When feminist activist Kavita Krishnan quit her position in the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in September 2022, over her differences over the war in Ukraine, her emphatic resignation made headlines. Indian press.

Unsurprisingly, the 50-year-old is a recognized political and media figure in her country – she was even quoted in 2014 in BBC’s list of the 100 most influential women.

Kavita Krishnan did indeed swim against the current. In India, policy of “calculated neutrality” adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, about the war in Ukraine is a consensus. Its membership extends far beyond the circle of supporters of the Hindu supremacist government: opponents on the left and the media have followed suit. All argued that the conflict in Ukraine was a European matter and that India should prioritize its own interests. In the media, editorial writers follow Russian discourse according to which Moscow will be “hurt” by NATO, in Ukraine.

This anti-Western discourse is thus shared throughout Indian politics, with the exception of Kavita Krishnan who calls for standing by Ukraine. In recent years, the activist has also learned about the country’s history and its Soviet past, specifically about the great famine – or Holodomorgenocide due to famine committed in the country by Joseph Stalin in 1932-1933.

This is why he, he explained, was “less willing to accept the usual leftist and progressive discourse” on the question. “I naively thought that my party lacked knowledge, and for a long time I tried to fill their gaps, he complained. Ukraine suffered as much under Stalin as it did under Hitler, and you have to know this to understand why Ukraine is fighting the right war now. But I have met with much resistance. They refuse to accept the notion that Ukraine is currently fighting Russia, and that the conflict is not just about ‘the West against the rest of the world’.

The gulf between North and South

His departure from the Communist Party was carefully considered, but no less painful. “I found myself completely isolated when I was at the party for almost 30 years, he admits. I really didn’t want to leave it. But I pointed out the misinterpretation that the Global South made, and they didn’t want me to.”

Like the growing rift between Kavita Krishnan and her party, the war in Ukraine has exposed divisive lines in the international community. A year after the start of the conflict, a gulf emerged between the countries of the “Global South”, a heterogeneous group of previously labeled “backward” countries with an increasing role on the international scene, and the countries of the “Global North”. , another name for the West.

On the one hand, Western countries have closed ranks around Ukraine, overcoming their internal competition to unite in the face of aggression contrary to the order in place since the end of the Second World War.

On the other hand, countries from the “global south”, in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, have chosen a more ambiguous position.

The division became clear since March 2, 2022, when the United Nations voted for the first time to condemn the war in Ukraine.

If a resolution calling for the Kremlin to end its attacks is passed by 141 countries, 35 states of the “global South”, historically linked to Moscow, including China, India, South Africa and Senegal abstain. A month later, the number of countries abstaining increased again discovery of the Boutcha massacre. Fifty-eight countries, including Brazil, refused on April 7 take part in voting organized to exclude Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

A “neutrality” in favor of Russia

A year later, nothing has changed: while the world has just marked the first anniversary of war in Ukraine, South Africa has hosted military exercises on its territory with Russia and China.

The operation, which took place from February 17 to 27, illustrates the limits of “neutrality” and the defense of its own interests, which Pretoria continues to display. Because experts point out that this position shared by many countries in the “global South” turns out to be in Russia’s favor.

“Russia is benefiting economically from the policies of New Delhi and Riyadh”, stressed former French ambassador to Syria Michel Duclos, special adviser to the Montaigne Institute.

On October 5, shortly after Joe Biden visited Riyadh to try to convince Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production to help Europe get through the winter, OPEC members decided otherwise. to reduce it.

“This decision allows some of the biggest importers in the world South to buy Russian oil at rock bottom prices, Michel Duclos underlined. And this helps Russia to finance the war in Ukraine”.

Thus, the largest power in the South benefits from the extremely low prices Russia practices for selling its oil and gas. China imports record levels, meanwhile India multiplied by 33 imports.

The “multipolar” world against Western hegemony

“When we talk about the ‘Global South’, we use a category that is disputed, but which these countries use to talk about themselves, which I think should be respected, said Michel Duclos. Nevertheless, we see that in ‘Global South’, some countries are more important than others. Some have reached such an economic level that the West can no longer put pressure on them”.

Nevertheless, this heterogeneous “global South” found its unity in the demand for a “multipolar” world order, in the face of the West’s “unipolar hegemony”. The echoing speech put forth by Russia to justify an invasion of Ukraine, even though it is completely against international law.

Weeks before ordering the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, who was traveling to China, signed a contract with Xi Jinping A declaration on the need to “advance multipolarity”. Within the United Nations Security Council, however, it was France, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the “global North” countries, that supported India’s inclusion and permanent African representation, not Beijing or Moscow.

Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, has been leading a frenetic charm operation since the start of the war.

From Pretoria to Khartoum, through Egypt, Mali and Ethiopia, he constantly called for “the creation of a multipolar world order against” Western hegemony “.

A “multipolarity” of despots

Seasoned left-wing activist Kavita Krishnan is completely oblivious to the many abuses committed by Western countries. But for him, the discourse of multipolarity has turned into “the cry of the despots, who use it to present their war against democracy as a war against imperialism”.

In a multipolar order, he derided, “Ukraine is not a ‘pole’. In South Asia, India is an emerging pole, not Nepal or Bangladesh. Multipolarity has always wanted to say multi-imperialism now refers to ‘multi-despotism’. In a multi-polar world , every despot is free to be.”

Therefore, in his opinion, there is no connection between the neutrality demonstrated by the “Global South” and the movement non-aligned during the cold war, these newly independent countries, which during this period, refused to be part of the logic of the bloc. “Multipolarity is very different from inequality, emphasizes Kavita Krishnan. It is a theory based on lofty ideas, not on selfish, pragmatic, and amoral interests.”

In the face of these differences that come from afar, and have surfaced roughly since the start of the war, it is time for North Korea to react, Michel Duclos insisted on his part. “North and South no longer perceive the world in the same way, explains the specialist. There is a war of influence currently underway, led by China and Russia, and many illiberal governments in the South are making their populations suffer. But the West has a chance to rebuild, with several countries in the ‘Global South’, a world order that respects the basic principles of the international system and human rights.”

From New Delhi, Kavita Krishnan has given herself the mission to deliver the message, and is starting to see some success. His essay entitled “Multipolarity, the Mantra of Authoritarianism” has been translated into many languages ​​and reprinted several times. The activist recently received a call from a woman living in Kharkiv, who was trying to translate her text into Ukrainian.

“I am humbled and delighted by the idea of ​​a woman from Kharkiv translating what I have written,” said Kavita Krishnan. “I love building relationships, across the planet, with people who want a better and more equal world. In India , I tell my friends that if our invaders cross the ocean, Moscow is just as colonial in Ukraine, stealing grain and starving the population. The Ukrainian people are fighting not to be colonized again, and we must support them.”

This article has been translated from original version in English by Lou Romeo.