Rethinking (In)Equality: "There is no good life at the expense of others"

As much as the world - as the pandemic has shown us - by necessity forms a fated community, as closely networked as we may be, we live in a system that is based on inequalities. Many differences exist from the moment of birth and have an impact on a person's entire biography. Our way of doing business exacerbates social disparities and, not least, fuels the climate crisis. What can be done to counteract existing inequalities was at the heart of the two-day conference "Rethinking (In)Equality" on Thursday, 14 October in Bolzano and Friday, 15 October as part of the Churburg Economic Talks 2.0 in Sluderno / Schluderns.

"Capitalism has not only expanded at the expense of nature, it has also failed to deliver on its promise of welfare and justice for large sections of the population. More than 2 billion people live in poverty and food insecurity today. And this despite the fact that never before have such large quantities of food been produced." Barbara Unmüßig, political scientist and director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin, did not mince her words when she denounced what the imperial way of life of the global middle class and elite was causing. Basically, she said, it is always about distribution issues: the distribution of power, wealth, resources, opportunities and ecological justice. The ecological footprint of the industrialised nations, for example, is many times larger than their own territory. The EU countries alone, in which only 7 per cent of the world's population live, consume 20 per cent of the global biocapacity. "The injustice of climate change is striking: it divides the world into winners and losers. The climate sinners of the North consume the Earth's fossil treasures, while the human rights-violating consequences of global warming hit the South far harder." Richer states must also support the poorer ones financially in coping with these multiple crises, and curb environmental consumption and atmospheric pollution more quickly. It is not a question of raising the poorer to the level of the rich, but rather of limiting the privileged. No restructuring programme will proceed without conflicts of use. Therefore, pioneers of social innovation are needed who demand change in a contentious but civil and democratic manner.

"There is no good life at the expense of others," emphasised transformation researcher Davide Brocchi. Therefore, a redistribution from the private to the public sector must take place, the interest of the citizens must come before the profitability of the investors and the administration must function less as a guardian of order and more as an enabler of social innovation. Just as important, he said, is security: "If people are not afraid of being left behind, they are more open to change". At the same time, the separation between the elite and the social masses is historically one of the main causes of the decline of civilisation. The elite have no incentive to leave a path that is successful for them. Moreover, they notice crises too late, as their wealth has had a cushioning effect on crises for a long time.

The first part of the conference "(In)Equality Reloaded: Targeting glocal inequality relations" took place in the Conference Hall of Eurac Research in Bolzano and was organised in cooperation with the SIBE - School of International Business and Entrepreneurship of Steinbeis University Berlin. On Friday - in the context of the Churburg Economic Talks 2.0 in Sluderno / Schluderns - the focus was on the regional level. There, the Center for Advanced Studies worked together with the start-up and innovation centre BASIS Vinschgau Venosta. Following the conference, Johannes Graf Trapp hosted a drink at Churburg Castle.

Video recordings