What this period of pandemic has brought to life reminds us that all human beings are the same. We all have a body that is vulnerable; we are all at the mercy of a small virus.

In order to cope with this situation, we have been rediscovering our interdependence.  Jobs and gestures that were overlooked yesterday seem essential today. We can feel how much we need each other. It is clear that life can no longer be “every man for himself”.

At the same time, the huge gap between different people’s ability to protect themselves makes the  injustice of inequality so much more visible than before.  It is strikingly obvious how unfair all this is.

“Human Rights are not at the whim of a social class, they are not a gimmick, they are a struggle.”

This is what Joseph Wresinski states in the video below to young people who interviewed him on the evening of 17 October 1987, the first International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Wresinski urged them to come together — those who have power and those who do not — to change just such injustices.