In his final press conference at the conclusion of the BRICS Summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva described to reporters, several times, what the BRICS is all about: a “totally new” process of cooperation between nations to create a shared future, based on respect for the sovereignty, equality and development of each and all of their members. If Europeans and Americans would listen to what President Lula said, they might begin to realize how much they could gain, if their nations would stop barking orders at everybody else, and instead join this great BRICS work in progress.
“The world has changed. We don’t want an emperor. We are sovereign nations,” President Lula replied, when a reporter informed him of President Donald Trump’s threat to impose another 10% tariff on any nation “aligning” with the BRICS. “This is a set of countries that wants to find another way of organizing the world from an economic standpoint.” The basic principle is: “Each country is the owner of its own nose,” he said, using a familiar Brazilian saying.
Lula elaborated the principle guiding the BRICS process most simply in response to the last question of the press conference: no pre-set recipes or rules, just basic principles. As he put it:
