[PEN-L:716] Re: redefining the poor out of existence

[knowware@xxxxxxxx (Tom Walker)]

My vote goes to Tom and Max. Poverty politics too often become politically
impoverished because they provide a fertile ground for "intermediaries"
(poverty pimps) who advocate "on behalf of" the poor. One might cynically
suggest that poverty technocrats (along with "job training" entrepreneurs)
have a vested interest in keeping enough poverty around to justify their
existence.

Tom Kruse wrote,

>At 09:10 28/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>MBS suggested that...
>>"A more renegade thought is that it is a mistake to zero in on poverty in
>>the first place, rather than put the condition of the working class first.
>>If the class is well-served, so too will be the poor"
>>
>>On the contrary, I find the issues of welfare, minimum wage, homelessness
>>very useful politically.
>
>Interesting.  Here the discourses on povery are completely taken over by
>owners, operators, and development technocrats.  And the conception is akin
>to the World Bank's, whose webpage now sports a "world without poverty"
>doo-dad.  I thik we need to stop talkling about it all together here.  Ivian
>Illich's _Invention of Poverty_ is light in the darkness in this regard.

Regards,

Tom Walker
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
#408 1035 Pacific St.
Vancouver, B.C.
V6E 4G7
knowware@xxxxxxxx
(604) 669-3286
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/