Dear newsletter subscriber,
Have you ever wondered whether you perhaps pay too little tax? That’s exactly what some of the world’s richest people have been thinking: At the World Economic Forum in Davos in early 2025, 370 millionaires and billionaires demanded higher taxes on the super-rich. In an open letter, they described extreme wealth as posing a risk to democracy and social stability.
The super-rich are becoming increasingly numerous and ever wealthier worldwide, while the number of poor people is barely declining and in some regions is even rising. This should come as no surprise, given that economist Thomas Piketty showed in 2013 that the rate of return on capital has exceeded global economic growth since the 1980s. This has led to wealth increasing more quickly than earnings from employment – leading to the rich getting ever richer. The old adage thus no longer holds true: Economic growth does not always reduce poverty, especially if inequality rises. “Extreme wealth creates, not solves, extreme poverty,” writes Olivier de Schutter, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, and demands a cap on private wealth.
Another approach is currently being discussed by the G20: They are considering an international wealth tax of at least two percent on billionaires. This would be the next logical step after a minimum global corporate tax was agreed in 2021. Many super-rich individuals would hardly even notice a tax rate of two percent. And after all, like that other old adage “noblesse oblige”, is it not equally true that “richesse oblige”?
We hope you enjoy reading this newsletter. Please feel free to share your opinions, criticisms and suggestions by emailing us at euz.editor@dandc.eu.
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Kind regards,
Eva-Maria Verfürth
editor-in-chief of D+C |
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| © picture alliance/ASSOCIATED PRESS |
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Time to set a limit on extreme wealth |
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| © picture alliance/ASSOCIATED PRESS/Silvia Izquierdo |
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A global minimum tax rate for the super-rich |
In his latest article, Brazilian economist André de Mello e Souza supports the proposal by the G20 leaders to tax the ultra-rich – but he does not turn a blind eye to the reality that Donald Trump, dependent on the support of a billionaire tech bro gang, will do everything in his power to prevent a global wealth tax. |
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© picture alliance/Newscom/Dreamstime |
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Global oligarchy, shrouded in secrecy |
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Focus:
Working hard for a better life |
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is how much rich countries owe to African nations for climate damage, according to calculations by the advocacy group ActionAid, taking into account historical emissions, their harmful effects on the climate and the extent to which rich countries have benefited economically. The report also compares this figure with another: the $646 billion in debt that the countries on the continent owe to rich nations and global institutions. |
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| The ozone hole, which appears every spring in the southern hemisphere above Antarctica and partly over Australia has been gradually decreasing for about ten years. This development is apparently linked to the Montreal Protocol, which came into force in 1989 and banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which destroy the ozone layer. Ozone occurs naturally in the Earth’s stratosphere and acts as a kind of sunscreen, protecting the planet from the sun’s harmful UV rays. The ozone hole could even disappear completely by 2035. Click here for the study that proved all this. |
| What has also caught our interest |
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What if every woman simply took the day off?
We’d like to recommend an entertaining and very insightful documentary about the power of community organisation and peaceful resistance: On 24 October 1975, the women of Iceland went on strike for one day to protest unequal working conditions and to demand greater participation in society. It was the day Iceland stood still: Flights were cancelled, shops closed, newspapers delayed. An astonishing 90 % of Iceland’s women stayed out of work and home, leaving their children with their husbands. The impact of the collective “day off” was huge. Five years later, Iceland had the world’s first democratically elected female president and is now one of the world’s leading countries for gender equality. Every year on 24 October, the country’s women leave work early to raise awareness of gender inequality. |
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The slogan “A luta continua” is used today by activist movements around the world. In Africa, it is wielded by Nigerian students and Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, for example. Originally, the slogan was an expression of pan-African solidarity with Mozambique’s struggle for liberation from Portuguese colonial rule. Unfortunately, “the struggle continues” (the translation from Portuguese) still applies there today, writes Rehad Desai, who is currently working on a film about Mozambique, in Africa Is A Country. Since the controversial elections in October last year, more than 100 people have been killed in protests. Desai’s analysis of how South Africa’s dominance in the region perpetuates the colonial order for Mozambique is well worth reading. |
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Colonial heritage is part of everyday life in Africa because it is deeply embedded in contemporary societies through both material and immaterial legacies. In December, Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye announced plans to set up a new government agency tasked with renaming streets and public spaces to commemorate Senegalese people rather than French colonialists. An Al Jazeera report gives a voice to various people in Dakar who represent the range of opinions in many African societies: Intellectuals celebrate the measure, while the young underclass is not particularly interested in the name of the street where they try to earn a living – they demand that Faye lower the cost of living before addressing colonial heritage.
Two academics shed light on a related aspect in Africa Is A Country: Colonial archives, they write, have emancipatory potential for a truly anti-colonial future. However, in order to be able to utilise this potential, access and rights to these archives and their documents and artefacts must not only be secured for formerly colonised societies, but prioritised. |
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The SDG Alumni Project of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports advanced training seminars at German universities and research institutions for alumni from developing and emerging countries that take place between
1 September 2025 and 31 July 2026. Applications for funding for corresponding seminars on SDG-relevant topics can be submitted with immediate effect. This year, the focus will be on education, lifelong learning and information and communication technology.
Application deadline: 13 June |
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The International Summer Academy of the Institute for Peace and Dialogue (IPD) in Baku, taking place from 1–7 July 2025, offers participants both academic and practice-oriented training in the fields of peacebuilding, mediation, conflict resolution, international security and intercultural dialogue. The participation fee starts at € 1400. A 10 % discount in the form of a scholarship may be granted under certain conditions.
Application deadline:
5 June |
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Imprint
Publisher information: ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL gGmbH Service für Entwicklungsinitiativen
Publisher: Fazit Communication GmbH, Pariser Strasse 1, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Telephone: +49 (0)69 7591-3110 | Email: euz.editor@dandc.eu
Website: www.fazit.de | Managing Directors: Jonas Grashey, Hannes Ludwig |
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