Being desi, it is no surprise that a story written by a highly educated fellow desi containing phrase "green colonialism" would grab my attention. There was a lot to absorb and learn from her relatively short essay.
The Nordics and other rich countries are betting on achieving their climate ambitions without the need for harder-edged policies at home. It is simply too tempting for leaders of rich countries—including those who produce plenty of oil and gas—to impose restrictions on others. Pursuing climate ambitions on the backs of the poorest people in the world is not just hypocritical—it is immoral, unjust, and green colonialism at its worst.
The global south is large and diverse but there could be some unifying themes about what ails this part of the world including that of vaccine apartheid. India is part of this south and one place I do know something about. There is no culture of personal or collective accountability in that country. The family unit used to a source of strength amid all the societal chaos and dysfunction not to mention the lack of any safety net. The middle class family unit is far from what it used to be and people no longer have benefits they once had; its no surprise that their suffering has been disproportionate during the pandemic.
As long as balance of power is skewed there will be colonialism in one form or another but the reasons for the erosion of the middle class in India has little do do with rich country politics. Domestic policies that address the feeding and caring of the middle class simply don't earn votes at election time in India and so things continue to fall apart for them with ripple effects to the rest of the population.
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