Poets Against Inequality

This is the extended edition of the book 'Poets Against Inequality', with an introduction by Daniel J. Brick and commentaries on all the 73 poems. * I doubt there is any concept more frequently affirmed in principle and more frequently violated in practice than 'Equality'. This is exactly what Oxfam, in its report ''An Economy for the 1%'', shows us. And although world leaders have increasingly talked about the need to tackle inequality, the gap between the richest and the rest of mankind has widened dramatically in 2015. Such an 'explosion' in the wealth of the super-rich has come at the expense of the majority and particularly the poorest people. Today, just 62 ultra-rich people have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of humanity. ''Instead of an economy that works for the prosperity of all, for future generations, and for the planet, we have instead created an economy for the 1%, '' (from Oxfam report). What we want to get, through this poetry compilation, is to add our voice to those other unequivocal voices that denounce such an absolute lack of equality in our society, and make all such voices resonate in the conscience of all people of goodwill. The poems collected in this book belong in what is called "Poetry of Witness," and we believe that this is a task that all of us, as poets, have a moral obligation to pursue, because we can't accept to live in a world where extreme poverty is so widespread and sheer inequality is the norm.