Should Sam Cooke’s Song A Change is Gonna Come Be the Anthem for BRICS Nations?
A Change Is Gonna Come: Resonance with BRICS
BRICS 2025 summit discussions bring to mind Sam Cooke’s song A Change Is Gonna Come. Should it be the anthem for the BRICS nations? The refrain “It’s been a long a long time comin’, but I know A change gon’ come, Oh, yes it will” emphasizes a fight for freedom and resilience in the face of adversity. (Context on the song’s legacy: Pitchfork)
BRICS 2025 Summit: A World in Transition
The BRICS 2025 summit in Brazil is convened under the theme “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance” (Rio de Janeiro Declaration, official). From U.S. polarization to EU stagnation, Western influence is fading, and the West is losing its grip on global power. And as Sam Cooke said it in 1964, a change is gonna come.
He didn’t just sing a song; he channeled a movement. Cooke’s voice still echoes like a prophecy: change is hard, but it is coming. Not because we wait. But because we push.
BRICS vs G7: Shifting Power Dynamics
Can we ask ourselves this question: Is BRICS to G7 what a smartphone is to a landline phone? The data is quite impressive. It started very slowly, but it’s getting bigger. Let’s look at the numbers provided by the good people at Clash Report. (For reference, see IMF-based comparisons via Visual Capitalist and the IMF WEO Database.) BRICS expands to 19 nations, G7 remains at 7 with selective guest invites. BRICS GDP share estimates at 40% nominal and 41% PPP while G7 leads nominal GDP at 44%. (On expansion news, e.g., Indonesia’s 2025 accession: Reuters; 2024 invitation round: European Parliament brief.)
It’s very tight, ain’t it? Who would have thought that as liberal globalization wanes, emerging markets would have leaned into asset-backed currencies to assert independence from fiat volatility.
Challenging the Dollar and Redefining Finance
Their goal is to challenge the petrodollar dominance (primer). And this move will reshape global power balances. This move will be a game-changer for the BRICS nations.
As Dr Harsh V. Pant said, “to strengthen BRICS, it must evolve from a declaratory bloc into a functional coalition” (CSIS – The BRICS Fallacy). And BRICS nations are doing pretty well. And reforms like cross-border payment under a network of commercial banks to facilitate transactions in local currencies are much needed in order to create fair opportunities for every nation (NDB: local currency financing, official; BRICS cross-border payments initiative coverage: Brasil de Fato). It will offer better resilience against economic sanctions. The real chess game in 2025 for BRICS nations is first integrating diverse economies and second diversifying financial risks. (Analytical background: Carnegie Endowment.)
Trump, the Dollar, and BRICS De-dollarization
According to POLITICO, “President Trump is pissed every time he looks at the BRICS de-dollarization effort”, and him being obsessed with maintaining dollar hegemony means one thing. Either President Trump doesn’t understand BRICS at all, or he understands it too well. There is no in between.
Maybe he knows that the era of the dollar’s exorbitant privilege is on shaky ground. The famous African author Chinua Achebe used to say that as long as the bed shakes regularly, the home is at peace. And don’t be fooled, for President Trump, as long as the US dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency in bilateral trades or in other words, as long as the dollar is king, the world will be at peace and if not, well BRICS nations or other aligned countries will pay the price. A direct warning is fired, and the rest of the world is watching.
Global Voices and Cultural Reflections
Is the BRICS power in 2025 undeniable? Yes, it is. Is the dollar’s reign on borrowed time? Yes, it is. Is the world finally staging a mutiny? Maybe yes. The BRICS+ surge is the world saying: no more. Big players like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Brazil are commodity kings and demographic giants. (On expansion and membership context: Reuters; 2024 invitation: European Parliament.) If they walk away from the dollar, as famous rapper JAY Z said, “the Empire State of Mind” will start to run out of oxygen.
BRICS: From Followers to Kings
In 2025, BRICS nations don’t have to beg the king anymore; they are all KINGS now…. Or soon to be. The BRICS 2025 summit underscores this transformation, showing how the bloc has shifted from being seen as an emerging alliance to becoming a driver of global governance (Rio Declaration).
