The first “People’s BRICS Summit” in Rio de Janeiro marks a strategic shift for the bloc, moving beyond high-level diplomacy to actively include civil society. Established by the BRICS Civil Council, this summit creates a permanent channel for dialogue between the bloc’s leadership and its grassroots organizations, academics, and activists.
While the main BRICS summit focuses on high-level policy and geopolitical strategy, the inaugural “People’s BRICS Summit” in Rio de Janeiro represents a pivotal, quieter evolution for the bloc. This event, a direct outcome of the BRICS Civil Council established in 2024, aims to build a permanent and structured channel of dialogue between the bloc’s leadership and its civil society. It marks a strategic move to embed the BRICS project within the societies it represents, transitioning from a top-down, intergovernmental forum into a multi-layered partnership that includes grassroots voices, ensuring its long-term legitimacy and resilience.
The summit’s agenda tackles the people-centered priorities often overshadowed in diplomatic talks. Key discussions are focused not on abstract principles, but on actionable cooperation and exploring concrete paths to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar. This directly connects to the bloc’s wider institutional projects, like BRICS Pay and the New Development Bank, demonstrating that the drive for financial autonomy is not just state policy but a practical demand from businesses, academics, and activists seeking greater economic sovereignty. The working groups are delving into areas like sustainable development, public health, and digital inclusion, translating the bloc’s macro goals into community-level impacts.
A Personal Perspective: The Tangible Benefit of a “Permanent Channel”
From my viewpoint, the true, revolutionary benefit of this summit is its institutional promise. It offers a structured, ongoing mechanism for citizens to be heard, transforming the idea of a “multipolar world” from an abstract diplomatic goal into a tangible, participatory process.
For Credibility: A BRICS that listens to its own people is a BRICS that can more credibly advocate for a more democratic global governance system. It answers the criticism that it is merely creating an alternative elite.
For Practical Policy: This channel ensures that grand projects—like new development bank loans for infrastructure or rules for a digital currency bridge—are informed by on-the-ground realities. It can help avoid the pitfalls of disconnected, technocratic planning.
For Solidarity: It fosters direct people-to-people and organization-to-organization links across the Global South. This builds a network of solidarity on issues like climate justice, food security, and fair trade that can endure beyond political cycles or bilateral disagreements between member states.
For a community organizer in a São Paulo favela, a farmers’ union in India, or a small tech entrepreneur in Egypt, this summit creates a recognized avenue to influence the bloc’s policies. This institutionalizes the powerful idea that the BRICS pathway is ultimately about building a more inclusive and responsive model of global governance, ensuring its economic and political strategies are guided by the needs, challenges, and ingenuity of its people. The Rio summit is the seed; its success will be measured by how faithfully this “permanent channel” is maintained and heeded in the years to come.
NASIR KAZEROUN
BRICS FEDERATION