By Lucas Leiroz | June 29, 2020
The new coronavirus brought a fierce dispute of narratives about the measures necessary to contain the infection and to build a new world after the end of the global pandemic. There are two main narratives, one calling for the strengthening of National States, for the delay of globalization and for the end of the process of dissolving borders; another, in an absolutely opposite sense, calling for the strengthening of international organizations, for the advancement of the globalist project and for the reduction or even dissolution of States in favor of a global governance system of open borders. Both speeches grow and clash in a great race that seems to be far from over.
The defense of National States and the discourse against political and economic globalization seemed to be winning the race, with the closure of borders and airports in the largest countries, however, recent events demonstrate a turn in this race, pointing to a possible victory for globalism. A group formed by organizations and individuals from around the world for 20 years now appears to be gaining more and more prominence. This is the case of GAVI – Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
GAVI has been around for many years, having been founded in 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The group emerged with the goal of starting a global mass vaccination campaign, mainly on the African continent, due to the accelerating decrease in access to vaccines by poor children in emerging countries. The Alliance brings together governments from developed and developing countries, in addition to WHO, the World Bank and UNICEF. The group was responsible for creating the International Funding Mechanism for Immunization, a project that brings together donations from several countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Norway, and which has already raised billions of dollars for global vaccination campaigns.
Although it has existed for a long time, it is only now that GAVI has taken on a truly outstanding role on the international stage, becoming a major player in global governance. Bill Gates, founder of GAVI and one of the biggest names in global philanthropy, has been gaining great attention from the global media for his recent campaigns to create a vaccine against the new coronavirus. In 2020, Gates’ donations reached the $ 1,560 million mark, raising him to the level of the world’s greatest medical philanthropist. Its philanthropic crusade against the new coronavirus pandemic has turned into a true industry, moving a gigantic amount of capital, materials and people in an unprecedented global campaign.
In fact, there are currently two international organizations leading efforts to create the coronavirus vaccine, GAVI and WHO. Considering that WHO is one of the entities that make up GAVI, it can even be said that GAVI leads the world in the fight against coronavirus. Obviously, there is apparently no harm in a philanthropic entity initiating research campaigns for a major medical discovery. The problem lies in all the other factors surrounding the issue. GAVI is an organization politically committed to unrestricted globalization. Its theory and praxis are all based on the liberal globalist ideal. All its members are equally fully committed to the establishment of a rigid regime of global governance where National States are reduced to a minimum and public-private management partnerships assume a major role in civil society.
An interesting point with GAVI and its plans for the post-pandemic world is the British participation. One of the main players in all these projects is Gordon Brown, a former British “socialist” prime minister and representative of GAVI. Brown recently made a controversial speech at a virtual G-20 meeting calling for the creation of a provisional world government to tackle the coronavirus, asking for help from the G-20 members for the realization of his – and GAVI’s – project to overcome the crisis generated by the pandemic, valued at more than 2.5 billion dollars. In a similar tone, Tony Blair, also a former prime minister and associated with GAVI, on the pandemic of the new coronavirus, has spoken out several times in favor of using high technology to establish a new global surveillance system.
Another point in this link between the globalist philanthropists of GAVI and the United Kingdom is the World Economic Forum and the controversial project of the “2021 Great Reset”, which intends to realize a series of changes in the structure of international society to face the crisis generated by the pandemic – interestingly, a plan announced by the Prince of Wales, once again showing the British prominence. In summary, at the next international meeting in Davos, the main globalist leaders will discuss the direction of a major project to restructure the world economic and political order, with projects focused on recovering from the effects of the pandemic and on the “green agenda”, with a strong insertion of the sustainability issue.
Finally, what do all these maneuvers mean? What unites the interests of globalist billionaires like Bill Gates with the main UN bodies, British politicians and the World Economic Forum? Many other questions can arise from there. We see yet another chapter in the complex war of agendas and civilizational projects in the contemporary world. The United Kingdom is designing its new worldwide projection outside the European Union. What will be the role of the UK in a new and more multipolar geopolitics? Apparently, it will be trying to regress the axis of global capitalism to the Old World and lead a new globalism, based on an agenda committed to the vital points of globalism: control of epidemics and environmentalism – masked under the farce of “green capitalism”.
What we can see is that the world is still far from contemplating the return of States or the establishment of a new multipolar world order. Globalism is a complex project, with several aspects and different authors and agents, which can be reinvented at any time. In the same way that globalization has never been so threatened, the project of a World State was never so close. We are currently at a zero point whose distance to both destinations is the same.
Lucas Leiroz is a research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.