By Dr. Mathew Maavak

As a popular observation in Ancient Rome went: "So many slaves, so many enemies." Class enmity is the spawn of social repression and wealth inequality. It is the hallmark of elite parasitism.

Writers in the alternative media have lately been reminded that the term "global elites" should be substituted with the more appropriate "global parasites." The top 1%, after all, is constantly leeching off 90% of the population, entailing a steady dissipation in fundamental freedoms and means of economic sustenance, often under the guise of "sustainability." (The other 9% are enforcers in this matrix.)

The word "elite" does invoke an unwarranted veneer of expertise, knowledge and merit which this class acutely lacks. I will also admit that I, and perhaps other commentators as well, have been grappling with this expression for a very long time.

There is also the danger that Big Tech's shadowbans — a Sword of Damocles constantly facing independent writers — will swiftly shift from the penumbra to the core umbra region once the term "global parasites" are normalised in their writings. Beyond that region lies oblivion. Furthermore, I cannot possibly use that term in any of the Op-Eds which I periodically submit to RT.com although the editors there, or at least the older ones, would be familiar with the deceptively similar-sounding "social parasite" tag of the USSR era.