I Wonder What They Think?

When I was a teenager and a young man, during the 1960s and 1970s, the world was divided into unequal segments. Sometimes these were labelled developed/undeveloped (later underdeveloped) nations. One depiction was Global North/Global South – a rather sanitised portrayal. Sometimes three divisions were pictured; First World, Second World, Third World, much the same way that social classes were demarcated. We all knew which class and what world had most of the wealth. To make that clear some referred to the inequality in stark reality – rich and poor.

Plus, then, there was no Internet.

Today we still have rich and poor, both between and within nations. Arguably, the gap between rich and poor has increased over the past few decades. The ‘World Social Report 2025’ notes that two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries in which inequality is growing. One-third of the world's population live on an income of between US$2.15 and US$6.85 per day. Even a minor setback can push people into extreme poverty. As it is, one in ten people in the world (more than 800 million people) live in extreme poverty right now, with 600 million of these living in sub-Saharan Africa,

But, we have the Internet.

In the past few months on the Internet I have seen posts from people writing about, and displaying photos of; their overseas trips, the sumptuous meals they have consumed in elegant restaurants, and the new EV (Electric Vehicle) or Hybrid they have purchased.

As I read these posts I wondered: I wonder what they think? ‘They’ being the 800 million people living in poverty.

(Please note that what follows is not a personal criticism of those posts I have just alluded to. What follows is simply an observation on just how unequally divided the world is.)

Let me try (most likely insufficiently and inexpertly) to fit into the shoes of those 800 million and try to understand that question.

Travel

Only around one in ten people in the world travel internationally by aeroplane. Most of these are people who live in the ‘rich’ world – Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Furthermore, citizens of these nations undertake around 2 – 2.5 air trips per capita, per year.

Citizens of ‘rich’ nations leave their countries and enter other countries with a passport almost entirely without restriction.

Meanwhile, in 2024, 122.6 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes. 43.7 million of these are refugees, meaning that they have had to flee their own country and seek refuge and safety in another country.

Refugees cannot simply fly from one country to another without restriction. They are not tourists. You won’t see any travel photos up on the Internet.

I wonder what they think?

Food

Around 2.3 billion people in 67 countries are facing moderate or severe levels of food insecurity.’ Residents of Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali are at severe risk, with almost 2 million people on the ‘brink of famine.’

Children are at particular risk with half of all deaths of children aged under 5 attributable to malnutrition.

You can bet that not too many photos of meagre bowls of rice or other grain appear on the Internet.

I wonder what they think?

Electric Vehicles

In the world of the automobile the Electric Vehicle (EV) and/or Hybrid vehicle is the latest vehicle of choice amongst the world’s ‘rich’ nations. Originally touted as a response to carbon emissions and climate change, many of these purchases today represent the next status symbol acquisition.

For many in ‘poor’ nations, and especially indigenous communities, EVs represent the next phase of neo-colonialism. To manufacture an EV requires a greater variety of minerals than does the traditional combustion vehicle. Many of these minerals (e.g. cobalt, lithium) are found in the lands of traditional First Nations people. To get at them requires communities to be relocated and, far too often, lands and waterways to be polluted.

One of the main sources of lithium, for example, is the Tibetan Plateau. In May 2016 hundreds of protestors in the city of Tagong, on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, threw dead fish onto the streets. The dead fish had come from the Liqi River where toxic waste from the Gazizhou Rongda Lithium mine wreaked havoc.¹

I wonder what they think? In this case we can read exactly what they think. A Tibetan website declares that ‘Green transport in one place should not come at the cost of environmental and social damage in another.’

Internet Access

Having pondered these three examples of how desperately unequal our world is I then had another thought. It was a thought that brought me up short. I was hoist by my own petard.

Here I am, using the Internet, to ask what those who are not rich enough to have access to the Internet think of our travel, meals, and purchase of EVs. In 2023 only 63% of the world’s population had access to the Internet. Less than 30% of those living in sub-Saharan Africa have access to the Internet.

My question has changed. I now find myself asking: I wonder what I think of this inequality?

Note:

1. Washington Post, 26 December 2016.