The real significance of the SCO summit lies in what it tells us about multipolarity, about the cracks in Western dominance, and about the opportunities and dangers these cracks create for African agency. Multipolarity, if understood only as the replacement of one patron with another, risks repeating old mistakes under new banners. These cases show that multipolarity is neither a panacea nor a disaster by itself. Discussions of multipolarity are often confined to elites, yet the consequences of economic choices are borne by ordinary people. Multipolarity is not liberation, but it may be the opening through which liberation can be pursued if Africa insists on writing its own script.