In this book, international anti-inequality campaigner Ben Phillips shows why winning the debate is not enough: we have to win the fight. Drawing on his insider experience, and his personal exchanges with the real-life heroes of successful movements, he shows how the battle against inequality has been won before, and he shares a practical plan for defeating inequality again. He sets a route map for us to overcome deference, build our collective power, and create a new story.
Most books on inequality are about what other people ought to do about it - this book is about why winning the fight needs you. Tired of feeling helpless in the face of spiralling inequality? Want to know what you can do about it? This is the book for you.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgementsIntroduction
Inequality is the fight of our time
Winning the fight needs you
This book is to help you win the fight
Why we need to win the fight against inequality
How inequality is worsening
How inequality harms us all
Journal: The mining indaba and the protesters
How we won the debate
Journal: The IMF research department slams inequality
Journal: Will no one defend the tax dodgers?
Why winning the debate is not enough and we have to win the fight
How we won the fight against inequality before
Why looking back can help us plan forward
When the region most hit by inequality became the region leading progress to turn it around
Journal: ‘Organized we are powerful’ - lessons from the Brazilian land rights movement
When people’s organizing secured an international ‘Golden Age’
When the forces for inequality inflicted our biggest defeat, and what we can learn from our opponents
Learning from history in the fight against inequality
Journal: Great campaigns have lots of things in common, but they’re not the things we’re often taught
How we’ll win the fight against inequality again
‘It always seems impossible until it is done’
The policies to fight inequality, and how to secure them
Overcome deference
Journal: The unquiet - challenging inequality in Pakistan
Build power together
Journal: Challenging the power of the one per cent at the World Social Forum in Tunis
Create a new story
Journal: Inspiring courage on inequality, the Pope
Conclusion
Journal: The three types of campaigns
Appendix: Who can you link up with to fight inequality
Index
