I’m feeling outraged, with a strong sense of déjà-vu. From my vantage point in the United Kingdom—where inequality and social injustice are in particularly sharp focus—we’re on the brink of yet another social and economic crisis. Even more so than in the rest of Europe, energy prices and the cost of living are rocketing.

Yet what is happening at the top? What are our leaders doing? Why are some people, yet again, making eye-watering financial gains while others face destitution and a real fear of being cold and hungry this winter?

Read the article by Kate Picket

Fifty million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery . Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.

The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.

Most cases of forced labour (86 per cent) are found in the private sector. Forced labour in sectors other than commercial sexual exploitation accounts for 63 per cent of all forced labour, while forced commercial sexual exploitation represents 23 per cent of all forced labour. Almost four out of five of those in forced commercial sexual exploitation are women or girls.

Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world, and cuts across ethnic, cultural and religious lines. More than half (52 per cent) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries.

State-imposed forced labour accounts for 14 per cent of people in forced labour.

Read the ILO Report Forced Labour and Forced Marriage

As the cost of living soars, defending the living standards of workers and their families has become the primary concern of trade unions.

EU Energy Ministers meeting to-day!

Read the ITUC article

Rampant inflation, driven by profit-gouging by powerful corporations that control energy, transport, food and other vital commodities is sending yet more workers and their families into poverty.

More than half of households are struggling to get by and 10% are unable to meet the cost of essentials.

The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have had dramatic impacts on supply of goods, and corporate profiteering from these crises continues unchecked.

This comes on top of a decades-long decline in the share of prosperity…

Read ITUC’s article

The strings attached to an IMF loan, which officially go by such deceptively innocuous-sounding names as “conditionalities” and “structural adjustment programs,” have in the past created such social chaos across the globe, all the while making claims that it develops the economy of whatever host country it attaches itself to.

Read the article

Inflation’s causes are structural. The immediate driver is profiteering and speculation — and a set of rules that encourage and protect such anti-social behaviour. But this opportunism rests on three underlying factors.

Read this brief from Progressive International

The ominous warnings keep coming non-stop: some of the world’s developing nations, mostly in Africa and Asia, are heading towards mass hunger and starvation.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned last week that as many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night while the number of those facing acute food insecurity has soared — from 135 million to 345 million — since 2019. A total of 50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.

But in what seems like a cruel paradox the US Department of Agriculture estimates that a staggering $161 billion worth of food is dumped yearly into landfills in the United States.

Read the article by Thalif Deen

But take care: some countries do not want backpackers anymore, they are looking for the High Net Worth Tourist – if you are looking for a nice place to hide next year, look at this:

Only rich tourists welcome as these 6 countries take controversial step to stamp out overtourism | Euronews