Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Sixty years ago, it was not Syrians, Afghans, Iranians and people from various African states who had to leave their homes and seek refuge.
It was the Kazakhs, Ukrainians, Jews, Poles, Russians and Germans who needed a new home before, during and after World War II. Displaced by an occupying power, by the government in power and by hunger and war.
Many had to leave their hometowns and were unable to take much with them, let alone transfer money across national borders. This is what happened to many Jews. The refugees were deprived of their remaining possessions in Germany. In a treacherous way, the war and the extermination of the Jews were thus co-financed.
In the experiences of these and other inhumane acts, universal human rights have been defined. A commission headed by Eleanor Roosevelt drafted 30 articles under the auspices of the United Nations in 1948.
Reading these 30 articles, it becomes clear that the potential villain is often seen on the side of the state or the government.
The example of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny currently shows how it works in practice. His foundation is classified by the state as “extremist” to justify cutting off his access to the bank. Unpopular opposition can be contained by fiscal policy.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, Nahid Taghavi, the Uyghurs of the Xinjiang region, Malcolm Bidali and so many others have also been deprived of their basic rights by their own state power like this or by other means.
The courageous of a community, the entrepreneurs, the actors who demand change and the abandonment of familiar structures must be protected by human rights.
The call for change is always accompanied by the awakening of fears. In their view, the leaders of a particular community can only lose in the face of change and therefore use money and monetary policy as perhaps the most powerful weapon to violate human rights.
State fiat currency is an appropriate instrument because it escapes independent control even in a democratic society. Richard Cantillon (1680s – 1734) discovered that monetary creation essentially only benefits its creators. And money creation in its current form is a digital ledger in a bank. Not anymore!
At this point, the provocative buzzwords of interest rate, lending, redistribution, inflation, investment, and growth constraint must be mentioned.
The simple and once ingenious trait of money, of being a universal object of exchange for other goods or services, still applies, but this property has also led to its abuse.
The bad guys can earn or create a lot of money and thus retain their power.
Crazy world
Bitcoin separates money from authorities. Bitcoin cannot be directed, created, destroyed or controlled in favor of anyone. Bitcoin is independent, antifragile, democratic and secure.
Proof of work makes Bitcoin the only independent cryptocurrency. And only Bitcoin is big today and therefore secure enough to withstand full state regulation. It exists because we use it.
Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without distinction, has the right to be equally paid for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself or for others and for his family an existence worthy of human dignity and supplemented, where appropriate, by all other means of social protection.
Transferring money, for example, from the United States to El Salvador is technically easy, but sometimes there are fees of 10% or more for the service provider. They accept these exorbitant fees because they can. This is one of the reasons why El Salvador introduced bitcoin as legal tender.
Bitcoin has characteristics that make me dream that globalization, and by that I mean shared prosperity, works in such a way that everyone can participate on an equal footing. Even as a “small” entrepreneur, I can participate in international payment transactions without any obstacles. Currently, according to research, 2.2 billion people are unbanked or financially underserved.
Bitcoin can solve this problem
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing, necessary medical care and social services, as well as that the right to security in the event of unemployment, illness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of means of subsistence in circumstances beyond their control.
So where does money fit in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
Without the word money or currency being mentioned in any of the 30 articles, it is taken into account in almost all the rights defined. It is strange that little is said about this and that the links between money and human rights are not discussed more often.
Now imagine adding the following 31st article of universal human rights:
Article 31 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to free access to a sound international currency!
This right would greatly facilitate the application of other human rights.
Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
1. Everyone has the right to own property, alone or in association with others.
2. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
World War II refugees, representing all the outcasts of National Socialism and Stalinism, would have had it easier with Bitcoin, and the bad guys would have had it much harder.
Bitcoin is the fulfillment of the desire for sound money. It exists. Compared to all the other articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is almost no need to fight for this right. It’s unstoppable!
This is a guest post by Gregor Herbort. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.