Poverty is such a weird concept when applied like this.
Much of chinas population were deemed as living in poverty, despite just… Living oldschool farming village lives like they always did. Might not have had much money, but they just lived like farmers and villagers.
Then a bunch of people invented a bunch of stuff, looked at these people who didn’t have those things, and said “man, are you poor! We better create some jobs for you…” and are now patting themselves on the back for taking these people out of their villages, and giving them the possibility to live for ABOVE 1.90$ a day.
Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.
There are plenty of other definitions, but they all revolve around these things: food, clothing, shelter, clean water and air, etc. All basic human needs.
Poverty is such a weird concept when applied like this.
Much of chinas population were deemed as living in poverty, despite just… Living oldschool farming village lives like they always did. Might not have had much money, but they just lived like farmers and villagers.
Then a bunch of people invented a bunch of stuff, looked at these people who didn’t have those things, and said “man, are you poor! We better create some jobs for you…” and are now patting themselves on the back for taking these people out of their villages, and giving them the possibility to live for ABOVE 1.90$ a day.
Oh wow.
Cool thing is that Poverty isn’t just money:
There are plenty of other definitions, but they all revolve around these things: food, clothing, shelter, clean water and air, etc. All basic human needs.