A quarrel between friends

Reaching far back in time (to 20,000 BC), the Colombian President volleyed: "The white, Aryan societies in the USA and Europe are unwilling to acknowledge that existing and living on this planet will require the transformation of a fossil fuel-based economy founded on death and profit."

Petro contended that for the Global North, migration had become a more important problem than the climate crisis: "Today, votes are being won in the North by adopting an anti-migration stance. (…) Why is migration the issue? Because the electorates in those countries, which belong to the G20 and the Global North and which generate large amounts of CO₂, are largely "Aryan". 

Emmanuel was not pleased, and riposted with a raised index finger: "It is a bit strange to be lectured by someone from the South, just because he comes from the South. And I demand respect. (…) I cannot for a moment see how we will arrive at a common agenda based on your narrative and your paradigm. (…) There are politicians in Europe who very strongly oppose the extreme right." 

We can only hope that the two friends have made up and, above all, that this episode has no greater implications. That would be a geopolitical disaster. Considering that Kimxipu(tin) are still setting themselves up as the true spokespersons for the Global South, and that the USA will at best remain an illiberal democracy, Europe and the democracies of the Global South need to close ranks. It is only in such a constellation that we can still conceive of a multilateralism that encompasses democracy, human rights and the peaceful coexistence of peoples. And such democracies are to be found mainly in Latin America. 

To this end, however, Europe, including Switzerland, needs to reach out to these countries. In tax matters, for example, or regarding a topic that the Gustavo Petro Government has placed on the international agenda, namely a UN convention on the raw materials needed for the energy transition. At the United Nations Environment Assembly in December, Colombia plans to table a resolution so that negotiations on a binding agreement can proceed. 

As Alliance Sud illustrated in its recent publication "The New Deal", and as Emmanuel Mbolela also underlines in his article, it is of the utmost importance, in making the just transition, to avoid a repeat of the resource curse in the case of transition minerals. We may well quarrel loudly over this, but we must reach agreement.
 

Andreas Missbach, Managing Director of Alliance Sud, attended the UN Conference on Financing for Development in Seville as a member of Switzerland's official delegation.