We live in an increasingly unjust world, full of contrasts. A world in which wealth is in the hands of a few fat cats. Oxfam's data makes this clear.
We live in an increasingly divided and unequal world: it almost sounds like a mantra, repeated for years now by economists, scholars and humanitarian organisations. At first glance, however, it can also seem like a rather abstract statement. Let us try to put it this way: eight people, on their own, hold in their hands the same wealth that the poorest half of the global population must share between them. That is, 3.6 billion people. This is no exaggeration, but the startling reality painted by Oxfam's annual report "An economy for the 99%", published just as the world's most powerful leaders prepare to meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
1 per cent of the global population owns more net wealth than the remaining 99 per cent. We have reached this point after decades in which, step by step, the gap in wealth distribution has grown ever sharper and deeper. Between 1988 and 2011, the incomes of the poorest 10 per cent of humanity increased by less than $3 a year. Meanwhile, those of the richest 1 per cent grew 182 times as much.
According to Oxfam, there are no signs of a reversal on the horizon. Quite the opposite. "It is the very nature of our economies and the principles underpinning our economic systems that have brought us to this extreme, unsustainable and unjust situation," the report warns. Thus, over the next twenty years, five hundred people will pass on to their heirs $2,100 billion, a sum greater than the GDP of India, where 1.3 billion people live. At this rate, within the next 25 years we could see the world's first trillionaire emerge. That is, the first individual who, alone, owns more than one trillion dollars.
Within this alarming picture, our country is no exception. In 2016, the richest 1 per cent of Italians held in their hands 25 per cent of national net wealth. That is, more than 30 times the resources of the poorest 30 per cent of our fellow citizens. In the list of the world's wealthiest people compiled by Forbes, Oxfam continues, 151 Italians feature. The top seven together own 80 billion euros, the same amount that the poorest 30 per cent of the population must make do with. We are talking about Maria Franca Fissolo (widow of Michele Ferrero), Leonardo Del Vecchio, Stefano Pessina (chief executive of pharmaceutical company Walgreens Boots Alliance), Massimiliana Landini Aleotti (head of pharmaceutical company Menarini), Silvio Berlusconi, Giorgio Armani and Augusto and Giorgio Perfetti (owners of the eponymous confectionery company Perfetti Van Melle).
At the root of such an unjust society lie imbalances in taxation, the political weight of lobbies, barriers to women's economic participation and many other structural problems. "Essential public services such as healthcare and education face cuts, yet multinationals and the super-rich are allowed to evade taxes with impunity. The voice of the 99% goes unheard because governments show themselves incapable of tackling extreme inequality, continuing to serve the interests of the wealthiest 1%: large corporations and the most prosperous elites," declares Roberto Barbieri, director general of Oxfam Italia. A way out, however, is possible. According to Oxfam, the time has come to change course and build an economy made for 99 per cent of the population, not just the privileged few. But how? "Responsible and far-sighted governments, businesses that act in the interests of workers and producers, the valorisation of the environment, women's rights and a solid system of fair taxation are the founding elements of this more humane economy."
This world full of contrasts is at the centre of the project 1% privilege in a time of global inequality, undertaken from 2013 by Myles Little, photo editor at Time Magazine. It is a selection of images taken by some of the most celebrated photographers in the world, brought together in a photography book and a travelling exhibition. Images that point the finger, clearly and unequivocally, at the contrast between the privileges of the few and the deprivations of the majority of the global population.
