JANUARY 17, 2018
IF WE STAND TOGETHER AGAINST
POWERFUL SPECIAL INTERESTS WE CAN ELIMINATE POVERTY, INCREASE LIFE EXPECTANCY
AND TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE.
BY BERNIE SANDERS
Here is where we are as a
planet in 2018: after all of the wars, revolutions and international summits of
the past 100 years, we live in a world where a tiny handful of incredibly
wealthy individuals exercise disproportionate levels of control over the
economic and political life of the global community.
Difficult as it is to
comprehend, the fact is that the six richest people on Earth now own
more wealth than the bottom half of the world’s population – 3.7
billion people. Further, the top 1% now have more
money than the bottom 99%. Meanwhile, as the billionaires flaunt their
opulence, nearly one in seven people struggle to survive on less than $1.25
(90p) a day and – horrifyingly – some 29,000 children die daily from
entirely preventable causes such as diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia.
At the same time, all over the
world corrupt elites, oligarchs and anachronistic monarchies spend billions on
the most absurd extravagances. The Sultan of Brunei owns some 500
Rolls-Royces and lives in one of the world’s largest palaces, a building with
1,788 rooms once valued at $350m. In the Middle East, which boasts five of the
world’s 10 richest
monarchs, young royals jet-set around the globe while the region suffers
from the highest youth
unemployment rate in the world, and at least 29 million children are
living in poverty without access to decent housing, safe water or nutritious
food. Moreover, while hundreds of millions of people live in abysmal
conditions, the arms merchants of the world grow increasingly rich as
governments spend trillions of dollars on weapons.
In the United States, Jeff
Bezos – founder of Amazon, and currently the world’s wealthiest person – has a
net worth of more than $100bn.
He owns at least four
mansions, together worth many tens of millions of dollars. As if that
weren’t enough, he is spending $42m on the construction of a clock
inside a mountain in Texas that will supposedly run for 10,000 years.
But, in Amazon warehouses across the country, his
employees often work long, grueling hours and earn wages so low
they rely
on Medicaid, food stamps and public housing paid for by US taxpayers.
Not only that, but at a time
of massive wealth and income inequality, people all over the world are losing
their faith in democracy – government by the people, for the people and of the
people. They increasingly recognise that the global economy has been rigged to
reward those at the top at the expense of everyone else, and they are angry.
Millions of people are working
longer hours for lower wages than they did 40 years ago, in both the United
States and many other countries. They look on, feeling helpless in the face of
a powerful few who buy elections, and a political and economic elite that grows
wealthier, even as their own children’s future grows dimmer.
In the midst of all of this
economic disparity, the world is witnessing an alarming rise in
authoritarianism and rightwing extremism – which feeds off, exploits and
amplifies the resentments of those left behind, and fans the flames of ethnic
and racial hatred.
Now, more than ever, those of
us who believe in democracy and progressive government must bring low-income
and working people all over the world together behind an agenda that reflects
their needs. Instead of hate and divisiveness, we must offer a message of hope
and solidarity. We must develop an international movement that takes on the
greed and ideology of the billionaire class and leads us to a world of
economic, social and environmental justice. Will this be an easy struggle?
Certainly not. But it is a fight that we cannot avoid. The stakes are just too
high.
As Pope
Francis correctly noted in a speech at the Vatican in 2013: “We have
created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and
heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which
is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.” He continued: “Today everything
comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the
powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find
themselves excluded and marginalised: without work, without possibilities,
without any means of escape.”
A new and international
progressive movement must commit itself to tackling structural inequality both
between and within nations. Such a movement must overcome “the cult of money”
and “survival of the fittest” mentalities that the pope warned against. It must
support national and international policies aimed at raising standards of
living for poor and working-class people – from full employment and a living
wage to universal higher education, healthcare and fair trade agreements. In
addition, we must rein in corporate power and prevent the environmental
destruction of our planet as a result of climate change.
Here is just one example of
what we have to do. Just a few years ago, the Tax Justice Network estimated that
the wealthiest people and largest corporations throughout the world have
been stashing
at least $21tn-$32tn in offshore tax havens in order to avoid paying
their fair share of taxes. If we work together to eliminate offshore tax abuse,
the new revenue that would be generated could put an end to global hunger,
create hundreds of millions of new jobs, and substantially reduce extreme
income and wealth inequality. It could be used to move us aggressively toward
sustainable agriculture and to accelerate the transformation of our energy system
away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources of power.
Taking on the greed of Wall
Street, the power of gigantic multinational corporations and the influence of
the global billionaire class is not only the moral thing to do – it is a
strategic geopolitical imperative. Research by
the United Nations development programme has shown that citizens’ perceptions of
inequality, corruption and exclusion are among the most consistent predictors
of whether communities will support rightwing extremism and violent groups.
When people feel that the cards are stacked against them and see no way forward
for legitimate recourse, they are more likely to turn to damaging solutions
that only exacerbate the problem.
This is a pivotal moment in
world history. With the explosion in advanced technology and the breakthroughs
this has brought, we now have the capability to substantially increase global
wealth fairly. The means are at our disposal to eliminate poverty, increase
life expectancy and create an inexpensive and non-polluting global energy
system.
This is what we can do if we
have the courage to stand together and take on the powerful special interests
who simply want more and more for themselves. This is what we must do for the
sake of our children, grandchildren and the future of our planet.
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