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	Iran protests call for justice, freedoms, respect for human rights by OHCHR, UN News, Unicef, agencies   Sep. 2023   Iran’s proposed hijab law could amount to “gender apartheid”: UN experts. (OHCHR)   UN experts have expressed grave concern over a new draft law, currently under review in the Iranian parliament, which imposes a series of new punishments on women and girls who fail to wear the headscarf (hijab).   “The draft law could be described as a form of gender apartheid, as authorities appear to be governing through systemic discrimination with the intention of suppressing women and girls into total submission,” the experts said.   They stressed that the proposed “Bill to Support the Family by Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab” and existing de facto restrictions are inherently discriminatory and may amount to gender persecution.   “The draft law imposes severe punishments on women and girls for non-compliance which may lead to its violent enforcement,” the experts said.   “The bill also violates fundamental rights, including the right to take part in cultural life, the prohibition of gender discrimination, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful protest, and the right to access social, educational, and health services, and freedom of movement.”   The use of culture by the Iranian government as a tool to restrict the rights of women and girls is misplaced, the experts warned. “Culture is formed and evolves with the participation of all,” they said.   By using terms such as “nudity, lack of chastity, lack of hijab, bad dressing and acts against public decency leading to disturbance of peace”, the draft law seeks to authorise public institutions to deny essential services and opportunities to persons who fail to comply with compulsory veiling. Directors and managers of organisations who fail to implement the law could also be punished.   “The weaponisation of “public morals” to deny women and girls their freedom of expression is deeply disempowering and will entrench and expand gender discrimination and marginalisation, with wider negative consequences for children and society as a whole,” the experts said.   The morality police have also been reportedly redeployed in some areas since early July 2023, potentially to enforce compulsory veiling requirements.   “After months of nationwide protests over the death of Jina Mahsa Amini and against restrictive veiling laws, the authorities have introduced a tiered system of punishments targeting women and girls,” the experts said. “The punishments include deprivation of a range of basic freedoms and social and economic rights, which will disproportionately affect economically marginalised women,” they said.   “We urge authorities to reconsider the compulsory hijab legislation in compliance with international human rights law, and to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for all women and girls in Iran,” the experts said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/irans-proposed-hijab-law-could-amount-gender-apartheid-un-experts http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/08/minorities-iran-have-been-disproportionally-impacted-ongoing-crackdown http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/iran-one-year-anniversary-jina-mahsa-aminis-death-custody-heightened   24 Nov. 2022   The deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, by Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN Human Rights Council Special Session:   At the outset, let me begin by saying that I have deep admiration for the people of Iran. On my numerous official visits to the country in my previous incarnation, I have been inspired by the people I met and by the country’s rich cultural and literary heritage.   Iran’s hosting of Afghan refugees was and remains a true expression of international solidarity.   It pains me to see what is happening in the country. The images of children killed. Of women beaten in the streets. Of people sentenced to death.   We have seen waves of protests over the past years, calling for justice, equality, dignity and respect for human rights. They have been met with violence and repression.   The unnecessary and disproportionate use of force must come to an end. The old methods and the fortress mentality of those who wield power simply don’t work. In fact, they only aggravate the situation.   We are now in a full-fledged human rights crisis. The current protests, sparked on 16 September following the death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, have expanded throughout the country. Protests have reportedly taken place in over 150 cities and 140 universities in all 31 provinces of Iran.   Minority regions continue to be disproportionately affected, especially in terms of casualties. Some of their representatives in Parliament have voiced criticism towards the response by the authorities to these protests.   Women, young people, men, from across society – students, workers from various sectors, athletes and artists are clamouring for change. With incredible courage.   To bring an end to discriminatory laws and practices against women and girls. For the full respect of the rights and freedoms of all the people of Iran. For inclusion and equality. For a better, more just future.   I urge the Government and those in power to listen. To acknowledge the deep-seated social, economic and political grievances that have been building up. To heed people’s demands for their rights to be protected and for their voices to be heard. To accept the legitimacy of those calling for different visions of society.   Women and girls must be able to feel free and secure in public without fear of violence or harassment. To live in safety and be able to participate in public life on equal footing with men. Young people need to know that they can peacefully express their opinions without fear of arrest and imprisonment.   The current situation is untenable. Since the protests began, security forces have reportedly responded by using lethal force against unarmed demonstrators and bystanders who posed no threat to life. In blatant disregard of international rules on the use of force.   The security forces, notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij forces have used live ammunition, birdshot and other metal pellets, teargas and batons.   According to reliable sources, a conservative estimate of the death toll so far stands at over 300, including at least 40 children. This is unacceptable.   We received reports that injured protesters fear going to hospital for risk of being arrested by the security forces. Medical professionals have publicly denounced interference by security forces in the treatment of injured protesters.   From what we could gather, around 14,000 people, including children, have so far been arrested in the context of the protests. This is a staggering number.   I am alarmed by reports that even children suspected of having participated in protests are being arrested at school.   Hundreds of university students have been summoned for questioning, threatened or suspended and barred from entering university campuses.   Civil society actors have been targeted and arrested from their homes and workplaces, among them human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers.   Arrested protesters continue to be denied access to a lawyer. Many face national security charges with lengthy prison sentences.   There are troubling reports of physical and psychological torture and ill treatment of protesters in detention to extract forced confessions, with some of them broadcast on State media. Families of victims are harassed and targeted.   According to official sources, at least 21 people arrested in the context of the protests currently face the death penalty of which at least six have been sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (enmity against God) and efsad-e fel-arz (corruption on earth), inconsistent with international standards.   We have seen statements that seek to delegitimize and label protesters, civil society actors and journalists as agents of enemies and foreign States. That’s a convenient narrative. As we have seen throughout history, it’s the typical narrative of tyranny. To distract from the root causes of grievances.   The people of Iran, from all walks of life, across ethnicities, across ages, are demanding change. These protests are rooted in long-standing denials of freedoms. In legal and structural inequalities. In lack of access to information. In internet shutdowns.   For decades, women and girls have been held back by pervasive discrimination in law and practice. And, in the absence of any effective channels to raise their concerns, fears and frustration have multiplied.   People have become disillusioned in the absence of prospects for any real reforms. So, they have taken to the streets.   My Office has received multiple communications from the Government on the events, including domestic investigations into Ms. Amini’s death. We remain concerned that the investigations have failed to meet international standards of impartiality, independence and transparency.   Persistent impunity for human rights violations remains one of the major challenges in Iran, further fueling discontent and distrust.   Political and security considerations have weakened the independence and impartiality of institutions that are vital to ensuring accountability. Yet accountability is a key ingredient of the pursuit of justice for human rights violations.   I therefore call for independent, impartial and transparent investigative processes into alleged violations of human rights, consistent with international standards.   I am also deeply concerned by the alarming increase in the number of executions since 2021. As of September 2022, the overall number of executions had reportedly passed 400 for the year, for the first time in five years. And at least 85 individuals who were children at the time of committing the alleged offence are currently on death row. Two were executed this year.   The Islamic Republic of Iran has accepted recommendations made through this Council’s Universal Periodic Review on guaranteeing the right to a fair trial, access to justice, ensuring freedom from torture in detention, and ensuring the rights of detainees, including to medical treatment. I urge the Government to implement these key recommendations - as a matter of urgency.   I call on the authorities immediately to stop using violence and harassment against peaceful protesters. And to release all those arrested for peacefully protesting, as well as – crucially – to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.   Societies are constantly evolving and changing. No society can be calcified or fossilized as it may stand at a single point in time. To attempt to do so, against the will of its people, is futile.   I urge those holding power in Iran to respect fully the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly, which are integral to sustainable development.   And to engage with the people of Iran about their vision for the future of their country. Change is inevitable. The way forward is meaningful reforms.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2022/11/deteriorating-human-rights-situation-islamic-republic-iran   26 Oct. 2022 (UN News, OHCHR, agencies)   Amid ongoing protests sparked by the death in custody last month of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by so-called “morality police”, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Javaid Rehman, told journalists that since then, many in the UN human rights sphere had made “very strong calls for independent, impartial investigations”, with no response from Iran, other than escalation.   “I would stress the international community has a responsibility to take action, to address impunity for rights violations”, he said, saying it was “really important” the UN and other international bodies, “take concrete action”.   “Iran is in turmoil” he told reporters, with news reports broadcasting video showing security forces attacking mourners at the gravesite of teenager Nika Shakarami, after mass protests across the country on Wednesday, to mark 40 days after the death of Ms. Amini.   Predominantly young men and women have led the protest movement, demanding change, justice and accountability.   Mr. Rehman said that not only had the State ignored calls for any impartial and prompt investigation into the crackdown which has left at least 250 dead, including 27 children, but it has increased the violence, asserting no wrongdoing on the part of the authorities.   ‘Women, life and freedom’   He said Iran’s own investigations have “failed the minimum standards of impartiality and independence”, while the call for change on the streets under the slogan, “women, life and freedom”, grows.   The independent expert said Ms. Amini was “not the first woman to face these brutal consequences” of the morality police enforcement of strict dress codes, and will not be the last one.   Just a day earlier, a large group of UN rights experts signed a statement condemning the killings and the crackdown, which include alleged arbitrary arrests and detentions, gender-based and sexual violence, excessive use of force, torture, and enforced disappearances.   “We are deeply troubled by continued reports of deliberate and unlawful use by the Iranian security forces of live ammunition, metal pellets and buckshot against peaceful unarmed protesters in breach of the principles of legality, precaution, necessity, non-discrimination and proportionality, applicable to the use of force,” the experts said.   “An alarming number of protesters have already been detained and killed, many of whom are children, women and older persons. The Government must instruct police to immediately cease any use of excessive and lethal force and exercise restraint.”   They said reports of physical and sexual violence against women and girls during protests and in public spaces, and the denial of other women’s and girl’s rights while in detention, or when active in public, were frightening.   “We see such violations as a continuum of long-standing, pervasive, gender-based discrimination embedded in legislation, policies and societal structures. All of which have been devastating for women and girls in the country for the past four decades.”   Internet communications have been disrupted since the protests started, preventing access and sharing of information.   Reports of acts of intimidation and harassment against protesters’ families by authorities have also emerged. They indicate that family members are being interrogated unlawfully, with a view to extracting false information attributing responsibility for the killing of relatives to “rioters” or individuals working for “enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.   Mr. Rehman, said current investigations and domestic accountability channels had failed to meet the minimum standards of transparency, objectivity and impartiality.   “Chronic impunity and lack of redress for previous violations have culminated in today’s events as we see protests throughout the country calling for justice and accountability for Amini’s death but also demanding respect for fundamental socio-economic and political rights and particularly freedom of expression,” the expert stressed.   “Today’s movement is ushered by different social classes in different regions with women and youth at the forefront. Amini’s death has directly affected women who have, for many years, been subjected to discriminatory laws especially those concerning dress codes,” he said.   “With the dress code laws being enforced through recent decrees, and implemented through the morality police, women are monitored, harassed and sometimes beaten on a daily basis for simply wearing their Hijab inappropriately. This is meant to instil an atmosphere of fear. We have seen, however, the courage of many women who defied security forces by cutting their hair in public and actively participating in protests.”   Rehman expressed alarm at the situation of children who have been disproportionately affected by the latest protests. “More than 27 children have been killed so far, some of them by live ammunition while others were beaten to death. It is clear evidence that excessive, lethal and indiscriminate use of force is the response by security forces.”   The Special Rapporteur also said he was extremely concerned at reports that schools have been raided and children arrested for their alleged participation in protests. “Some principals have also reportedly been arrested for not cooperating with security forces. This instils an atmosphere of fear in these schools with grave consequences on the well-being and education of these children.”   http://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129937 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/iran-crackdown-peaceful-protests-death-jina-mahsa-amini-needs-independent http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/iran-special-rapporteur-calls-effective-accountability-deaths-recent   18 Oct. 2022   Guardian News reports fresh protests across Iran ignited by 16-year-old Asra Panahi’s death after schoolgirls assaulted by security forces in raid on high school.   According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, 16-year-old Asra Panahi died after security forces raided the Shahed girls high school in Ardabil on 13 October and demanded a group of girls sing an anthem that praises Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.   When they refused, security forces beat the pupils, leading to a number of girls being taken to hospital and others arrested. On Friday, Panahi reportedly died in hospital of injuries sustained at the school.   Iranian officials denied that its security forces were responsible, after her death sparked outrage across the country.   Iranian authorities have responded to schoolgirls protests by launching a series of raids on schools across the country, with reports of officers forcing their way into classrooms, violently arresting schoolgirls and pushing them into waiting cars, and firing teargas into school buildings.   In a statement, Iran’s teachers’ union condemned the “brutal and inhumane” raids and called for the resignation of the education minister, Yousef Nouri.   News of Panahi’s death has further mobilised schoolgirls across the country to organise and join protests over the weekend. Among them was 16-year-old Naznin*, whose parents had kept her at home for fear that she would be arrested for protesting at her school.   “I haven’t been allowed to go to the school because my parents fear for my life. But what has it changed? The regime continues to kill and arrest schoolgirls,” says Naznin.   19-year-old Nergis also joined the protests, and was hit by rubber bullets in her back and legs. She says Panahi’s death has motivated her and her friends to continue to protest, despite the danger.   She says what happened to Panahi – as well as the deaths of two other schoolgirls, 17-year-old Nika Shahkarami and 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, both at the hands of the Iranian security forces – has united young people across Iran under a common cause.   “I don’t have a single relative in Ardabil, but with this brutal crackdown on our sisters, who were just 16 years old, they’ve awakened the whole nation,” she says.   http://www.dw.com/en/iran-deaths-of-schoolgirls-further-stoke-public-fury/a-63494532 http://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/12/iran-schoolgirls-leading-protests-freedom http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/10/iran-at-least-23-children-killed-with-impunity-during-brutal-crackdown-on-youthful-protests/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/10/iran-protests-reports-child-deaths-detentions-are-deeply-worrying   17 Oct. 2022   Iran: End killings and detentions of children immediately, UN Child Rights Committee   As at least 23 children were reportedly killed by Iranian security forces and hundreds more were injured, detained and tortured during recent peaceful protests, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child condemned the grave violations of children's rights in the country and urged the authorities to stop all violence against children. The Committee issued the following statement today.   “The Committee on the Rights of the Child strongly condemns the grave violations of the rights of the child that are taking place in Iran in the context of peaceful protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022.   The Committee is alarmed by the killings by security forces of at least 23 children, including an 11-year-old boy. According to reliable reports, some children were shot with live ammunition, while others died as a result of beatings. Many families reported that, despite grieving for the loss of a child, they were pressured to absolve security forces by declaring that their children had committed suicide and making false confessions.   The Committee is also deeply concerned at reports that children have been arrested in schools and detained together with adults, and that some have been subjected to acts of torture. The announcement made by the Ministry of Education on 12 October that children arrested were being transferred to psychological centres for correction and education to prevent them from becoming anti-social characters and numerous reports of retaliatory expulsions of many high school students are also matters of concern to the Committee.   We strongly urge Iran to comply with its international human rights obligations, particularly those under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This begins with the fundamental obligation to protect children’s right to life under any circumstances.   