The people are merely a business proposition

THE British development charity Oxfam converted conspicuous facts into chilling figures at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of $ 1.65 trillion, which is equivalent to the collective asset of the poorest 3.5 billion of the world's population. If we calculate the wealth of the 1% richest people in the world, it amounts to $ 110 trillion, which is 65 times the earthly possessions of the poorest half on the globe. Next time you see tattered bills scattered in a begging bowl held out by an indigent person, you know where the rest of the world's money has gone!
The fact that so few people have so much money is not exactly news. It has been true through the centuries that a handful of people have enjoyed power and wealth while the vast majority scrounged three square meals. There were times when kings and emperors virtually owned their subjects, and everybody living during their reigns lived at their mercy. The monarchs squandered money on creature comforts, wars and luxuries, while their subjects went to bed hungry. These sybarites threw more money at the feet of dancing girls in one night than the less fortunate counted in a lifetime.
In their synergetic relationship, poverty has improved in tandem with affluence. What the Oxfam report shows is that the affluence has grown many times faster than poverty reduction, which is why inequality widened. And, the British charity has dug into its dynamics to understand how. The inequality has been driven by a "power grab" by plutocratic elites, who have learned to exploit the political process to tweak the rules of economics.
That should explain why so many of our politicians are involved in business and so many of our businessmen are involved in politics. It also explains the unholy nexus between these two segments, while others are desperately trying to emulate their examples. Last week, we read the news of miscreants who dug a tunnel into a bank vault in Kishoreganj. Others have been busy digging paperwork tunnels to defraud banks of billions. Stock market remains an open house where politicians and businessmen periodically prowl to shake down investors.
Thus our democratic republic has turned kleptocratic, theft elevated to second nature of this nation. Poverty eradication has diminished absolute poverty, yet relative poverty may not have significantly changed. The poor may not have gotten poorer, but the rich have got richer. Inequality in terms of the gap between average low income and average high income has spread. The goalposts have shifted without changing the game.
It also changed the centre of gravity of the People's Republic, power going from many to few. British playwright Tom Stoppard writes in Act 1 of his play Jumper that it's not the voting that's democracy, it's the counting.What we saw in the last election is that separation. The common people still retained some power of voting, while the power of counting was gone from them.
That leaves our republic mangled in its original intention. It belongs to its people as absurdly as a signboard operates a shop. The signboard merely tells what's available inside, not who runs the business. This business runs like a convenience store under civil dictatorship. It runs like a commissary under military rule.
Thus, inequality being a global affliction it's eating into the entrails of egalitarianism everywhere. In developed countries, that erosion is somewhat contained by strong institutions. In a country like ours, where both people and institutions are weak, democracy has turned into a hoax under the inexorable audacity of money and its tantrums.
Bangladesh is a people's republic not because it's a populous country, but because the people's will is supposed to reign supreme. It's the people who fought for this country. It's they who got killed, were dishonoured, lost their loved ones and fled to India as refugees. But the fruit of their sacrifices is now being swindled by an oligarchic clout of politicians and businessmen.
In return, it's undeniable that people of this country are now better fed and better clad. They live in better homes and have access to more amenities. When politicians and businessmen brag about doing so much for the country and turning the economy around, they rightfully do so. The per capita income has shot up, purchasing power multiplied and foreign exchange reserves piled up.
Meanwhile, the unending saga continues because freedom is still an elusive dream. The people belong to the country; the country doesn't belong to them. Subjugated earlier by foreign masters, home grown masterminds now subordinate them. The map, flag and constitution have changed, but the fate of people hangs in the balance. Mere headcounts for politicians and businessmen, the helpless people of this country, at best, are a pliable, viable business proposition.

The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star.
Email: badrul151@yahoo.com