Elite tokenism

We know that we live in an unequal world. But exactly how unequal is it? And where does Pakistan stand in the global picture? While the world’s elite assembled at the controversial World Economic Forum, an Oxfam report revealed a dark picture. According to data collected, the world’s richest one percent own 82 percent of the world’s wealth. The poorest half of the world’s population have less than one percent of the world’s wealth. This is a grossly unequal world, and it seems it has only become more unequal since the financial crisis of 2008. Billionaires have become richer while the wealth of workers has become stagnant since 2010. It is estimated that a new billionaire is created every two days. There are those who would ask if this is not a picture of unprecedented economic growth. According to Oxfam, this is really a sign of a failing economic system. Furthermore, the wealth division remains more obvious across gender lines, with female workers earning less in less secure jobs. Amidst all the talk of a global wealth tax and curbing offshore money transfers, the reality is that there was little mood for serious change at the annual do at Davos, where the richest individuals in the world are given an opportunity to rub shoulders with the world’s power elite.

The WEF has come to represent for many campaigners that is wrong with our unequal world. There was a time when politicians were meant to be the ones who would curb the excesses of the economic elites. No more of such utopian ideals. Inequality has become a token word in the language of political and economic elites. But this unequal world does not need tokenism, but action. So where does Pakistan lie in all of this? The country does not rank terribly in the Inclusive Development Index – coming in at 47th. But this will be little relief to Pakistan’s poorest citizens and working classes who have seen little to no improvement in their actual lives. The ranking seems strange when contrasted with warnings about Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change and water scarcity. The WEF’s development index seems to be a way for countries to boast that they are doing better than others without being able to indicate whether inequality within them has increased or decreased. This part comes down to a debate over statistics. In Pakistan, poverty was reduced by over 20 percent simply by changing the methodology by which it is measured. The WEF has put inclusive development at the top of its agenda for almost a decade – but the reality is that the world is moving towards an even more unequal future. The need to combat global inequality is urgent. What is even more urgent is to figure out who will stand for the 82 percent.