(November/December 1999)
On Monday, November 1 about 600 poor people from 11 nations of the Americas marched to a church in the shadow of the UN to make their voices heard about the imperatives of economic justice. This was a final rally, culminating a month-long 400 mile march from Washington DC. Organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, the march is a national effort led by poor and homeless women, men, and children of all races to raise the issue of poverty as a human rights violation.
The campaign is made up of representatives from Canadian delegations, the Latin American nations, and 40 US organizations including public housing residents, welfare recipients, farm workers working for poverty wages and workfare workers.
The profession of social work was visible as workers and allies in the march. Dr. Robert Schachter, Executive Director of NYC Chapter, gave testimony about specific ways in which social workers are being blocked under welfare reform from fulfilling our professional mandates. Last spring, the Chapter's Welfare Reform Task Force held a Speak Out for social workers to tell their experience of trying to help people who receive welfare benefits.
Dr. Schachter said "social workers, one after another, told of how women, mothers, were seeking out social work services in order to help strengthen their families and to succeed in becoming financially independent. The City cut off their benefits. Attempts to find out why, or to determine what to do, were fruitless. There was no one to talk to. City staff hung up when called, if you could get through at all.
Dr. Schachter stressed "What we have is not a policy to end poverty. We have a policy of humiliation. It is a policy of beating people down. It is also a policy of intimidation." Scores of social workers in the audience stood up when Dr. Schachter asked them to identify themselves in solidarity with the poor who had organized and led the march.
In addition, Peter Weiss of the Center for Constitutional Rights explained to the audience the complaint filed at the beginning of the march against the United States at the Organization of American States. The basis of the formal petitions filed on behalf of the poor of America is the 50 year old UN Declaration of Human Rights. While the US has never ratified the treaty affirming the economic human rights provisions of that document, the legal team argued that it can and should be held to the commonly accepted standards of international law.
Other speakers at the final rally represented unions, the Labor Party, and the National Organization of Women. Patricia Ireland, NOW President, called the names of each presidential candidate still in the race, asking how he would commit to meet basic human needs.
Representatives from each of the nations and regions represented spoke to the connections between poverty in their countries and in the USA, pledging solidarity in the struggle against the unbridled greed of corporations, the complicity of governments, and such transitional entities as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The destruction of the infrastructure of social welfare programs and services was a common theme in the speeches, underscoring the need for social workers and people living in poverty to recognize and act on the threats to our common interests.