Examining Governments’ Commitment to Reducing Inequality
Anthony Kamande, Oxfam’s Inequality Research Coordinator, reflects on growing up in Kenya and the launch of Oxfam’s latest ‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality’ Index 2022 As I sat down to write this article, I reflected a little bit on the power of public services. The fifth-born…
Climate Change is a Class Issue
By Max Lawson France, 2018. The country is paralysed by a huge series of protests against moves by President Macron to raise green taxation on fuel, whilst simultaneously abolishing the wealth tax on the super-rich. The protestors become known as the ‘Gilet Jaune’ or Yellow…
Explaining Oxfam’s Projections for Extreme Poverty in 2022
By Max Lawson This blog responds to Noah Smiths’ substack criticism of Oxfam’s extreme poverty numbers. Dear Noah, First of all, I would like to thank you for the scrutiny of our numbers, which I really believe increases accountability. As we did a couple of…
Austerity is Not the Answer to Africa’s Colliding Crises
By Anthony Kamande Our continent faces droughts and spiking prices that are pushing millions into hunger and poverty, a debt crisis and the ongoing pandemic. So why are countries cutting billions in spending? Anthony Kamande introduces a new Oxfam Pan Africa briefing based on our…
CUI BONO COVID?
By Hernan Saenz Cortes Cui Bono? is one of those legal-jargon phrases that all law students (should) know. For the rest of us, it sounds like another Latin phrased that is used only by those who had a very expensive education. However, answering it can…
In East Africa, the Pandemic has Pushed Millions out of Work: Here’s what Governments Need to do
Anthony Kamande Out of the blue over Christmas, while I was visiting my home village some 200km from Nairobi, a helicopter landed. This was extraordinary: my village only got electricity in 2017 and an event like this had never happened before. (Even now, as most…
“AN INCREDIBLE EXPLOSION OF INEQUALITY” – with Renowned Economist, Branko Milanovic
By Elizabeth Njambi We are witnessing a COVID-19 driven explosion in inequality. This week, Oxfam released its annual report, Inequality Kills, showing that the pandemic is killing at least 1 person every 4 seconds, while the ten richest men have doubled their fortunes during this…
Beating back the Billionaire Variant
By Anthony Kamande In the informal settlement area of Kawangware in Nairobi, my friend Joe, a nurse, is quarantining in his small room after getting COVID-19 for the second time. He’s less concerned about the virus than his finances, which have deteriorated severely in the…
The Role of Aid in Reparations for the Harm of Colonialism
By Tariq Ahmad, Sara Duvisac and Keny Navarrete Viewing aid and development finance in light of the calls for reparations deserves serious (and long-overdue) consideration. Aid as a part of reparatory justice would not only change the reasons for ‘why’ traditional northern donors provide aid…
Lebanon is collapsing, and our ruling elites are watching from their superyachts
By Dana Abed and Sasha Al Hilani Lebanon, that small country on the Mediterranean, is rocked and rotten by core inequalities, that make life today on its premises insufferable – unless you are, of course, part of the oligarchy! For the past two years, Lebanon…