Blog Action Day and Poverty

Today is Blog Action Day. Since MWRO has a fairly new weblog, we had no idea what that was until today. Apparently, it's a day when everyone who has a blog writes about the same topic to increase the international awareness and (hopefully) action around the issue. And today's theme is poverty, quite appropriate.

On the matter of blogs, we have found that in this election season our Google Alerts have jumped tremendously on searches for "National Welfare Rights Organization," "NWRO," and "welfare rights." It seems that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of conservative bloggers in the U.S. who are writing about Senator Obama's community organizing work with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Alongside that, they are also writing about ACORN's early relationship with the NWRO and George Wiley, a scientist turned poor people's community organizer.

But these weblogs aren't informative or even accurate. They're mostly inflammatory, ignorant, and built upon discrediting Presidential Candidate Obama and ACORN, and assailing welfare recipients. Here are a couple of examples:
Obama the ACORN nut: From little things, Left Liberal Marxist Socialism Grows;

Obama, ACORN, and Connections to Terrorist William Ayers

Now leading in the polls, Senator Obama surely has a lot to worry about and contend with. And once again, some people in this country--this world--in times of economic crisis have chosen to assess it by launching racist and venomous assaults on poor people instead of critiquing the true villain--a failed capitalist system.

The mission of the NWRO then and the National Welfare Rights Union now is to fight for the rights of poor and low-income people, especially those on public assistance. It's well understood that capitalism relies upon a cadre of low-skilled, low-wage workers to move in and out of the workforce, thereby, creating a permanent pool of the unemployed. Welfare recipients are at the bottom of this abyss and know better than anyone that it's not a place you choose to be in!

We invite critics and naysayers to learn more about welfare rights, economic human rights, and the efforts of many other good organizations and people who are trying to fight poverty and build a better world. Check out the links on the MWRO weblog page.

(Image: Courtesy of Kensington Welfare Rights Union)