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Summitry & Cynicism

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Month
June
Year
1997
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Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike)
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Agenda Publications
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Summitry & Cynicism

1997 Mumia Abu-Jamal

All Rights Reserved

" The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends. " Proverbs 14:20 (KJV)

   The recent so-called Volunteers Summit in Philadelphia was about many things, but really helping the poor wasn't one of them. It was pure pageantry for politicians, camouflage for corporations and P.R. for a government bent on punishing the poor for the vile "sin" of poverty. It was the velvet glove that hides the iron hand that strangles the poor while singing a sweet, deceitful song: "I feel your pain." A pain caused by a social system that funnels the lion's share of wealth to the few, while snatching away the means of bare subsistence from the many, all the while donning the smiling mask of "volunteerism."   

   Why volunteerism?  Why now?

   Because the call for "volunteerism" comes amidst the most brutal government cutbacks in recent history, at a time when capital is triumphant, and both parties (the Republicrats) bow, scrape and genuflect to their masters on Wall St. They know these cutbacks will cause unmitigated disaster, unbridled, rampaging hunger, increased homelessness and bitter lessness, for men, women and children into the millions, but they don't give a hot diggity damn.

   In a world where all politics is theater, the 'Millionaires Summit' was high opera, where the rich danced while patting themselves on the back, before a painted backdrop that covered a cavern of American socioeconomic decay.

   While they danced a nice diddle, capital called the tune, and the play was staged in a city that has become evocative of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," for the stark contrasts between wealth and poverty. Philadelphia's Center City, with its glazen, shimmering skyscrapers, and bustling business district, has its antithesis in its grim, crumbling northern neighborhoods, sites of socioeconomic neglect and official predation on the poor that echo the haunting emptiness of a ravaged Beirut.

   In such a place, the brazen cali of President Clinton, George Bush, former Pentagon Chief Colin Powell, and the CEOs of America's wealthiest corporations to "volunteer" sound more like sacrilege than insult.

   There is something almost perverse about these nouveau or born millionaires preaching to the poor about "volunteering."

   Bill Clinton has worked for the government of Arkansas in some capacity for almost 15 years, as the state's Attorney General, Governor and Law Professor at the University of Arkansas, before his election as President.

   George Bush was a Congressman, CIA Chief, U.S. Liaison to Beijing, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, before his vice-presidency and Presidency.

   Colin Powell spent his adult life in the military.

   The point being, all three men spent their adult lives working for the state in some capacity and made good livings doing so. None are known for volunteering.

   For the corporations active in the summit the costs expended in Philadelphia can all be recouped by tax exemptions. For them, Philly was a freebie.

   In the excessive media praise and fawning over the event much attention was given to a painting session, where politicians painted walls. It was a cheap photo op, the political equivalent of putting a Aid on a cancerous sore, for in North Philadelphia, which has the most substandard housing in the city, to paint a wall when whole blocks stand barren is paying attention to a pimple while ignoring the loss of limbs.

   "Volunteering" can't build enough houses needed by the poor, as even Habitat for Humanity supporter (and former U.S. President) Jimmy Carter admits. According to the U.S. Census (1992) there were 36.9 million Americans living below the poverty line (33% of which are black!). Will volunteerism feed them? Hardly.

   Just as the call for volunteerism gains volume, government support gets shut off. Is that coincidence?

   Thirty years ago, the government launched its War on Poverty; now it launches its War on the Poor. As stocks rise, wages fall, and jobs slide across the border and abroad to fatten corporate coffers. In such a context, the poor are seen as expendable, or at the very best as potential labor who may be paid at below minimum wage to keep 'real' workers in line.

   It is time to volunteer! It's time for folks to give their time and energy to revolution, to join and build such organizations that oppose this ruthless war on the poor, and work for a day when life comes before profit.

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