The Committee reaffirms the obligation incumbent on the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect and protect children’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.   Many children, including many girls, are protesting to make their opinions known on issues that matter to them. Their right to be heard should not be stifled by any level of force. The Committee strongly urges Iran to cease the use of force against peaceful protests and protect the children participating in peaceful demonstrations.   Grave violations of children’s rights in Iran need to be thoroughly investigated by competent, independent and impartial authorities and those responsible prosecuted.   The Committee on the Rights of the Child will continue to closely monitor the situation in Iran and liaise with other relevant human rights bodies to bring an end to the grave violations of the rights of Iranian children.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2022/10/iran-end-killings-and-detentions-children-immediately-un-child   10 Oct. 2022   UNICEF calls for the protection of children and adolescents amid public unrest in Iran   Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell:   “We are extremely concerned by continuing reports of children and adolescents being killed, injured and detained amid the ongoing public unrest in Iran. Our thoughts are with the families of those who have been killed and injured, and we share their grief.   "In addition to the reported casualties, many children have witnessed violence either on the streets or through media broadcasts, which could leave a long-lasting impact on their wellbeing.   “UNICEF calls for the protection of all children from all forms of violence and harm, including during conflict and political events. Violence against children – by anyone and in any context – is indefensible.   “We echo the Secretary-General’s call to the authorities to ‘refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force.’ Children and adolescents must be able to exercise their rights in a safe and peaceful manner at all times.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-calls-protection-children-and-adolescents-amid-public-unrest-iran   22 Sep. 2022   Iran: UN experts demand accountability for death of Mahsa Amini, call for end to violence against women.   UN experts today strongly condemned the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after her arrest for allegedly failing to comply with Iran’s strict rules on women’s dress by wearing an “improper hijab”.   The experts also denounced the violence directed against peaceful protesters and human rights defenders demanding accountability for Amini’s death in cities across the country by Iranian security forces. They urged the Iranian authorities to avoid further unnecessary violence and to immediately stop the use of lethal force in policing peaceful assemblies.   “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the death of Ms Amini. She is another victim of Iran’s sustained repression and systematic discrimination against women and the imposition of discriminatory dress codes that deprive women of bodily autonomy and the freedoms of opinion, expression and belief,” the experts said.   Amini was arrested by the Iran’s morality police on 13 September for being perceived as wearing “improper hijab”. Reports indicate she was severely beaten by members of the morality police during her arrest and transfer to the Vozara Detention Centre.   Amini fell into a coma at the detention centre and died in hospital on 16 September. Iranian authorities said she died of a heart attack, and claimed her death was from natural causes. However, some reports suggested that Amini’s death was a result of alleged torture and ill-treatment, the experts said.   “We strongly condemn the use of physical violence against women and the denial of fundamental human dignity when enforcing compulsory hijab policies ordained by State authorities,” the experts said. “We call on the Iranian authorities to hold an independent, impartial, and prompt investigation into Ms Amini’s death, make the findings of the investigation public and hold all perpetrators accountable.”   Since 16 September, thousands have taken to the streets in many cities, including Tehran, Ilam, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Mahabad, Saqez, Sanandaj, Sari and Tabriz to demand accountability for the death of Amini and to put an end to violence and discrimination against women in Iran, particularly compulsory veiling for women.   The peaceful protests have been met with excessive use of force, including birdshot and other metal pellets by Iranian security forces, the experts said. According to reports, at least eight individuals, including a woman and a 16-year-old child, have been killed, dozens more injured and arrested.   Following the protests, prolonged internet disruptions have been reported in Tehran, Kurdistan provinces, and other parts of the country since 19 September. This is the third widespread internet shutdown recorded over the past 12 months in Iran.   “Disruptions to the internet are usually part of a larger effort to stifle the free expression and association of the Iranian population, and to curtail ongoing protests. State mandated internet disruptions cannot be justified under any circumstances,” the experts said, warning against a further escalation of crackdown against civil society, human rights defenders and peaceful protesters.   “Over the past four decades, Iranian women have continued to peacefully protest against the compulsory hijab rules and the violations of their fundamental human rights,” the experts said, urging authorities in the country to heed the legitimate demands of women who want their fundamental human rights respected.   As previously reiterated, “Iran must repeal all legislation and policies that discriminate on the grounds of sex and gender, in line with international human rights standards,” the experts said.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/09/iran-un-experts-demand-accountability-death-mahsa-amini-call-end-violence Visit the related web page
