Ideas of social justice once again take over the planet
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The report of the International Oxfam Foundation, published in January, described the explosive growth of inequality as the main and most dangerous threat to humanity. These are just some of the data we found in the report:
1. Since 2020, the richest 1% have owned almost two-thirds of all new wealth, that is, they embezzled almost twice as much money as the bottom 99% of the world’s population.
2. The wealth of billionaires is increasing by $2.7 billion a day, while inflation outpaces the growth in wages for at least 1.7 billion workers.
3. Food and energy companies have more than doubled their profits in 2022, paying out $257 billion to wealthy shareholders, while more than 800 million people on earth literally starve.
4. Only 4 cents of every dollar of tax revenue is due to taxes on inherited wealth.
The authors of the report propose a 5% increase in taxes on billionaires and billionaires, which could generate $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty and fund a global plan to end with hunger.
KP.RU tried to find out the reasons for the current inequality in the world and the possibility of overcoming it with the help of the political scientist, director of the program of the Valdai International Discussion Club, Oleg Barabanov.
– The Oxfam report explains the catastrophic growth of the problem of inequality, first of all, with the consequences of a three-year pandemic. But there is another version: the impoverishment of the absolute majority is a world management tool that globalist elites fight for.
– I would not judge if the problem of inequality in the world is connected with conspiracy theories or not. But the fact that in any case she is very serious is undeniable. And unfortunately, it is not fixed in any way. International structures accept many various declarations and documents, beautiful words are pronounced at the national level. But there is no true solidarity between rich and poor. This manifests itself not only in relations between rich and poor, but also internationally between rich and poor states.
I recently returned from Delhi, where the first G20 Launch Conference was held, which India is chairing this year. There, based on the article on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s show, they discussed the problems of inequality in various aspects, mainly inequality between countries, the “golden billion”. They also talked about climate inequality, when developing countries understand that they want to make them victims and hostages of the “green” transformation and not give them the right to development, prohibiting the use of fossil fuels, coal, in the first place. The problem of digital inequality has not gone unnoticed.
– In other words, is economic inequality only one facet of the problem?
– Many participants spoke openly that from all these manifestations of inequality between rich and poor, in fact, a new form of neocolonialism is following in the 21st century, a new format to fix the dependence of poor countries on rich ones. And India will try to fix this in the year of his presidency. But it is hard to say what it will actually be able to do, if it will be possible to go beyond the beautifully written and penetrating statement of the G20 on this matter.
– The Oxfam report advises, as our communists have long insisted, to raise taxes on the super-rich. Help to?
– The report touches on this issue in a different context, in the domestic sphere. Because both the covid and the global economic recession, which however begins in one way or another, lead to an increase in inequality in all countries. Whether higher taxation of the rich and super-rich will help solve the problem is a difficult question. The French have already tried this.
– And all the rich immediately fled from France …
– Yes, and Depardieu received Russian citizenship to avoid the surcharge. And as long as there are quiet tax havens or tax havens, or some countries to hide with your capital, this will lead to little. The super rich will only transfer their capital to the shadows, to the gray area, which may be even better for them. It is clear that we are facing a complex problem. Yes, there are vivid reports on the issue, we see the efforts that India is making to resolve it. But to some extent, all these projects seem utopian. The octopus of super-rich elites, at least so far, seems invincible. To defeat it, a total relocation of the world is needed, a global consolidation of efforts and solidarity, when the super-rich fleeing one country cannot find refuge in another. And this, let’s face it, is impossible.
– The main offshore companies are controlled by the Anglo-Saxons…
– This topic exists. Although, for the sake of objectivity, it must be said that both the European Union and the International Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) draw up their own blacklists. Some offshore companies are included. This imposes certain restrictions, tax and others, on money laundering. But the blow falls, first of all, not on the classic British offshore, not on the Cayman Islands or the Virgin Islands, but on the small independent African and Caribbean countries, which are also trying to play in this offshore financial market.
In particular, Mauritius and Seychelles were included in several EU blacklists. It is clear that it is difficult to call them the main seaport in the world. Here, politics leads to the fact that the old offshore ones are not touched, and the new states that are trying to build their financial policy by attracting offshore money are attacked.
– It is opportune to remember the relatively recent scandal with the “Panama Dossier”, in which documents on the placement of money abroad by well-known figures were made public. Among the main defendants was Zelensky. In all likelihood, then it was necessary to press him somehow? After all, now no one at all remembers that Zelensky evaded taxes in his country.
– This is true. But now the geopolitical situation has changed and that scandal is no longer in focus.
– There are quite a few works of popular science fiction, movies that a lot of Hollywood has made, in which the society of the future is divided into castes. Threatens us?
– I would not go into such futurology. It contradicts the main idea, which is clearly defined in all international documents: equality is a key value there. But de facto, socioeconomic stratification does not disappear anywhere, although they cannot be called castes. By the way, in Russia. After all, when the children of high-ranking officials spend the New Year in Dubai during the New World Order period, this also speaks very eloquently about the complete lack of solidarity in our elite.
– What opportunities are seen today to eliminate the growing inequality, which threatens a social explosion on a planetary scale?
– The fight for justice in the world plays a fundamental role. And equality is one of its key elements. Since the theme of justice is closely related to socialist ideas, we see a revival of its popularity in a broad sense. This is no longer classic Marxism, in third world countries we see a kind of fusion of Marxist ideas with the ideas of the fight against neocolonialism, for equality and justice. This can take both anarchic and moderate forms. One thing is clear: the demand for justice is very great. But the elites both in the world and in Russia will try to talk about it.
