MEDIA ROOTS – Reporting From Outside Party Lines » poverty

President Correa on Fighting Poverty & Foreign Domination in Ecuador

abby — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 16:28:07 +0000

After 10 years and three terms, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa’s time in office has ended. Under his administration Ecuador made far-reaching economic and social gains, despite having inherited a country on the brink of collapse.

In one of his last interviews before leaving office, Abby Martin talks to him about his legacy, his critics, and the struggle ahead for Ecuador and beyond.

From commenting on Trump and the global crisis of inequality, to addressing CIA plots and opposition in his own country, hear Correa’s last words as President to the people of Latin America and the United States.

President Correa on His Legacy & Critics

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Connecting the War at Home and Abroad with Eugene Puryear

abby — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:55:45 +0000

Lawmakers pushing through the next bloated war budget have received millions in campaign contributions from defense contractors, according to Open Secrets.

While the military industrial complex churns unabated and bombs drop across the Middle East in our names, citizens in America continue to be victimized by economic warfare and terrorized by militarized police forces.

On this episode of Media Roots Radio, Eugene Puryear, organizer with the ANSWER coalition and author of Shackled and Chained, connects the war at home and abroad on a systems level while deconstructing the toxic neoliberal ideology that dominates global policy in the 21st century.

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This Media Roots podcast is the product of many long hours of hard work and love. If you want to encourage our voice, please consider supporting us as we continue to speak from outside party lines. Even the smallest donations help us with operating costs.

Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

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Photo by flickr user Moyan Brent

Detroit’s Bankruptcy Dictatorship: Extinguishing the Homeless & Shutting Down Human Rights

abby — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 23:47:17 +0000

Six years ago, Congress passed a bailout to the tune of 80 billions dollars funded by American taxpayers to rescue the bankrupt auto industry, mostly based in Detroit. But when the Motor City itself needed help and retirees were on the brink of losing everything, the money was nowhere to be found, apparently to avoid “meddling” in the bankruptcy process.

Fast forward to today, where the government admits it “only” lost 9.3 billion taxpayer dollars to the auto makers – an amount that could transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of Detroit residents.

And despite the rhetoric that Detroit is on the up and up, there’s still an insurmountable amount of suffering and neglect plaguing the city. Much of Detroit is in squalor, with skyrocketing rates of poverty, homelessness, and even cuts to vital resources like water where 40% of the population faces shut-offs.

At the end of the day, it’s a story of priorities. If this country continues to prioritize guns over water, bombs over shelter, and bloodshed over life, then it won’t just be Detroit that needs saving.

Breaking the Set recently traveled to Detroit to delve deeper into the roots of the bankruptcy as well as connect with activists working tirelessly to help bring city residents back on their feet.

Detroit Part I: Extinguishing the Homeless & Shutting Off Human Rights

Detroit Part II: Bankruptcy Dictatorship & Foreclosed Futures

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Follow me @AbbyMartin and let me know what you think at #BTSDetroit

Media Roots Radio – Obama’s Weak NSA Retort & the Antidote to Defeatism

abby — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:32:00 +0000

Robbie and Abby Martin discuss the unbelievable nature of the post 9/11 anthrax attacks. They also talk about Obama’s pathetic NSA retort revealing a chink in the establishment’s armor, inverted totalitarianism, Guantanamo Bay, and the antidote to defeatism

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Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

Poor America on BBC’s Panorama

abby — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:43:51 +0000

MEDIA ROOTS — The number of deeply impoverished Americans has exploded since Obama took office, according to Panorama, BBC’s weekly investigative news program. In fact, the U.S. is more unequal now than any other time since the Great Depression. Three million are newly unemployed while one-fifth of the wealth is earned by just one percent of the population. Additionally, nearly 50 million are now uninsured, up from 46 million in 2008.

BBC Host Hillary Anderson takes viewers inside the storm drains of Las Vegas to meet some of the hundreds of formerly middle-class Americans now living below one of the richest cities on Earth. She continues to interview a few of the 1.5 million homeless children in the U.S., where one child tragically explains how her family once had to eat rats because no other food was available. Anderson also stops by Tent City outside of Detroit to meet those who have been surviving the harsh elements for over a year after losing their homes.

The once idealized American Dream is now an out of reach distant memory. Social mobility in the U.S. may be the lowest it’s ever been—half the poor, about five million families of four, now earn less than $11,000 a year. Yet, in one of the world’s richest lands it’s even more difficult for those that are impoverished to fully admit their situation.

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BBC’s Panorama: Poor America

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Photo by flickr user nyrk03