William Gates III: to philanthropise or revolutionise, that is the question

polqat

28 Jun 2025 — 1 min read

Bill Gates (Reuters)

Bill Gates recently announced that he would give away most of his fortune to Africa by 2045. A total expected to be USD 200 billion, or roughly USD 10 billion a year. Whilst admirable, this amount is dwarfed by the net financial flows of USD 2 trillion that is extracted from the Global South to the Global North every year.

Net neocolonial wealth extraction of over USD 2 trillion from the Global South to Global North every year - A Pan-African Vision for Just Transition, Dr. Fadhel Kaboub

Dr. Fadhel Kaboub (@fadhelkaboub.bsky.social‬) argues that a fundamental restructuring of the global economic architecture is needed to structurally transform and decolonise Africa to overcome the climate crisis, inequality, poverty, exclusion, and injustice.

Would it have been better for Bill to engage in capitalism and give his wealth away, or spend his time up-ending the system by supporting the decolonising of it?

Do the benefits gained through the philanthropic donations of billionaires outweigh the negative impacts caused by capitalism whilst earning them?

Should Bill have philanthropised or revolutionised?

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