What' Missing is Work with Dignity
THE TAGLINE:What you're really giving is a way out.
The man was washing dishes. Now, thanks to the charity raised by United Way, he' in a skilledjob. The old self is torn in shreds, replaced by the new self with betterjob.While education and the means to learn new skills is a human right, what' wrong with this picture is that dishwashing is presented as a job without value. Read more at United Workers Association Leadership Organizer Tom Kertes' blog
What the ad fails to say is that dishwashing should be a job that comes with as much dignity and value as any other job. The way out for dishwashers isn't only new jobs, but is also about being treated with respect regardless of occupation. In reality, the person is this photo, whose old self the dishwasher is torn open and dead, will be replaced by another dishwasher. The way out is not to keep tearing up and replacing people who wash dishes, but is requiring that all jobs be of value and that all work be work with dignity. This is especially important because some people may be torn up and lying dead after getting charity, but aren't able to do the work of the next betteroccupation. What' left for the dishwasher who is unable to shift to another occupation?
The photo is part of series of ads by the United Way, each with old selves torn up and dead, replaced by the results of the charity provided by United Way the way out. United Way is not the way out. Charity is not the way out. The way out is when society is organized to meet the needs of people, when people are treated with dignity and respect, when human life is valued as sacred. That' the way out, and I don't think that the United Way and it' business sponsors have any plans to run a series that tells that story. Here' another ad from the series:
In this photo, it' hard to see the ruins of the former self, but this image does a real beating to the person living on the street. The head of the old self looks like a skull that has been hit with a hammer.There' no dignity for that former self in the photo. The photo doesn't attempt to convey anything but death to the former self who lived on the streets.
Agencies like the United Way focus on the problem of poverty as a problem of the person who is poor, instead of an economic or political problem. According to this way of thinking, what you need to do to end poverty is clean up the poor, give them new work uniforms and send him them off to work and the problem goes away. While there' good in work with dignity, and most people without work or without a home want both, the solution is in the economic system that requires a poor person who is out of work the only option of the street. That' the problem, and cleaning up one poor person and tearing up their former self doesn't fix the problem. Until the real problem is fixed (and just as with the dishwasher above), another person will replace the one just torn up and the street will still be home to homeless. The solution is in the system, not in charity that masks brutal systems and promotes ideas that make it hard to tackle the underlining economic and political causes of poverty.
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