Inequality, class, and power in global perspective

feminist reflections

Pamela K. Brubaker

pp. 157-173

in: Joerg Rieger (ed), Religion, theology, and class, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013

Abstract

Although the European debt crisis dominated the 2012 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (January 25–29) in Davos, Switzerland, according to the Associated Press "for the first time the growing inequality between the planet's haves and have-nots became an issue, thanks largely to the Arab Spring uprisings, the Occupy movement, and other protests around the globe."¹ The fifty or so World Economic Forum Occupiers, who camped out in igloos throughout the meeting, identified these inequalities not as haves and have-nots, but following other Occupy movements, as "the 1 percent" and the "99 percent." Their "Call to Action" to Occupy the World Economic Forum, charged "This year, we will not let them exclude us, the—99%!" They called on others to join them "and stand up against the WEF and the 1% that are making the rules of this unfair global economy."²