi carried a good history of Malawi football on July 6.

The dark days of the 1960s in Malawi football were erased by a Brazilian coach named Wander Moreira who brought the beautiful game to Malawi taking the Malawi team to the final in its very first competitive regional tournament of the Confederation of Eastern and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA) which Malawi lost to Kenya in 1975. Malawi became champion of the tournament two years in a row a few years later under a British coach named Powell. Malawi played the Brazilian brand of football because of Moreira. I grew up loving the Brazil National Team as a result. Although Malawi had no television, I read about mesmerizing plays by the great Brazil teams of 1970 and 1982.

For those of you who are not very familiar with football, there are many brands of the game. In those days especially, different countries had distinct football identities. The Dutch played a type called “total football”. The Spanish adopted the Dutch "total football" and called it “tiki-taka”. The Italian game was the least exciting as it involved the whole team standing near their own goal to prevent conceding goals. The inventors of the game, the English, had a big person standing near the opponent goal and the rest of the team kicked long shots to this big player hoping he will outmuscle the defending team and score. The Germans played efficient business-like football. But the Brazilians played the “beautiful” game. They were creative and artistic as they played. And this is the brand of football that Moreira brought to Malawi.

The years of youth are full of innocence. When one grows up one discovers that the world is not perfect. Heroes become villains. Rich versus poor becomes a divide that prevents people from playing together. The FIFA World Cup is in Brazil this year. The Brazil National Team is not even attempting to play a semblance of the “beautiful” game. Players are rarely playing stylishly. When touched in the slightest, they fall and writhe in false pain to fool the referee into awarding free kicks. They foul the opponents shamelessly. I have to accept that the “beautiful” game is dead. But this death has not happened suddenly.

Brazil spent an estimated 14 billion United States Dollars on the 2014 FIFA World Cup. There were demonstrations all over Brazil prior to the start of the tournament. Many people wondered whether spending such large amounts of money on hosting a major international sports event instead of solving problems of poverty, education, and healthcare is wise. Anybody who has seen pictures of the favelas of Brazil will understand this confliction. Countries that win the bid to host major international sports events always include the misleading information that the event will benefit poor people. But past host countries have not seen benefits accrue to the poor. This is especially true when the host country is not a highly developed country. Recent examples are Athens, Greece 2004 Olympics through Beijing, China 2008 Olympics to South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup. Is it karma that Brazil’s “beautiful” game has died at a time when Brazil is spending enormous amounts of money at the expense of her poor?

Much as I love football, Malawi needs to prioritize combating poverty and not football. My ambivalence on spending on football arises from the fact that although football has been the poor people’s sports for the past 50 or so years, it is being spoilt by FIFA and other greedy elements. But then I digress. Let me return to the topic of Malawi’s independence. Malawi’s independence is only political as 40% of the country’s budget is funded by foreign governments or institutions. As Malawi celebrates 50 years of independence, there is need to find ways of becoming fiscally independent. A former politician, Sam Mpasu, recently corrected myths and gave clarification on how this independence can be achieved. Only when economic independence is achieved will Malawi take care of its poor.

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