BRICS vs White Man’s Burden: The era of ‘civilizing the savages’ is over

The recent BRICS summit in Kazan is a potent symbol of shifting global dynamics, challenging the longstanding dominance of the West. 

Set against a backdrop where Western influence often presents itself through a superiority complex coupled with a condescendingly racist attitude, the BRICS alliance positions itself as an alternative. By rejecting Western models as the only route to progress, the BRICS nations propagate a multipolar world – one in which civilizations, each with its own norms and values, thrive independently. In Kazan, BRICS presented itself not just as an economic consortium but as a voice for genuine civilizational respect, countering Western narratives that have long scorned and looked down on non-Western societies.

Franz Boas, the pioneering anthropologist of the early 20th century, and Alexander Dugin, the contemporary Russian philosopher, at first glance may seem to exist within entirely different intellectual traditions. Boas is celebrated for his groundbreaking work in cultural anthropology, whereas Dugin is best known for his geopolitical and civilizational theories. However, beneath their distinct areas of expertise lies a shared commitment to opposing the ideologies that promote racism and cultural tyranny. Both thinkers, in their respective fields, call for the recognition and affirmation of cultural pluralism over universalist paradigms.

Boas, often considered the father of modern anthropology, revolutionized the way cultures were studied and understood. His concept of ‘cultural relativism’ was a radical departure from the prevailing Eurocentric anthropological tradition that positioned European culture at the summit of human achievement. Cultural relativism argues that each culture must be understood on its own terms, rather than being judged by external standards. In the potlatch ceremonies of the Kwakiutl, indigenous people from the Pacific Northwest, valuable goods such as blankets, copper plates, and food were ceremonially given to guests or rival groups, often in great quantities. Some items were even intentionally destroyed – burned or broken – to demonstrate the host’s wealth and social power. What may have appeared wasteful to Western observers was, in fact, a highly meaningful act within the Kwakiutl cultural context. Boas explained that this redistribution and destruction of wealth served to reinforce social hierarchies, build alliances, and redistribute resources within the community. Through these acts, the host asserted status and demonstrated generosity, and guests were obligated to reciprocate at future gatherings, ensuring cycles of mutual support and respect across clans.

Cultural relativism was not merely an academic position. It was a direct challenge to the racist and imperialist hierarchies that prevailed in Boas’ time. Boas opposed the classification of certain peoples as ‘primitive’ and others as ‘civilized’. Instead, he contended that all human societies have complex and valuable systems of meaning, each suited to its environment and historical circumstances. In this sense, Boas’ work was a direct counterpoint to the West’s racist assumptions and its justification of colonialism and imperialism under the guise of a ‘civilizing mission’.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem The White Man’s Burden presented a moral obligation – a call for Western nations to ‘civilize’ so-called ‘savage’ lands. In its time, it offered a veneer of altruism to justify imperial conquest. Today, while the methods of control have shifted from direct colonial rule to more sophisticated means, the underlying assumption remains unchanged. Western liberalism, rather than using overt domination, now operates through soft power – media, cultural exports, ‘international law’, economic leverage – and military interventions. Yet beneath this modern guise lies the same conviction that fueled colonial expansion: the belief that Western civilization, with its moral and political frameworks, is superior and must be imposed upon the ‘unenlightened’ non-Western world. This enduring mindset continues to perpetuate a form of ideological imperialism, where the West assumes the role of moral arbiter, much as it did in Kipling’s time. When Western powers, cloaked in the guise of ‘humanitarian intervention’, launch military campaigns or impose crippling economic sanctions to force nations into adopting liberal ‘reforms’, they are merely continuing their age-old self-appointed mission: to impose their values, to dominate, to ‘civilize’.

Dugin’s notion of multipolarity parallels Boas’ rejection of Eurocentrism but within the realm of geopolitics. In a world that, until recently, was dominated by the unipolar hegemony of the West, Dugin advocates a multipolar order where various civilizations can coexist on an equal footing. He asserts that no single civilization, particularly the present incarnation of the West, should be regarded as a universal model for all of mankind. Just as Boas called for the recognition of cultural plurality, Dugin calls for the recognition of geopolitical and civilizational plurality, where different regions of the world – be it Eurasia, Latin America, or Africa – are recognized as centers of their own distinct identities and power. 

