Income inequality is an issue already. In Ireland 1% of the popualtion hold 34% of the wealth. Globally the figure is much worse. So its on the agenda already and it needs to be tackled for several reasons and from several perspectives
1 Democratic arguments. It isn't possible to have democracy as more
Income inequality is an issue already. In Ireland 1% of the popualtion hold 34% of the wealth. Globally the figure is much worse. So its on the agenda already and it needs to be tackled for several reasons and from several perspectives
1 Democratic arguments. It isn't possible to have democracy as long as there are massive disparities in wealth. The rich can influence not only elected representatives directly through donations, hired lobby organisation etc but also influence society as a whole through their domination of the mass media, PR companies and owning our places of work. So if we want an equal society where people can have their fair say, wealth will have to equalised.
2 Empirical evidence show that greater income equality leads to a more just society
3 Building social movements require a prefiguring of were we want to go. It requires stepping outside what can be comfortable paradigm and re-imaging and talking about our society beyond economic language. By making income equality a public discussion and by using a variety of tactics -educational, creative direct actions, media strategies, encouraging and supporting others to do the same - we move beyond a simple question of sums of money and begin to tackle the underlying issues. eg why is some human activity that is social useless, ie tranferring 'money' via computer as trade rewarded highly when it add nothing. Why is 'housework' and care work not seen and rewarded much more?
4 Ethical reasoning as an integral part of our worldview. It is obscene that in 2011 such wealth inequality can be supported and faclitiated by national governements and corpoartions. Given the level of national, regional and global poverty and social injustice. There is a moral requirement for all of us involved in struggle social justice, equality and genuine democracies at whatever to come together in solidarity and work for the radical reform or complete removal of all insitutions, cultural norms and hidden power dynamics that reproduce and justify such degradation of ourselves and our fellow human beings
