Moreover, inequalities among people as a result of nature are not nearly as great as they become through education.
Johann Gottfried Herder
Human rights declarations stipulate the same fundamental message with slight variations: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." (UN Human Rights Charter). Despite this, there is great inequality between people. These inequalities arise from gender, class, ethnicity, income, wealth, age, religion, parental home, level of education, sexuality, reputation, health as well as many other factors and they come along with either strong advantages or disadvantages. We are all born equal (though the circumstances of birth can be very different), but because of socialization people are made unequal: To what extent do we want to support this inequality as a society?
Urban sprawl in cities is becoming increasingly widespread, leaving many people disoriented and impoverished, forced to the edge of the metropolitan area. Practically speaking, it is already taking place; free seating in public spaces is being dismantled only to be replaced by the paid seating of private cafés. The
Scissors of Inequality
cut up established infrastructures and, at the same time, ensured a perverse order of cleanliness: all of the rich, beautiful, good, creative, committed, white and German segment of the population on one side, and everyone else on the other.
The focus on motorized individual transportation demands that individuals arrange their own means of transportation. Community mobility and mobility justice are thus completely forgotten. When the number of people using buses and trains continuously declines, the
Scissors of Inequality
cuts transit frequency, number of stops and routes for "purely economic" reasons - to the point that entire regions are cut off from public transportation forcing people to drive their own cars - if they have one.
We have become accustomed to fully-stocked fruit and vegetable stands regardless of the season, meat and dairy products in 100m long refrigerated units, and a full selection at the bakery shortly before closing time. However, this imperial lifestyle in the Global North is not universal - instead, we enjoy this wealth at the detriment of those who are already suffering the consequences of this lifestyle without even partaking in it: the
Scissors of Inequality
are open, and spreading even wider in the Global North.