Justice & Law Quote by Anna Lindh

Poverty, in Anna Lindh's framing, is not just a tragedy; it's a threat vector. The line does a shrewd political double-duty: it keeps the humanitarian case intact ("moral and justice") while pivoting to the language that actually moves budgets, coalitions, and voters ("security"). That pivot is the tell. Lindh is speaking as a foreign minister in a Europe newly alert to how quickly instability travels - through migration pressures, organized crime, pandemics, and, after 9/11, terrorism. The subtext is blunt: if affluent societies treat deprivation as someone else's problem, they will eventually pay for it in border crises and emergency spending.

The construction matters. "Must be reduced" is technocratic and actionable, avoiding the sentimental register of "ended" or "eradicated". It signals incremental policy rather than utopian promises, a politician's hedge that still sounds urgent. The phrase "not only... but also" is a bridge between two moral economies: the progressive argument that inequality offends justice, and the realist argument that inequality destabilizes systems. She's inviting both camps to see themselves as rational, not merely compassionate or cynical.

Context sharpens the intent. Lindh, a Swedish Social Democrat, comes from a political culture that sells solidarity as enlightened self-interest. Her assassination in 2003, in an era of rising European anxiety about openness, gives the quote an added edge: the safety of liberal societies depends on whether they tackle the conditions that breed resentment and volatility.