Last week, the Fight Inequality Alliance (FIA), in which the Global Alliance for Tax Justice is proud to be a new partner, held its first global week of action.
As FIA convenor Jenny Ricks relates, “while elites met at Davos, people around the world mobilised and raised their voices to demand real action to fix the inequality emergency we are in and our broken politics. We made our message clear that we will not stand for corporate greed and the exploitation of women, minorities and workers. Seeing the action spread across the globe from last Saturday was inspiring – we know of people in 27 countries participating, from sharing messages on social media, to holding rallies, concerts, roundtables, blogging, media debates and more. From the Netherlands to Nepal, and South Africa to Slovenia, people raised their voices in a show of collective strength. And importantly, we gave each other much needed hope for the struggles ahead through our #sharinghope action.”
As the week started, people took to the streets to hear the concerns of ordinary citizens in Abuja, Nigeria. In Zambia hundreds of people – including the Minister of Planning – gathered to launch a week of activity supported by church leaders, farmers, bus drivers & senior citizens. Hundreds also attended a national campaign launch in Vietnam, galvanised by a new report finding that it takes 10 years for the poorest people to earn what the richest make in just 1 day. #fightinequality was already trending on twitter in South Africa, and Naomi Klein had supported the campaign.
“The conversation on inequality, Jenny notes, is not new – neither on the frontlines where people have been living and struggling against the daily realities that inequality creates, nor now in Davos. But the crisis we are in is systemic. And last week we started directing the conversation to the real, radical solutions that people need and are fighting for, not the hate filled and divisive rhetoric of leaders promising change but who will not deliver. This is where change will be built from.
There was also hope and inspiration from around the world over the weekend as Women’s Marches took over the streets of Washington DC and far beyond. People power and youth activism in the form of the #gambiahasdecided movement also helped ensure the democratic will of the people would be respected in the Gambia with newly elected President Adama Barrow finally coming to power.
From this week, my hope is that we have begun to find more collective power and voice for the struggles ahead – and knowing there is a wider network of allies to call on. We must resist, organise and build power for the road ahead”.
We convey FIA’s heartfelt thank you to everyone for making this happen, and invite you to watch and share this short video :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8_1aBWxRP4c-Kv-Yv3sYtA?feature=emb_ch_name_ex
If you took part in the campaigning, you can also help evaluate by filling in a survey: here for national level, here for international or regional levels.
Moreover, note that through an inclusive consultation process, the Fight Inequality Alliance is building a Shared Vision that will articulate what we seek to achieve. The current draft of the shared vision is available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.