The Day You Lose Power Is the Day You Need Rights

Understanding the role of rights in 2026

The other day I watched a short video by Riccardo Vessa in which he talks about how rights are perceived in contemporary society, a time in which it often seems that no one truly cares about them, especially when it comes to international law.

His words resonated strongly with me, and that is why I decided to write this post. For Italian speakers, here is the link to his original video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/D57dSjPLhK4

The author argues that there are people for whom understanding the importance of rights is extremely difficult because they live in a state of chronic privilege. Someone who has always lived within privilege, i.e. who lives in a Western country, who is always “on the right side of the knife”, has never truly experienced the need to claim justice. As a result, they often have no real understanding of the value of rights. From this perspective, power can appear to be the best solution: whoever holds power imposes their will. But this is a dangerous illusion. The power of those who are currently threatening global stability, like Netanyahu, Trump or Putin, is not in their hands.

Speaking as a European, we must recognize that we are weak and fragile when compared to these forces. We are dealing with powers that could one day be exercised against us. If we were neighbors of Israel, imagine how differently many Europeans might view Zionism. If we were a major oil-producing hub and decided not to align with U.S. interests, imagine how quickly that power could turn against us.

Some people should remember that they were lucky enough to be born on the “strong” side of the world—at least for now. International law still serves as a shield, protecting them from becoming targets of powerful states that could abandon or attack us at any time (as recent discussions around Greenland remind us).

Rights are not designed for those who hold power. They exist for those who do not. And we must remember that one day any of us could lose our privileged position and need those rights, because we would have nothing else. For many people around the world, this reality is not theoretical; it is daily life.

These reflections reminded me of the famous quote often attributed to Bertolt Brecht:

“First of all, they came to take the gypsies
and I was happy because they pilfered.
Then they came to take the Jews and I said nothing,
because they were unpleasant to me.
Then they came to take homosexuals,
and I was relieved, because they were annoying me.
Then they came to take the Communists,
and I said nothing because I was not a Communist.
One day they came to take me,
and there was nobody left to protest.”

This idea resonates strongly with thoughts I’ve developed over the years in other contexts as well—not only international law, but also how rights are perceived more generally. This dynamic does not apply only to international law; it appears whenever power is unevenly distributed, even within supposedly stable democracies.

One recurring theme in recent years has been police abuse of power, a topic closely connected to current events in the United States (for example: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/ice-domestic-terrorism ). Too often, careless commentators fail to understand the importance of a police force that respects individual rights. They assume they will never find themselves on the receiving end of abuse—often because they were born into privilege. But power relations can change. And when they do, there may be no one left to defend the rights once taken for granted.

In this time of extreme political polarization, it becomes essential to keep these ideas in mind.
The fundamental role that rights play in society must not be forgotten; not as a luxury for the weak, but as a necessity for everyone.

This is a living document in my digital garden. I’ll update it as I discover new tools or gain more experience with existing ones.