DISINFO: Calls in the West to dismiss the term 'Global South' as Russian propaganda
SUMMARY
It is truly surprising that there is a call in the West to fight even the term 'Global South' as it is allegedly a product of Russian propaganda.
RESPONSE
No evidence is provided to support the claim that the West is rallying against the term "Global South". This term is widely used by many Western media outlets, institutions, scholars, and policymakers worldwide. For example, top policy makers such as former US President Joe Biden and his senior administration officials, including the national security adviser and the secretary of commerce, have repeatedly used the term.
The term rose to prominence because it offered a more neutral label compared to previous terms such as the "Third World" or "developing" countries. It was popularised by the 1980 Brandt report, which written by an international commission led by former West German chancellor Willy Brand. The report distinguished between those countries with comparatively higher GDP per capita—concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere—and low-income countries.
The majority of the latter group fell south of what became known as the Brandt line, an imaginary boundary running from the Rio Grande into the Gulf of Mexico, across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Mediterranean Sea, and over the expanses of Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean.
While there is some debate about the use of the term "Global South" to describe low- and middle- income economies, the arguments against its use almost never point to an alleged Russian origin. For example, policy analysts Stewart Patrick and Alexandra Huggins have argued that many nations designated as “southern" lie entirely in the Northern Hemisphere, while other high-income countries such as Australia and New Zealand are located in the Southern Hemisphere. Additionally, they argue that the use of the term oversimplifies complex global dynamic by brushing aside differences in so-called Global South countries' economic realities, political regimes, and geopolitical positions.
See similar cases alleging that the West showed its imperialist attitude toward the global south at the Jeddah meeting, and that the most of the Global South understands the threat of NATO expansion.