	A World Fragmented by Inequality by Liz Theoharis The Poor People’s Campaign, agencies USA   A few weeks ago, the world’s power brokers — politicians, CEOs, millionaires, billionaires — met in Davos, the mountainous Swiss resort town, for the 2023 World Economic Forum. In an annual ritual that reads ever more like Orwellian farce, the global elite gathered — their private jets lined up like gleaming sardines at a nearby private airport — to discuss the most pressing issues of our time, many of which they are chiefly responsible for creating.   The 2023 meeting was organized around the theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” and the topics up for debate were all worthy choices: climate change, Covid-19, inflation, war, and the looming threat of recession. Glaringly missing, however, was any honest investigation of the deeper context behind such an epic set of crises — namely, the reality of worldwide poverty and the extreme inequality that separates the poor from the rich on this planet.   Every year, Oxfam, a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, uses the occasion of Davos to release its latest rundown on global inequality. This year’s report, “Survival of the Richest,” offered a striking vision of global poverty from the trenches of the pandemic years. Imagine this as a start: in the last two of those years, the world’s richest 1% captured almost two-thirds of all new wealth, or twice that of the bottom 99%.   Put another way, this planet’s billionaires have collectively “earned” (and yes, that’s in quotation marks for obvious reasons) $2.7 billion every one of the last 730 days. Meanwhile, in 2021 alone, at least 115 million people fell into “extreme poverty,” with billions more hanging on by a tenuous thread. By 2030, Oxfam reports, the world could be facing the “largest setback in addressing global poverty since World War II.”   The grim realities laid out in the report left me wondering: What kind of cooperation were they talking about at Davos? Did they mean a collaboration among all global communities? (Not likely!) Or did they mean the continued partnership of economic elites intent, above all else, on protecting their own wealth? And what of fragmentation? Amid increasing warfare and beneath the ongoing fracturing of democracies (including our own), nations, and long-held international arrangements, do they recognize the deepest fragmentation of all, that caused by so much needless suffering and inexcusable gluttony?   Poverty Amid Plenty   Here in the United States, it’s the same story: untold wealth and shocking want, even as House Republicans are threatening to slash social safety net programs like Medicare and Social Security just weeks into a new congressional session. Today, in one of the richest nations in the world, nearly half the population is either poor or a single $400 emergency away from poverty. The moral and cognitive dissonance of such a reality can be difficult to fathom, as can the numbers.   At a time when the U.S. economy is valued at nearly $25 trillion and the wealth of the three richest Americans exceeds $300 billion, at least 140 million people strain to meet their basic needs and face the daily threat of economic ruin thanks to one pay cut, layoff, accident, extreme storm, or bad medical diagnosis.   Over the last 50 years, CEOs have taken ever bigger chunks out of the paychecks of their workers, so much so that the average CEO now makes 670 times more than his or her employees. It tells you how far we’ve come that, in 1965, that number was “just” 20 times more. Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage ($7.25 an hour, or about $15,000 a year) has remained remarkably low, hurting not only those who earn it, but millions of other workers whose employers use it as the floor for their own pay scales. Bear in mind that if the minimum wage had kept up with the economy’s overall productivity over the last half-century, it would now be $22 an hour, or close to $50,000 a year.   All of this has occurred in an era of policymaking intensely antagonistic to the poor and all too favorable to the rich. In the early 1970s, wages began to level off as the economy was riven by rising unemployment, low growth, and inflation, otherwise known as “stagflation.” This was also a period of labor militancy. As economic geographer David Harvey has pointed out, for the U.S. economic elite, these conditions posed a two-fold threat — politically, to their ability to hold sway within the highest reaches of the government and, economically, to their ability to maintain and build their wealth.   