The dangerous unipolar drift

JAVIER GARCIA

We are witnessing a creepy world drift. The non-acceptance by the United States of its decline as a global hegemonic power is stressing the planet to unimaginable extremes.

The so-called “Thucydides trap”, which describes the tendency of a hegemonic power to go to war when it is threatened by an emerging one, is fully developing before our eyes with all its devastating consequences.

The hegemon, which considers itself threatened, displays its most sinister face both internally and externally: censorship, suffocating manipulation of media messages, single discourse, maximum use of fear as a political weapon.

And the worst thing is that the emerging power -in this case China, along with others also emerging, but of lesser strength- does not represent any threat to anyone.

After a hundred years of Western domination, China has achieved a formidable increase in the level of well-being of its citizens and has eliminated 70% of poverty worldwide. What seems to be unforgivable. It does not matter that he has repeated that he has no intention of occupying the position of the United States, nor does he have the intention of imposing anything or dominating anyone. It does not matter that everything in its history, its culture, its philosophical tradition, its way of being or its interests tell us that what it wants is to continue developing and trading in peace with everyone in a multipolar world.

It is a threat, not only because economically and in many other areas it will soon surpass the US, but because it defines itself as "communist", simply because of that. From the perspective of Western elites, a communist model - no matter how free market and capitalist it may be - can never be an example for the rest of the planet and the global south. It has to represent something bad, no matter how well it goes.

We must be aware that we are talking about 1.400 billion people - a fifth of the world's population - who, with great effort and for the first time in their history, have managed to leave poverty behind and experience a kind of rebirth. An evolution that, instead of congratulating us, seems to have to be stopped in its tracks and reversed at any price. If the Chinese continued to live in the misery into which they fell after the first Western intervention with the opium wars, they would not matter to us and they would not be a threat to anyone. But since they have managed to get out of the well, they must be sunk again.

The hegemonic power, instead of solving its serious internal problems and collaborating in resolving the urgent challenges facing the world, has plunged Europe into a totally unnecessary war, also embarking it on a renewed arms race that forces it to spend what it would need to most pressing needs. It is clear that Putin is primarily responsible for the invasion, but it is also clear that he has been gradually and intentionally led into a dead end.

Everything seems to indicate that this war, already very dangerous in itself, is the prelude to preparing an even greater conflict with China, whose main features are being outlined.

Europe has abandoned any pretense of strategic autonomy and is closing ranks with Washington, following it closely, despite the devastating consequences that the war in Ukraine is having and will have on the continent. The result is that a ghost runs through the heads and hearts of European citizens: fear, a basic ingredient in the breeding ground of fascism, which never stops growing.

The inhabitants of the world attend these events with a mixture of stupor and shock. Some politicians even normalize nuclear war and already talk about it as if they were going to buy bread. Without noticing the colossal catastrophe that would be for everyone, without exception.

What alternative do we have to this dangerous drift. There seems to be only one: the acceptance by more and more countries and people that a new multipolar world configuration is possible, without hegemonic powers. A world where nobody imposes their will on others, where all countries can interact without trying to expand their models, their ideas or their forms of social organization.

That alternative also involves recognizing that Western domination of the world for at least the last two centuries is coming to an end. That it has had positive aspects, but also negative ones and that Western values ​​do not have to be universal or applicable to the entire planet. Nothing happens, we can continue living as we want and continue promoting our values ​​from a position of equal to equal, not superior. Nobody threatens them. But if we want a world where we can all live together in peace, we will have to put into practice a great desire to learn and a good dose of humility.

Javier García is a journalist. He has been head of correspondents in the Middle and Far East, Latin America, Europe and Africa, as well as a special envoy to different war conflicts. Currently, he is a professor of Journalism at Renmin University in Beijing. His last book is China, threat or hope.