Wednesday, December 30, 2020

No Justice No Civilization

"So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation which, in the midst of civilization, artificially creates a hell on earth, and complicates with human fatality a destiny that is divine; so long as the three problems of the century - the degradation of man by the exploitation of his labour, the ruin of women by starvation and the atrophy of childhood by physical and spiritual night are not solved; so long as, in certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other words and from a still broader point of view, so long as ignorance and misery remain on earth, there should be a need for books such as this." Victor Hugo, Les Misérables America has a decent system of laws as long as there are decent people at every access point for the law to be implemented and interpreted. So far, this does not happen yet in this moment in time. We are however, closer.