Takers, not makers: The unjust poverty and unearned wealth of colonialism

FOCUS

This report by Oxfam International, written by Anjela Taneja, Anthony Kamanda, Chandreyi Guharay Gomes, Dana Abed, Max Lawson and Neelanjana Mukhia, was published on January 20, 2025.

It challenges the idea that extreme wealth is a reward for extreme talent and argues that most billionaire wealth is not earned but rather taken. It states that inheritance, cronyism and monopoly power has generated extreme generational wealth that is neither earned, nor taxed is most countries. Moreover, wealth transfers disproportionately to the ultra-rich of the global north from the poor people in the global south. Such systemic inequalities are further deepened through the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank – institutions that are highly influential in shaping the global economic system and remain largely influenced by countries of the global north.

The report argues that governments must set global and national goals for inequality reduction and  former colonial governments must make reparations for their previous crimes. It also calls for taxation of the richest to end extreme wealth inequality. The report also encourages cooperation between countries of the global south to promote economic independence and demand reforms in international economic institutions.

This 97-page report is divided into five chapters: Colonial inheritance - unjust poverty and unearned wealth (Chapter 1); The wealth of the super-rich and the colonial past (Chapter 2); Fruit from the poisoned tree - the ongoing impact of colonialism (Chapter 3); The buttresses of colonial extraction (Chapter 4); and Acting together to dethrone the ultra-rich aristocracy and decolonize our economy (Chapter 5).

    FACTOIDS

  1. The report states that 44 per cent of humanity is currently living below the World Bank poverty line of 6.85 US dollars per day. This amounts to almost 3.6 billion people, the same number as in 1990.

  2. The idea of the super-rich becoming rich on their own endeavours is a fiction, the report says. As many as 60 per cent of billionaire wealth comes either from inheritance, cronyism, or enjoying monopoly power.

  3. All of the world’s billionaires under 30 years of age inherited their wealth, the report notes. This present and future trend in wealth inheritance, dubbed “the great wealth transfer” is expected to transfer 5.2 trillion US dollars from 1,000 wealthy people to their heirs over the next two to three decades. With taxation policies as they stand, this is expected to be a largely untaxed transfer.

  4. Around 68 per cent of the total billionaires (possessing 77 per cent of the total billionaire wealth) live in the global north. This, despite the fact that only one-fifth of the total global population lives in the global north, highlights the systemic and historical wealth inequality at play.

  5. Historical colonialism aided many countries in large-scale wealth accumulation and modern-day colonial systems aid in maintaining it. The report notes that between 1765 and 1900 wealth equalling 64.82 trillion US dollars was plundered from India to the United Kingdom.

  6. Extreme inequality is rooted in the colonial history of wealth extraction, genocides, and abuse. In the Banda Islands of Indonesia, the Dutch East India Company massacred nearly the entire Bandanese population, which allowed it to gain monopoly power over spice trade, the report notes. This happened because of cooperation between the governments in the global north and their economic and military power.

  7. In the United States of America, a study of members of Congress revealed that those whose ancestors owned 16 or more slaves are far richer than those whose families have no historical links to slave ownership. The former had a median wealth of 5.6 million US dollars, considerably higher than the threshold to be the richest five per cent of the US population.

  8. The report also notes that several of today’s big companies and financial institutions have been directly or indirectly benefitted from slavery. These include Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Deloitte, Price Waterhouse Coopers, JP Morgan Chase, NatWest, and ABN AMRO.

  9. The report states that 91.4 per cent of the world’s borders were drawn during the period of historic colonialism and only one per cent were drawn before 1500. These borders demarcating nation states were drawn by colonial powers without the consultation of the inhabitants of those territories. These artificial borders are the reason behind many of the economic and political conflicts today.

  10. The report states that nations of the global south are given unequal agency and representation internationally. Nations from the global north hold 47 per cent of the total seats in the United Nations Security Council despite representing only 17 per cent of the global population. Also, as a practice, the posts of the head of political affairs at UNICEF and the World Bank Food Programme are reserved for the United States of America, the head of peacekeeping for France, and the head of humanitarian affairs for the United Kingdom.

  11. The net flow of resources of the world has been from the global south to the global north. This has been facilitated by a rigged financial system with lower borrowing costs for the global, artificially lowered prices of exports from global north countries, and exploitation of workers from the global south.


    Focus and Factoids by Karen Chhaya.

AUTHOR

Anjela Taneja, Anthony Kamande, Chandreyi Guharay Gomez, Dana Abed, Max Lawson, Neelanjana Mukhia

COPYRIGHT

Oxfam International

PUBLICATION DATE

20 Jan, 2025

TAGS

#wealth-inequality #colonisation #billionaires #poverty

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