Somehow a long-time Kenyan activist with a track record of fighting inequality and injustice got invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week.
That would be me. I arrived in Davos for an event I’ve been denouncing, for 25 of its 50 years, as a gathering of elites looking to put a smiley face on the inequality crisis and the climate emergency. Off-camera, they network and make deals. On camera, they talk about the need to reverse climate change or the long-running rise in global inequality, then finish their champagne and take their limo to their private jet back home. I was there to speak truth to power.
As the Pan Africa Coordinator for theFight Inequality Alliance, my message to the WEF is Abolish Billionaires. It’s rooted in the recognition that the billionaire class represents a catastrophic system failure. The massive concentration of resources in the hands of a few individuals is warping our societies and democracy itself, and is a betrayal of the principles of human welfare proclaimed by virtually all governments and all belief systems. The immiserating poverty and climate emergency engulfing our world are a reproach to the global capitalism that breeds billionaires. That betrayal must end now.
