Inequality and Peace

I don’t want to build my wealth on the dispossession of others.
I don’t want to create my health at the expense of others.
My liberty can’t emerge by subjecting you to tyranny.
Your starvation cannot satiate my hunger.
To the extent that the world is unfair, unjust and unequal
only the privileged can change that situation peacefully;
only they have the power to relinquish their advantaged position.
The poor, the disadvantaged, marginalised and displaced
can change the world – but they can’t change it by giving up privilege.
They can and will combine to destroy the powerful,
to force change and overthrow systematic injustice.
If we are to live in a peaceful world then we all have to play a part.
We need to confront injustice, inequality, inhumanity and tyranny
each and every day, here, there and everywhere.
Those who have the most have the most to offer
and if they don’t offer to share they are to blame for the violence.

Written 2003.