America’s CEOs found relief in the theories of an insurgent wave of neoclassical economists pioneering a model of capitalism that came to be known as “neoliberalism.” What emerged was a political project aimed at restoring the full-throated power of the wealthy, whose playbook included: decreased public spending, greater privatization, increased deregulation of banking and financial markets, slashed taxes, and pulverizing attacks on organized labor.   Since then, our economy has indeed been reshaped. At the bottom, growing parts of the workforce are now non-unionized, low-wage, often part-time, and regularly without benefits like health care, paid sick leave, or retirement plans.   This labor crisis has been accompanied by an unprecedented $15 trillion-plus in personal (including mounting medical and student) debt. As a result, “millions of Americans aren’t just poor; they have less than nothing. The American dream is no longer owning a house with a white picket fence; it is getting out of debt. In one of the richest countries in the world, millions of people now aspire to have zero dollars.”   The view looks very different from the top. The first two years of the pandemic marked the most unequal recession in modern American history, with the wealth of the country’s 651 billionaires actually increasing by more than $1 trillion to a total of about $4 trillion. At the start of 2020, Jeff Bezos was the only American with a net worth of more than $100 billion. By the end of that year, he was joined by Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. At Amazon, where the median pay in 2020 was about $35,000 a year, Bezos could have distributed the $71.4 billion he made that year to his own endangered workers and would still have had well over $100 billion left.   As an anti-poverty organizer, I’m regularly asked if we can afford to end poverty, even as politicians and economists cite the specter of scarcity to justify inaction or even outright anti-poor policies. Look at the debate over the debt ceiling taking place in Congress right now and you’ll see Republicans putting social programs on the chopping block in an attempt to both delegitimize and defund the government.   If, however, you were to focus on the abundance unequally circulating around us, it’s clear that scarcity is a lie, a political invention, used to cover up vast reservoirs of capital that could be marshaled to meet the needs of everyone in this country and the world.   Don’t be fooled. We’re not living in a time of insufficiency, but in a golden age of plenty amid grotesque poverty, of abundance amid unbearable forms of abandonment.   To Tackle Poverty, Tackle Wealth   Despite the capacity to wipe out poverty altogether, antipoverty advocacy generally operates within two interdependent philosophical frameworks: mitigation and charity. The first assumes that poverty is indeed a permanent feature of our economy best alleviated by job-training programs, fatherhood initiatives, and work requirements, but never to be abolished outright.   The second approaches poverty as a sad social condition that exists on the margins of society and treats poor people as, at best, pitiable and, at worst, pathological. Together, those two frameworks funnel billions of dollars in charitable and philanthropic giving to explicitly apolitical measures directed downstream from the source of poverty.   While such giving does indeed help many impoverished people meet immediate needs, it does very little to confront poverty in its fullness or why it exists in the first place — and in most cases, the help is inadequate given the need. No wonder the wealthy tend to be the biggest proponents of mitigating poverty through charity, because to fundamentally address the problem would also mean addressing the unequal distribution of political power in our world.   Oxfam’s new report is a good place to explore this, since it not only critiques inequality, but offers possible solutions to the nightmares such a situation creates, above all increasing tax rates on the wealthy, which right now are mind-numbingly low. Consider this statistic: “Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a ‘true tax rate’ of about 3% between 2014 and 2018. Aber Christine, a flour vendor in Uganda, makes $80 a month and pays a tax rate of 40%.”   To counter this, Oxfam proposes that worldwide taxes on the income of the richest 1% be raised to at least 60% (with even higher rates for multimillionaires and billionaires). They also suggest that taxes on the wealthy be levied in such a way that their number would be dramatically reduced and their wealth redistributed to meet the needs of the poor.   Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam’s executive director, explained it this way:   “Taxing the super-rich is the strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy. We need to do this for innovation. For stronger public services. For happier and healthier societies. And to tackle the climate crisis, by investing in the solutions that counter the insane emissions of the very richest.”   People often ask me for a plan to end poverty. Usually that means they want to know what policy positions and prescriptions to advocate for, a line of inquiry on which I have plenty of thoughts. As a start, I refer them to the fulsome agenda of the Poor People’s Campaign (that I co-chair), including our demands for fair tax policy. But long ago, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., suggested an approach to lifting the load of poverty that goes far beyond any single program or policy.   