The G20 needs to ignore Trump and take lessons from films like Parasite to help reduce social inequality

Instances of inequality are on the rise globally and it is time to taker action, writes Phil Thornton

Not a fan: Donald Trump at his Colorado rally, and ‘Parasite’ stars Park So-dam and Choi Woo-shik (Getty/Curzon)

We will never know whether the other finance ministers from the Group of 20 rich nations congratulated their South Korean counterpart for his country’s film Parasite, the scathing indictment of economic inequality that become the first foreign language picture to win Best Picture at the Oscars.

In Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian city hosting the G20 finance ministers’ meeting that took place over the weekend, the Saudis were keen to use the forum to impress upon their guests how they plan to modernise their economy by privatising state-run firms, and embarking on a strategy focused on defence and manufacturing equipment, renewables and chemicals to help it cut its dependence on oil exports. Doubtless they were too polite to raise its record on human rights.

But the issues of economic inequality – and the threat of social unrest if it is not tackled – were never far from the dinner table at the two-day meeting.