Billionaire colonialism

The unearned nature of much of the extreme wealth of the ultra-rich is arguably a result of colonialism and its impacts. Today most billionaires still live in the rich countries of the Global North, despite these countries being home to just one-fifth of the global population.

Historical colonialism and the ruling class

Colonialism, and the ideas that underpinned it, allowed the exploitation of the working-class majority to be taken to an even greater level of extremity. Tens of millions of people across the world have suffered because the ideas of racism and white supremacy gave justification and moral license to unprecedented and systematic levels of brutality, exploitation, and, at times, extermination.