When governments are cowed or simply don't care to enforce

“When governments are cowed or simply don't care to enforce fundamental human and labour rights or to ensure corporate tax is paid so that they can invest in social protection and in the health and education of their people, they cede control to corporate greed.” – Sharan Burrow

In every age, the balance between power and justice has stood as the true measure of a civilization. When the rulers of a land forget their sacred duty to the people — when fear, corruption, or indifference cause them to turn away from their obligations — the soul of the nation begins to wither. So spoke Sharan Burrow, a guardian of the worker and a voice for the voiceless, warning that when governments are cowed or careless, they surrender the fate of their citizens to forces that recognize no loyalty but profit. Her words are not a mere critique of politics — they are a lament for the betrayal of the social contract, that ancient covenant between the governed and those who govern.

The ancients knew that power must serve the people, not rule over them. In the days of the first cities, the wise king was judged not by his wealth, but by the prosperity and dignity of his people. The scrolls of Hammurabi spoke of justice for laborers and the protection of the weak. Yet even in those early times, there were rulers who bowed before gold, forgetting that the true wealth of a nation lies not in its treasures, but in its people’s health, education, and freedom. Burrow’s words echo that ancient wisdom, reminding us that when the guardians of justice sleep, the merchants of greed awaken to claim the throne.

Consider the tragedy of the Industrial Revolution, when factories rose like fortresses and the sky darkened with smoke. In their hunger for growth, many governments turned their gaze away from the suffering of workers — children toiling in mines, men crushed by machines, women paid in hunger and exhaustion. Where there should have been law, there was silence; where there should have been compassion, there was commerce. The result was not prosperity but exploitation, the birth of an age where human worth was measured in productivity. It was only when the brave — unionists, reformers, and visionaries — demanded justice that the tide began to turn. Their struggle, like Burrow’s, was not against wealth itself, but against greed unrestrained by conscience.

Yet the struggle endures. In our time, corporations span the globe, wielding influence greater than kings of old. Some give generously, but many — shielded by complexity and indifference — evade their duties, hiding wealth while the world’s poor go hungry. When tax is not paid, when rights are not defended, when the state grows timid, schools crumble, hospitals falter, and inequality becomes the law of the land. The marketplace, left unchecked, becomes an empire where profit devours the very foundations of society. And the rulers, who should stand as shepherds of the common good, become mere servants of power disguised as progress.

The lesson of history is clear: when governments cede control, they do not merely lose authority — they forfeit the soul of the nation. The decline of the Roman Republic began not with invasion, but with corruption and cowardice, when senators bowed to wealth and forsook the poor. The empires that followed repeated the same sin: placing gold above goodness, dominion above duty. Sharan Burrow’s warning is thus both ancient and eternal — a call to remember that justice must be guarded, not assumed, and that silence in the face of greed is itself a form of surrender.

But there is hope, as there always has been. For the people, when awakened, are mightier than the powers that seek to control them. Every movement for justice — from the abolition of slavery to the fight for fair wages and equal rights — began with ordinary souls who refused to accept exploitation as fate. Governments rise from the will of the people, and that will can be reborn whenever citizens demand accountability, fairness, and integrity. The health of democracy depends not on leaders alone, but on the courage of those who hold them to their word.

Therefore, children of the future, remember this teaching: freedom is not a gift but a responsibility. Speak against injustice even when the halls of power grow silent. Support leaders who honor labor, fairness, and truth, and hold to account those who would trade the public good for private gain. Pay what is owed to the commonwealth, for in doing so, you strengthen the hands that build hospitals, schools, and bridges. Reject the idols of greed and lift instead the banner of shared humanity.

For when human and labour rights are defended, when taxes are justly gathered and wisely used, the land prospers not for the few, but for all. Then does the government serve its true purpose — not as the servant of corporations, but as the guardian of the people. And as Sharan Burrow reminds us, it is only when justice stands taller than greed that a nation can call itself truly free.