FAQs

“We the 99” is an urgent call to movements, civil society groups, activists, and communities across the Global South and beyond to unite, build, organise and demonstrate their counterpower. With their collective voices and actions, draw a red line to the 1% to bring about transformative change.

We the 99% are the people of the Global Majority.

We are rural farmers and informal workers. We are township youth and precarious migrants. We are workers, land defenders, caregivers, artists, and activists. We are housekeepers, teachers, fisherfolk, miners, market traders and nurses. We are displaced people, indebted communities, and overworked mothers. We are queer, trans, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and from every corner of the earth still reeling from centuries of theft.

We are the people of the Global South—Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania and the Caribbean. We are also the gendered, racialised, and working classes of the Global North. We are feminists, socialists, ecologists, abolitionists, and ordinary people struggling to survive and live with dignity.

We come from places burdened by debt, exploitation, war, and climate collapse—but we are rich in knowledge, culture, resistance, and care. We rise from our lands, communities, and histories to reclaim power and reshape the global order.

We are not a brand. We are not a campaign. We are a movement. 

The 1% refers to a small, elite group of wealthiest individuals that benefits from a system built on inequality. They are those who control a disproportionate share of wealth, resources, and political influence.

The G20 (Group of 20) is an international forum of governments and central bank governors of 19 countries, with the European Union and the African Union. Together they account for over 85% of the global GDP. This combined economic weight gives them the potential to shape global financial, trade, development and fiscal policies to address global economic and environmental challenges.

The lead-up to and days of the G20 Summit present a platform for people on the frontlines of inequality to voice demands for a new economic model and an institutional architecture that realigns economic benefits in the interests of people, planet, peace and democracy. Movements and civil society groups will use the opportunity to raise issues and demands. FIA will coordinate collective actions nationally and globally and to amplify demands for a radically different vision for our economies and societies than the current international financial architecture.

The red line is a “symbolic boundary or limit that should not be crossed, indicating a point of no return or a refusal to negotiate further on a particular issue”. For the Fight Inequality Alliance, the red line is an indication that we are not tolerating the obscene amassing of wealth of the 1% that deepens inequality, marking our resistance by demanding a new global economy for the people and the planet.

There are different ways to be able to be part of the Fight Inequality Alliance:

  1. Become a member of a national and regional alliance — Please check if there is an existing alliance in your country here. Are you part of a global organization? Please reach out to info@fightinequality.org
  2. Join our mailing list -  Be part of a global grassroots movement creating a more equal future. Sign up to join our receive updates and invitation to our various campaigns. [ADD LINK]
  3. Donate to stand with the 99% - Fight Inequality Alliance brings together communities, activists and movements across the globe to challenge the 1% and build a more just and equal world. Your donation fuels grassroots resistance and powers real change.
     

Together we will create spaces where ordinary people, especially those most impacted by inequality come together to speak, listen, and reflect. It’s not a conference. It’s not a panel. It’s a space for real voices, real stories, and solutions. A space to decide on our collective vision and build the power of the 99%. Visit the People’s Assembly page here to know more.

Fight Inequality Alliance’s Global Assembly is held on November 17 to 18 in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is an iconic gathering to continue growing the global movement to fight inequality, bringing together leading voices, organisations, and community leaders from around the world standing in the frontlines of inequality. You can join us in person or you can join us virtually. To know more, please see details of the global assembly here

We the 99: A People’s Summit for Global Economic Justice is held on November 20 to 22 in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a people’s summit not a side event. It is a direct counter-space of power, a sharp contrast to the closed-door G20 deliberations dominated by elite interests. This gathering centers the voices and lived experiences of those living on the frontlines of debt, austerity, extractivism, colonial legacies and systemic exclusion. Exciting actions will be taking place from September to November as part of this effort. To know more, check this link.

No, we are not. The Fight Inequality Alliance is made up of social movements, NGOs, trade unions, community groups, activists, and artists from around the world fighting the root causes of inequality. However, some political figures, political parties and others may agree with some or all of our proposals. Everybody now says that tackling inequality is a problem and uses some of the language of the movement - that includes the IMF,World Bank, governments signing up to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG 10 on fighting inequality), wealthy individuals, the Pope ,and many others. Despite this rhetorical agreement, there is no consensus on the systemic change that is needed to fight inequality.