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Global Inequality in Historical Perspective : Richard Jolly
Editor's Note: Sir Richard Jolly presented the paper be;pw at the UNU-WIDER Jubilee Conference in June 2005. He has circulated it again in response to the article "Ten billionaires reap $400bn boost to wealth during pandemic"and the discussion which followed between Baquer Namazi, Ramesh Shrestha, and himself. You can find the discussion thus far below the article.
Dear Richard,
ReplyDeleteI start by wishing you a very, very Merry Xmas and to thank you for the wonderful historical article you drafted, which I plan to include as one of the basic documents in our mapping exercise. I waited until I had a relaxed time to review and benefit from the article. In reading the document I was particularly inspired by your last para in the conclusion part of the study.
“So my final conclusion from the past is for us all to be inspired by the boldness of the early thinkers and analysts. If Tom Paine, over two centuries ago could make such imaginative and daring proposals, when global inequality was much less and the apparent difficulties of taking action much greater, how much more should we today be inspired to think afresh. May these bold and brave early pioneers be our inspiration, not only for analyzing inequality but for exploring what can be done about it”.
I am confident once the cluster on poverty and disparity gets going, with help and guidance of gurus such as yourself, we can act upon the last sentence (underlined) above.
Best wishes
Baquer
Dear Baquer,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. I am glad you liked it -and glad you get a glimpse of the remarkable life, thinking and writings of Tom Paine.
Lewes, where I live, has issued its own currency, the pound note of which has a picture of Tom Paine on one side with one of his quotes: “We have it in our power to build the world anew.” On the reverse side is a picture of the Lewes town football club and some of its players -under the banner of “EqualityFC” -the first football club -in the world?- to pay men and women the same!
Best wishes for 2021. Keep up you remarkable contributions. Richard
Loved your piece Richard on Global Inequality in historical perspective. Your extensive quotes from Tom Paine reminded me of my visit to Sussex in 2014 when you took me on a walking tour of Lewes and we stopped over at Tom Paine's house. I cherish the memory of hearing your accounts of Tom Paine's intellectual contribution, and treasure some pictures we took there. The Lewis 1 pound bank note you gave me is one of my prized possessions! What intellectual giants this little town of Lewes has produced with Tom Paine & Richard Jolly and so many other progressive thinkers and administrators. Salute!
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