South Africa is no stranger to hosting statesmen and government leaders whose repressive policies at home are well documented. Mohammed al-Bashir (Sudan) and Andry Rajoelina (Madagascar), amongst others, were all guests of our government in the past. The latest examples will be arriving for the G20 Leaders’ Summit to be held on 22 and 23 November 2025 in Johannesburg. Those complicit in the genocidal campaign of the Israeli government against Palestine are due to attend: Meloni of Italy, Macron of France, Starmer of Britain and von der Leyen (EU). Others on the guest list are despots like Mohammed Bin Salman (crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and a BRICS+ member) as well as right-wing Trump admirer Narendra Modi of India. These political miscreants will all be paraded as dignified statesmen and women at great expense to the host country.

The summit slogan of Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability can only mean: Solidarity amongst and between elites to continue pursuing their destructive global agenda; Equality, not between the Global North and South but between aspiring elites of the global South wishing to attain ruling class statuses equivalent to those of their Global North co-conspirators; Sustainability? This can only mean maintaining the calamitous course towards ecological, economic and social destruction that they collectively subscribe to.

Opposing Forces?
With the hosting of this G20 leaders’ summit in SA, platforms are provided to the likes of SA and the African Union (AU) to drive agendas that attempt to shift international economic cooperation towards the Global South. Agenda points dealing with climate finance, sovereign debt, food security and the so-called green transition are ones that the South African government and the AU are at liberty to put forward and pursue. However, what chances do they have of effecting changes that will benefit developing countries in a system where terms are dictated by imperialist states like the USA? Even worse, in practice, South Africa and other countries willingly and uncritically subscribe to the way this system operates. At best, the summit will be an exhibition of a façade of political pretensions on display for public consumption.

On the other hand, the G7 (Group of Seven), led by the USA, are increasingly acting with greater impunity, not at all bound by agreements or conventions – inside and outside of the UNO system. The boycotting of the G20 summit by the USA and the non-attendance of other government leaders is one example of this trend. Impunity allows for a situation where the only rules that apply are the ones that they make on an ad hoc basis. This creates an extremely dangerous situation for any country or people who end up on the receiving end of imperialist attacks. Any country becomes fair game. The irony of the situation thus reveals itself as one in which the BRICS+ countries (ostensibly leading the Global South), strive to improve the current international system. On the other hand, the G7 are instrumental in the dismantling of the post-World War 2 system of which they were the main architects of.

Demands of the Oppressed and Exploited against the G20 Elites
Many social movements and political organisations oppose the G20 summit of elites and are uniting in solidarity protests to counter the agenda of the crooks and war criminals – including their rivals boycotting their Johannesburg fanfare. What can be done to grow and radicalise this mobilisation of the workers and peasants to fight for our own demands? The pressing global issues of the day call on working people in all countries to self-organise and unite around demands such as:

• Immediate cancellation of sovereign debt of all developing countries imposed by undemocratic lending institutions
• Food production to be democratically controlled by workers and peasants
• Full and immediate adherence to the provisions of Paris Climate Accord by all countries concerned
• Full participation of workers and peasants in all decisions on energy security

We call for assemblies of people’s organisations to chart a new, independent political course for humanity!