中文
By Zhang Heling and Lyu Junwen
A Brazilian academic called on BRICS nations to develop alternatives to Western-dominated financial and technological systems during a forum in Rio de Janeiro, proposing new approaches centered on sustainability, digital sovereignty and equitable development.
Helena Maria Martins Lastres, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro who coordinates the RedeSist research network, said the current model of financialized capitalism has trapped developing nations in cycles of dependency and environmental crisis through conditional aid and structural adjustment programs.
She singled out Western technology conglomerates for consolidating control over global economic and political systems, saying they have worsened inequalities through monopolistic practices.
Helena Maria Martins Lastres, professor and coordinator of RedeSist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, speaks at the BRICS Seminar on Governance and Cultural Exchange Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 30, 2025. [Photo courtesy of the event organizer]
In response to these challenges, Lastres proposed a five-pillar framework for BRICS cooperation: systemic sustainability, digital sovereignty, theoretical independence, policy innovation and concrete collaboration. She said that BRICS—now expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates— should leverage its vast territory, cultural diversity and large domestic markets to demonstrate that alternative modelsof governance can succeed.
"BRICS isn't merely an economic group but astructural force designing a fairer global order," Lastres said. "Our collective future depends on valuing what hegemonic systems have rendered invisible."
The BRICS Seminar on Governance and Cultural Exchange Forum was held in Rio de Janeiro and co-hosted by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China International Communications Group and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.
