KINGSTON, Jamaica — In a bold stance that could ripple through global financial markets, former Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson has called for his nation to align with Global Africa in supporting the BRICS economic initiative, despite looming resistance from the United States.

At the Inaugural Prime Minister’s Conference commemorating the Michael Manley Centennial at the University of the West Indies, Patterson’s address, delivered by Dr Brian Meeks, cast the moment as a watershed in Jamaica’s economic sovereignty. His declaration comes against the backdrop of US President-elect Donald Trump’s threats to protect the American dollar from BRICS’ proposed alternative currency.

“This is a seminal moment in global relations,” Patterson declared, urging Jamaica to “exercise its sovereignty and agency” alongside BRICS and 54 African nations. His vision: crafting a new economic model to unlock the prosperity that has eluded developing nations under the current global order.

The economic stakes could hardly be higher. Patterson, now a statesman in residence at the Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy, emphasised that BRICS commands an imposing presence: 30 per cent of the world’s land surface, 45 per cent of its population, and a staggering combined GDP of US$88 trillion.

“Michael Manley would not ignore BRICS,” Patterson asserted, suggesting the former leader would have championed this challenge to Western financial hegemony and the American dollar’s long reign since abandoning the gold standard.

Patterson painted a vision of an interconnected future. “We must once again be a leading voice in the world community,” he urged, weaving together pressing global challenges from digital inclusion to vaccine equity and carbon neutrality. His emphasis on Africa’s rising prominence was stark: “By 2050, one in four of the global population will be African.”

The numerical strength of the Global South emerged as a central theme in Patterson’s address. The 70 sovereign states of Africa and the Caribbean comprise nearly 40 per cent of UN membership, he noted, and when allied with Latin America, command sufficient influence to reshape global governance. This coalition, Patterson argued, must prioritise value-added production, enhance resource security, and advance technological capabilities, particularly in artificial intelligence.

Drawing on historical connections, Patterson channelled the spirit of Michael Manley, invoking the “umbilical connection” with Africa that began in 1969. This bond, he suggested, should serve as the foundation for a new era of African-Caribbean economic integration and collective self-reliance.

The shifting dynamics of global trade lend weight to Patterson’s vision. He pointed to a dramatic reversal in trade patterns: while Northern countries once dominated with 60 per cent of global trade in the 1990s, that share has plummeted to just a quarter. Meanwhile, trade among Global South nations has surged to 35 per cent, emerging as the largest component of global commerce.

These seismic shifts in global trade patterns, Patterson argued, demand corresponding changes in international institutional structures and governance. His call for reform echoes Manley’s efforts from fifty years ago when a courageous push to overhaul international monetary, financial, and trading systems under the New International Economic Order (NIEO) was ultimately stifled.

Drawing from both political wisdom and cultural touchstones, Patterson wove together the urgency of the moment. He invoked Manley’s rallying cry “never to be bullied into silence—nor be lured into passivity and acceptance again,” while also borrowing the penetrating words of Jamaican musical icon Peter Tosh: “There can be no peace without justice.”

His message was unequivocal: South-South solidarity and consolidation has evolved from a mere option to an imperative. In Patterson’s view, the time for a new global paradigm has arrived, and the nations of the Global South must seize this moment to shape their own economic destiny.