Quotes by Thomas Pogge

the Nazis’ actively and intentionally killing people is morally very much worse than not doing enough to reduce poverty today, because there is no intention among rich-country politicians or citizens to kill a large number of people in poor countries. There is simply indifference. However... if we think that it was morally urgent then to do something to reduce the problem of the Nazi killings, we should for very similar reasons conclude that it’s very urgent now to do something about the world poverty problem.

Many are quick to point out that we cannot inherit our ancestor’s sins. Indeed. But how then can we be entitled to the fruits of these sins: to our huge inherited advantage in power and wealth over the rest of the world?

Each year, some 18 million people die prematurely from poverty-related causes. This is one third of all human deaths - 50,000 every day, including 34,000 under age five.

There are enough poverty deaths for a full-sized crime against humanity: as many every seven months as perished in the Nazi death camps