Speaker, it is clear to us all, on this first day of spring in 2011, that the international arrangement of power and wealth is shifting dramatically. The world in 2011 is moving inexorably from the economic dominance of the Western countries in the 20th century to a new economic reality, with the big emerging countries - China, India and Brazil - at the centre of this shift.
With this shift in economic power, is there a concomitant shift in the power of different ideas, of a different value system, of a different set of international principles? Is there equally a shift towards a world that is more people-centred and more principled? If so, what role is South Africa playing in this shift? What is our role here in changing ideas across the globe, in creating the world that we aspire to in our Constitution?
South Africa's foreign policy since the ANC-led government was elected to power in 1994 has been guided by a set of principles that form the backbone of the ANC policy; formed and refined over a hundred years of struggle for a better world for all of us to live in. From the formation of our organisation in 1912, to the remarkable Africans' Claims document - that powerful and foresighted statement of human rights - adopted at the 1943 ANC conference, then to the Freedom Charter, and ultimately to our South African Constitution - South Africans, as represented by the ANC, have sought to express a particular world view.
It is a world view that seeks to advance human dignity, equality and opportunity for all. As an internationalist organisation, we seek this for our own people, and we seek nothing less for the peoples of the world. It is these principles and values, now enshrined in our Constitution, and agreed upon as a nation, that we need to apply and promote at home and also abroad as an international citizen.
Our government describes the principles that underpin our international relations as a commitment to the promotion of human rights; the promotion of democracy; justice and international law in the conduct of relations between nations; a commitment to international peace; to internationally agreed-upon mechanisms for the resolution of conflicts; to the promotion of the African agenda in world affairs; and an economic development through regional and international co-operation in an interdependent world.
We have, as a country, indicated our readiness to play a role in world affairs since 1994 and, most recently, through securing a seat on the United Nations Security Council; through membership of various international and regional multilateral bodies and forums and including, of course, the African Union, AU, the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa economic agreement, Brics, and SADC.
We have also taken on leadership roles in organs of these bodies, such as our chairing of the Peace and Security Council of the AU, and chairing SADC and many more. All these roles serve to signal our willingness to play on the world stage. We are thus positioned to participate in an international discourse on all the big issues that confront the world and, in so doing, to promote our principles and values.
We take a stand on conflict across the globe and on difficult international issues. So we should, if we wish to be a player and if we seek to make the world the better place that we aspire to. We must continue to articulate our county's positions on all the world's intransigent problems, on all the difficult conflicts, and in all those forgotten areas where democracy and human rights are undermined, such as in the Western Sahara.
We have a particular world view, with human dignity at the centre. We should understand our principles as our own, and we must apply them equally in all our international engagements. In a recent article in Business Day a commentator identifies two groupings in this country. One group thinks everything that the Western countries do is right by definition and is good by definition. The other group believes that everything that the Western countries do is by definition wrong. The truth is, as usual, somewhere in between!
We should be proud of our beliefs as South Africans, that we have taken decisions as a country that is independent and often unpopular with those whose interests are not served by our decisions. Equally, we should not allow ourselves to be influenced to go against our own principles in order to be popular.
Is there a shift in the world towards a new way of doing things? Will the new emerging world order reflect more closely our own set of values and principles? Will the world be a better place in the 21st century? The Africans' Claims document, to which I referred earlier, was developed in response to the Atlantic Charter. That charter was developed in 1941, in the midst of a world war and in the context of Nazi tyranny, and it called for an end to that tyranny. The Africans' Claims' response to this charter was to support the campaign against Nazi tyranny, but it also called for all forms of tyranny, including racial tyranny across the world, to be destroyed.
Through this Africans' Claims document and the Bill of Rights that was developed alongside it, our ANC leadership said that only then:
... shall there be established peace which will afford all peoples and races the means of dwelling in safety, within their own boundaries, and which will afford the assurances that all men in all lands shall live out their lives in freedom from fear, want and oppression.
Of course, this was 1943, and they did not mean all men; they meant all people. These were the foresighted thoughts and desires of our leaders in 1943. So, how far has the world moved towards their vision almost 70 years later? At the least I believe we can say these matters are now on the agenda of the world bodies at every level.
In this changed world in which we find ourselves, is there now a new opportunity to promote and influence the way the world thinks and acts in the protection of human dignity? How will the shift in economic power provide us with the opportunity to shift the world's way of thinking about our common humanity? Do we need new ideas? Most certainly I believe we do, but we also need our old values and principles at home and abroad.
We, as parliamentarians and international activists, have a role to play in this shift. For example, we are present at all the world's major forums. Our road to democracy and our recent history is admired by all, and we have a Constitution that is universally acclaimed. Are we using these advantages to make our voice heard and place our principles and values on the world agenda? Maybe, but I think not loudly enough. Thank you very much.