Human Rights and the age of Inequality
Samuel Moyn addresses the stark incompatibility between the human rights solution and the equality crisis, which calls for a complement rather than a replacement. He makes the case that the human rights movement and regime are ill-equipped to tackle widespread inequality. Croesus, the final king of Lydia, as an illustration (reigned 560–546). Croesus was a tremendously wealthy monarch who saw himself as the happiest of mortals. He desired for his people to live in happiness and be free from all forms of sorrow. But he had a problem—he didn’t want to spend his money to end his people’s suffering. After being defeated, the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great and his army took control of all of his possessions, including the wealth he had collected for himself. In the present world, where inequality exists and resources and means are unevenly divided, the scenario of Croesus was equivalent. Despite the fact that every year on December 10th is observed as Human Rights Day, no action has been tak...