THIS is with reference to the report ‘Pandemic has stirred extremism, hit poverty fight, says US report’ (April 12). The news report “reminded the world of its fragility” and “the inherent risks of high levels of interdependence”. These are things already known — very well known actually — to the discerning.

The major threat to the human race stems from pandemics, climate change and the financial challenges emanating from the inequalities within and between nations due to corporate capitalism and globalisation.

The so-called interdependence referred to by the report is the root cause of trouble for many a developing nation. Recent experiences show that countries more closely integrated with the world economy have been affected more severely by the vicissitudes of the global economy.

There seems to have developed a tacit understanding between the rich elite of the developed and the developing countries owing to which the working people of both the worlds find themselves at the losing end.

However, the developing world’s working classes have the most to lose. The poor and working people of the developed world are a little better off because their rich elite pass on a part of the spoils of exploitation obtained from unequal exchange with the developing world to their working people to appease trade/labour unions.

The developing countries need to understand the dynamics of this aspect of the global economy if they are to minimise the impact of all this on their lives.

S.H. Zaidi
Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2021