“Italy wake up!” was the strong message launched at the event on the BRICS and the New Silk Road organized by the newborn “Independence” political movement in Italy. Before a packed room at the Rome Chamber of Commerce, international guests invited by Independence foreign policy speaker Michele Geraci offered a comprehensive picture of why it is in the national interest of Italy to stop supporting NATO wars and instead build a bridge between Europe and the BRICS/Belt and Road Initiative.
National chairman Massimo Arlechino introduced the Independence Movement (they do not call themselves a party yet), explaining that it was born out of the experience of the Comitato Fermare la Guerra (Stop the War Committee), which mobilized in 2022-2023 (see briefing Aug. 1, 2023) and backed the Vatican peace efforts.
Geraci then introduced the speakers: Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University; Marcos Prado Troyjo, New Development Bank President 2020-2023 and former Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of Brazil; Professor Zhang Yanyu, Political Counselor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Italy; Marco Carnelos, former Italian Ambassador to Iraq and Government Diplomatic Advisor; Gianni Alemanno, National Secretary of the “Independence!” Movement.
Notably, Geraci greeted representatives of the U.S. and the Russian embassies who were among the audience.
Jeffrey Sachs, via video from Singapore, exposed the false narrative on which the U.S. anti-China and anti-Russia policy is based and the “mismanagement” of the EU foreign policy and of the EU’s own economic policy, after which Geraci presented the facts showing that the Italian decision to exit the Belt and Road was wrong. Troyjo gave some figures on the BRICS countries, while Carnelos reminded that “we can forget the Middle East, but the Middle East won’t forget us.” “There are no shortcuts” to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, said Carnelos, exposing the fact that so far, the international community has only looked for shortcuts, including the Abraham agreements.
Last, Independence National Secretary (in Italy the party secretary is the leader) Gianni Alemanno drew conclusions. The Italian political debate has ignored the BRICS, he said, as if they did not exist. With this meeting, we say “wake up.” We are living through a piecemeal Third World War, as the Pope said. Europe is in a global recession. We have a war in the Middle East. There is a connection among these issues, and it is the wrong perception behind them.
Meanwhile the BRICS reality is becoming stronger, it expands. A new hegemonic bloc? No, because what is fascinating about them is that they are not a uniform reality, it is not one single model that claims to be exported like we do. The Chinese, Indian, Russia, Brazilian models are all different, so much so that their capacity to make different choices, respectful of sovereignty and diversity, is their banner.