The concept of multipolarity, like Franz Boas’ cultural relativism, is a rejection of the universalist assumptions that have long positioned the West as the ultimate arbiter of progress and human organization. Multipolarity confronts the notion that Western modernity, with its emphasis on liberal democracy and secular individualism, is a universal path for all civilizations. Instead, it asserts that each civilization embodies its own distinct spiritual, cultural, and political ethos, one of many expressions of mankind’s potential, formed over centuries of history and refined through an organic relationship with the land and the spirit of its people. Within this paradigm, Eurasia holds a position of extreme importance – not merely as a geographic expanse but as a vast civilizational complex that defies reduction to the Western categories of East or West.

Eurasia is a continent of deep historical synthesis, where Slavic, Turkic, and Mongolic peoples have coexisted and influenced one another, interweaving the spiritual depth of Orthodox Christianity with the steely resilience of the nomadic steppe cultures and the ancient wisdom of Asian philosophies. This Eurasian identity is not an artificial construction. It is the fruit of a millennia-long process of civilizational coalescence. Yet the West often fails to grasp this complexity, interpreting Eurasia through oversimplified, often hostile lenses that impose a foreign logic onto a culture fundamentally different in its structure, essence, and purpose. For Dugin, the ideology of Eurasianism is a restoration of this identity, an assertion that Eurasia, with its formidable spiritual heritage, is a civilization unto itself, distinct and sovereign, with the right to pursue a path that is neither a mimicry of the West nor a passive acceptance of Eastern alternatives. Like Boas, who saw each culture’s value within its own frame of meaning, Eurasianism in the context of multipolarity recognizes and upholds the dignity of each civilization, affirming its right to flourish according to its own principles, free from the homogenizing aggression of Western liberalism.

The shifting currents of the global order, exemplified by the rise of the BRICS coalition, serve as a powerful validation of the views articulated by both Boas and Dugin. BRICS emerges not merely as an economic consortium but as a counterforce to the unipolar dominance that the West has long imposed upon the world. The recent BRICS summit in Kazan thus has profound significance – not only for its tangible economic and political outcomes but for the symbolic defiance it represents against the West’s entrenched neocolonial attitudes. The BRICS nations, through this coalition, confront the deep-seated racism that continues to permeate Western power structures, which for centuries have perpetuated a model designed to marginalize, extract, and exploit non-Western nations under varying pretexts, from the overt imperialism of past eras to the subtler yet equally pervasive mechanisms of globalization.

The ascent of BRICS as a geopolitical counterweight affirms the feasibility of multipolarity as a tangible alternative to Western dominance. It is a clear testament to the rejection of Western universalism, heralding a world where multiple civilizations – each endowed with its own governance systems and values – are free to thrive, unbound by a singular model of modernity. Distinct centers of power engage with one another as equals, rather than yielding to the dictates of the West.

Boas’ concept of cultural relativism finds a parallel within the mission of the BRICS alliance. Just as Boas denounced the imposition of Western cultural standards upon non-Western societies, so too do the BRICS nations stand resolute against the imposition of Western economic and political frameworks upon the global majority. In their rejection of decadent Western doctrines and their embrace of alternative models for development, the BRICS nations embody a broader resistance to the cultural and political imperialism that Boas so sharply critiqued in his time, forging a path that respects each civilization’s unique trajectory.

At its core, BRICS’ challenge to Western supremacism is not just economic or geopolitical but deeply cultural. It is a demand for the recognition of different ways of life and governance. Just as Boas called for the world to value different cultures for their intrinsic worth, BRICS calls for the world to recognize the legitimacy of different political systems that do not conform to Western ‘democracy’. It is a collective demand for respect and dignity, free from the condescending attitudes that have long characterized the West’s approach to the global majority.

Dugin’s theory of a multipolar world, bolstered by the rise of BRICS, is a powerful shift in the currents of global consciousness – a break from the unipolar dominion forged in the aftermath of the Cold War. It signifies a new order where mighty state-civilizations, each with its own spirit and destiny, can flourish unshackled. In their own ways, both Boas and Dugin call for the unraveling of the racist and domineering creeds that have sought to bind mankind under one banner, one story, trampling the rich diversity of human progress beneath their weight.