Jayati Ghosh has a new article in Social Europe on the lethal nature of inequality:
The pandemic brought home to us a hard truth. Unequal access to incomes and opportunities does more than create unjust, unhealthy and unhappy societies—it kills people.
Over the past two years, people have died when they contracted an infectious disease because they did not get vaccines in time, even though those vaccines could have been more widely produced and distributed if the technology had been shared. They have died because they did not get essential hospital care or oxygen when they needed it, because of shortages in underfunded public health systems. They have died because other illnesses and diseases could not be treated in time, as public health facilities were overburdened and they could not afford private care.
They have died because of despair and desperation at the loss of livelihood. They have died of hunger because they could not afford to buy food. And they have died because their governments could not or would not provide the social protection needed to survive the crisis.
While they died, the richest people in the world became richer than ever—and some of the largest companies made unprecedented profits.