Some months before the launch of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, having been endlessly asked for an itemized list of demands, King answered this way:   “When a people are mired in oppression, they realize deliverance when they have accumulated the power to enforce change. When they have amassed such strength, the writing of a program becomes almost an administrative detail. It is immaterial who presents the program. What is material is the presence of an ability to make events happen… The call to prepare programs distracts us excessively from our basic and primary tasks… We are, in fact, being counseled to put the cart before the horse… Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power so that government cannot elude our demands. We must develop, from strength, a situation in which government finds it wise and prudent to collaborate with us.”   The 1968 Poor People’s Campaign emerged on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement’s biggest legislative victories. At the time, King pointed out that, beneath the legal scaffolding of Jim Crow and institutionalized racism, areas in which they had made significant gains, millions of Black people remained locked in poverty in the South, as well as across the country, as did so many others from different racial and ethnic backgrounds.   King himself was surprised to learn that poor white people actually outnumbered poor Black people nationally. Taking that into consideration, he counseled that the movement had to make an evolutionary leap from “civil rights to human rights” and from “reform to revolution.”   This may not be the King whom the nation chooses to remember every mid-January in glitzy speeches by politicians who vehemently oppose the very positions for which he gave his life. In fact, this year, on that very commemorative day, I couldn’t help but think of the words of poet Carl Hines:   “Now that he is safely dead, let us praise him, build monuments to his glory, sing hosannas to his name. Dead men make such convenient heroes. They cannot rise to challenge the images we would fashion from their lives. And besides, it is easier to build monuments than to make a better world.”   But the truth is that, right up to his last breath, King was deeply concerned about a nation, weighed down by war, racism, and poverty, that was quickly approaching the irreversible fate of “spiritual death.” Years of experience, and the guidance of others, had convinced him that the next chapter of the struggle required a mass movement of a breadth and depth not yet awakened. As he came to see it, strategically speaking, the unity of the poor would be the Achilles heel of a society desperately in need of restructuring.   If poor people could unite to form a new political alliance across the lines that historically divided them, they would be uniquely positioned to lead a broad and powerful human-rights movement that confronted militarism, racism, and economic exploitation together.   The same is no less true today. To end poverty, our smartest and most innovative ideas have to be brought to the table. The right analysis alone, however, won’t end poverty. That will only happen through a movement or movements transforming the hurt and pain of millions into, as King once put it, a “new and unsettling force” carrying this nation to higher and more stable ground. (Copyright 2023 Liz Theoharis)   * Liz Theoharis is Co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign in the U.S.   http://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/ http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/temporary-pandemic-snap-benefits-will-end-in-remaining-35-states-in-march http://www.cbpp.org/blog/snap-is-and-remains-our-most-effective-tool-to-combat-hunger http://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/poverty-in-the-us/ http://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-united-states-can-end-hunger-and-food-insecurity-for-millions-of-people/ http://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-fair-tax-act-would-radically-restructure-the-nations-tax-system-in-favor-of-the-wealthy/ http://www.americanprogress.org/article/gop-members-of-congress-threaten-debt-limit-default-to-cut-social-security-and-medicare/ http://inequality.org/research/extreme-wealth-tax/ http://inequality.org/great-divide/updates-billionaire-pandemic/ http://patrioticmillionaires.org/the-oligarch-act-explained/ http://www.propublica.org/article/irs-files-taxes-wash-sales-goldman-sachs   http://www.icij.org/investigations/ericsson-list/as-us-style-corporate-leniency-deals-for-bribery-and-corruption-go-global-repeat-offenders-are-on-the-rise/ http://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/new-us-company-owner-database-taking-way-too-long-to-implement-experts-warn/ http://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/us-trusts-offshore-south-dakota-tax-havens/ http://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-how-much-the-ultrawealthy-gained-by-shaping-trumps-big-beautiful-tax-cut http://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/tax-and-monopoly-focus-reframing-tax-policy-to-reset-the-rules-of-the-monopoly-game/ http://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/baker-mckenzie-global-law-firm-offshore-tax-dodging/ http://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2021/11/nearly-500-billion-lost-yearly-to-global-tax-abuse-due-mostly-to-corporations-new-analysis-says/ http://wir2022.wid.world/ http://wir2022.wid.world/insights/ Visit the related web page
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