This archive report was first published on 28 September 2019.
On a day when world leaders at the United Nations were intent on maintaining the status quo, a quiet corner of New York witnessed a glimmer of hope emerging from a new place.
It was not activists taking on the rich or bold economists imagining a new kind of economy, but leaders of governments who have come together in common cause to tackle extreme inequality and exclusion.
These progressive leaders, brought together by the Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven, are trying to tackle inequality in their countries and see the power of their unity as a means to achieve something greater.
Among them are the president of Ethiopia, who has got 15 million more children into school over the course of a decade, and the president of South Korea, who has set out to build a people-centered economy.
These governments are not perfect, but in coming together, they offer an alternative to the economic consensus that has defined our times.
They challenge the fatal assumption that inequality is inevitable, and instead, show that it is a political and policy choice.
As Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam International, notes, 'inequality is a lie' that has been perpetuated by a failed economic system.
With leaders like President Moon of South Korea boldly increasing the minimum wage and taxing the richest more, it is clear that a better world is possible.
As Byanyima says, 'I remain excited that the world can soon close the chapter on the brutally extreme unequal kind of economy that has dominated most of this past half century.'
Published on September 28, 2019 by Winnie Byanyima.
