Devolving power and giving agency to communities most affected by a problem is vital, but it is not enough. Justice demands that philanthropists hold up a mirror to themselves

I am a young person with access to inherited wealth and I have struggled with this for years. The guilt and shame I felt about this unearned advantage was one thing. The other was the challenge of what to do with the money, once I realised that it was not really mine. Having access to wealth that puts me in the richest ten per cent of the population is the result of a deeply unjust economic system, built on stolen labour, stolen land and stolen lives. From this realisation and the resulting questions I have begun a journey of redistribution and of healing.

We educate ourselves on wealth inequality, engage in critical reflection on class privilege and encourage and support each other in boldly redistributing wealth to movements fighting for social and ecological justice.

Importantly, I am not doing this alone. I am part of a movement of young people across the US, Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, who believe that they unjustly have access to wealth and are ready to do something about it. The group I am part of is called Resource Transformation and was founded in 2020 by and for people in German-speaking Europe, following the example of Resource Generation in the US. We educate ourselves on wealth inequality, engage in critical reflection on class privilege and encourage and support each other in boldly redistributing wealth to movements fighting for social and ecological justice. Resource Transformation members redistribute wealth following certain principles: give to grassroots groups that are led by those most affected; make long-term commitments; give to regranters with participatory decision-making processes. All of this matters and all of this has been said before.