S2 Ep39: Wealth and Power 3. The New Connected World (with Roger Van Zwanenberg)

The present reeks of the past. The world we live in is not the result of some natural law. It was created by people, like you and I, humans who walked, breathed, ate and drank. The contemporary world is a result of people making decisions, decisions that would give them more power, access to more wealth, and grant them the influence to safeguard their wealth and power. If they could make it, you and I can unmake it. 

This is the third and final episode of our three part series, in which we look at how Europe and its offshoots came to be dominant globally. In the first episode we looked at Racism and how it was used to justify European imperialism. In the second, we took a closer look at how colonialism unfolded.  In this final episode, Shaun Matsheza continues his conversation with Roger van Zwanenberg, the founder of pluto books, an independent publisher of radical, left‐wing non­‐fiction books. Roger has written a new global history, called Wealth and Power, which he is sharing in a series of blogs.  Roger’s work traces the roller coaster story of the past 500 years or so of human history, focusing on how Europe and its offshoots amassed great wealth and power at the expense of the rest of the world. 

In this episode, we explore how wealth and power manifest in the contemporary world. How does power play out today? 

 Julius Malema Oxford Union Address
Harlot's Ghost

Keywords:
decolonial, colonialism, history, United Nations, African Union, World Bank, IMF