It's been out there in the open only that we have been too busy to recognize it. Now comes Anand Gridharadas. This review of his book WINNER TAKES ALL, points at "a new gilded age, where the rich and powerful fight for equality and justice any way they can–EXCEPT ways that threaten the social order and their position atop it!". This should be a good read.
Yesterday Anand Gridharadas held me spellbound as he was interviewed on AMANPOUR by correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.
As usual, I want to bend this discussion to Nigeria, the only country, warts and all, that I have ever called my own. Does the cap fit? In my engagements I have come away with this general impression that even members of the vanishing middle-class, who manage to still send their children to private schools within and outside Nigeria; routinely go on summer vacations beyond these shores, THINK that until they measure up with the likes of Aliko Dangote and Jim Ovia, they cannot afford to spare a though for the structural inequities that keep the poor in their place. Some of my colleagues, regarding me as powerless, have asked to my face why I bother to engage in the issues like I do. When I compare myself to the unknown John Lewis of 60years ago, I can only conclude that I am gifted. I hope that I am right.
As for these really rich, according to Gridharadas, simply forget them. You should not look for salvation at their hands. A decade ago, an aging Gen T Y Danjuma complained to the hearing of hapless Nigerians that he didn't know what to do with his unearned $millions. There are many others. They keep insulting us with their many Foundations. Despite all the soundbytes, maintaining the status quo remains their primary concern. The feel-good derived from philanthropy is simply an icing to the cake.
Going back to the truly global linkages, I have always wondered why no international bodies have reacted to or answered the poser by our own Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo: BERLIN TO BRUSSELS - Will Europe Underdevelop Africa Again? It is funny that as British Prime Minister Theresa May feels under extreme pressure from her Brexit negotiations unraveling before her eyes, she runs to Africa for succour. To pursue the interest of Nigeria and South Africa? I just wonder.
I have almost lost all hope about a positive change in the world social and economic order without some revolutionary upheavals. Not the US, Europe, Russia, Africa could be immune. It is quite scary, not with every tin pot dictator brandishing nuclear weapons.
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