Speaker, in The Second Coming, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote:
... the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world; the blood-dimmed tide is loosed; everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
In the world today, the centre is no longer holding. Anarchy is therefore beginning to manifest itself, as we saw in the streets of London recently and in the mindless massacre in Norway. A spectre of such anarchy has also been witnessed in our country. In recent months, South Africa joined Brazil, Russia, India and China, the Bric, countries. Brics represent more than 40% of the world's population. Its combined gross domestic product, GDP, accounted for only 18% of the global total last year.
Obviously Brics is keen to alter this status quo. It is clear that the redistribution of both power and wealth in the global context will have to occur. This requires that the formulation of an international agenda is henceforth democratised and decentralised.
At present, the developed world has had near monopoly on creating the agendas for the world. Notwithstanding this, they failed to conclude the Doha Round of talks which was so important to world trade. Developed countries have been unwilling to respond to the challenges posed by increasing global integration. They have demanded market access, but continued to subsidise and protect their own agriculture. This distortion has had a negative impact on Africa. The growth of the Chinese and Indian economies will, of necessity, begin to upset the apple cart. The proliferation of literature on the subject testifies to this.
Since World War II, the economic agenda has been set primarily by one country, that is, the USA. The recent failure of its financial institutions and the toxic bonds that they sold to banks of other nations resulted in the economic meltdown we are now witnessing.
Meanwhile, globalisation and accelerating climate change have been exerting pressures on commodity prices. Therefore, food prices have continued to rise. The economic security of middle class workers was put into jeopardy. The situation of the poor has worsened as a result of the loss of manufacturing capacity and agricultural output. We in South Africa and other countries in Africa have experienced this.
A total overhaul of the economic multilateral institutions has to occur. The developing nations, in partnership with Brics, can ensure that a new centre of gravity arises with an important role for them within the new formation. The Bretton Woods Accord will have to be urgently revised to involve fully new role-players and to create a new agenda which the world can possess as the product of a new consensus. For the first time, we are seeing entire nations, and developed nations at that, standing on the brink of bankruptcy.
Economic power equates to political power. Africa has the potential to become economically and politically powerful. It has to support democratisation and achieve cohesion to become a force for good. As the continent has not been able to do this effectively, it has not been able to impact on the very international agendas that directly affect it. The situation that is playing out in Libya indicates continental impotence, which has allowed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Nato, to call the shots.
The situation in North Africa and the Middle East is explosive. The tolerance of people for dictatorship is ending. Young people using social media are beginning to demand a right to decision-making. Beginning with the Arab Spring, young people have started to put their bodies on the line to alter the manner in which political power is generated and exercised. The international agenda for poverty, famine and unemployment has to be formulated democratically among the nations of the world.
Not since World War II have so many people begun to worry so much about the future. Not since then have so many people become so agitated with the failure of political leadership. Revolt and rebellion are becoming frequent occurrences. The social contract, whereby people ceded some of their sovereign power to their respective governments in exchange for stability, security and prosperity, has not been honoured by governments. The monopolisation of power and wealth is what is causing the fury against politicians that is now manifesting itself.
In conclusion, the guarantee of civil liberty arises from eternal vigilance, the enforcement of accountability and transparency. An activist population with a culture of heightened citizen democracy will now have to prevail for nation states to remain intact. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]