Western and ‘Restern’ worlds drift further apart
We must close the huge historical imbalance between the rich and poor — but going to Davos is not the solution — something much more radical is required, writes Sampie Terreblanche
Why is the gap between rich and poor widening so fast, globally? The World Economic Forum leaders meeting in Davos, Switzerland last week had no structural or historical sense. Growing income inequality, environmental damage and ever-higher financial-market risks have significantly impaired our ability to transform technological progress and wealth formation into a long-term sustainable developmental model. We cannot hope to remedy the brokenness of our modern economic system without understanding the economic, social and political drivers that have brought us here, and that continue to dictate the narrative of institutionalised poverty and globalised inequality. From 1500 until 1800 all the maritime empire-building countries were Western European nations engaged in empire building in the Americas, in Africa, in Asia, and (to a lesser extent) in Eastern Europe and Russia. The persistence of this phenomenon is the single most important factor in the Westernisation of the world. Genoc...
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