About inequality and poverty

Abstract

Human beings are unequal, but the awareness of equality, accompanied by mutual aid, is ever present in human history. Greek democracy was the first attempt, at European level, to establish recognition of legal, political and economic equality, but the latter was never really demanded. Since then, there have been repeated attempts to achieve the objective of political equality and economic justice. The bourgeois revolutions initiated a long process of the actual implementation of legal and political equality. The demand for greater economic equality also grew, with a new series of major social and political revolutions. With these goals almost reached in some parts of Europe and the rest of the world, deep changes that have taken place since 1980 show the fragility of what has been achieved: inequality is growing at the beginning of the 21st century and it is clear that this inequality is the cause of poverty. Overcoming both is an ethical requirement that involves serious and sustained political commitment.