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Every time I hear one of those Smith family "sponsor an Australian child who can't afford school supplies" ads I am incandescent with rage. This country makes me sick - how can we let children live in poverty when we could give them everything they need in the blink of an eye?
And the charity spending big bucks on massive ad campaigns? Am organisation like the Smith family has funds, reputation and institutional connections which mean they could do successfully push the govt to ensure no child goes without.
Imagine if instead of running a one-to-one child sponsorship campaign they pushed for jobseeker to be extended? Or for school uniforms and shoes and exercise books and pencils to be provided to students? Or free school breakfast and lunch programs?
Any of these things are so easily within reach - it'd be pocket change for a govt obsessed with subsidising dying industries like coal and gas to the tune of billions of dollars. What's lacking isn't funds but political will and common compassion
But would an organisation like the Smith family ever push for such a thing? Hell no! Because they're cowards, sure, but also because if we ended poverty in this country they'd be out of a job and they're much more interested in keeping donations rolling in.
This is half the problem with the NGO industrial complex in a nutshell: why fix a problem at its root when you can make a very tidy living for yourself by having a big song and dance about how much you're doing to treat the symptoms while ignoring the cause?
Meanwhile the people actually doing the real work to truly end poverty in this country are scraping by on welfare pittances themselves and working themselves into the ground running orgs like @AusUnemployment on the smell of an oily rag.
The whole concept of charity is built on a lie anyway - the rich will never give away enough of their wealth to end the suffering of the poor, they're just trying to feel a bit better and maybe get a tax write off. Meanwhile there are more and more people going without every day.
So if those ads tug at your heartstrings bc you hate the thought of children suffering - think about how we proved in 2020 that we can end poverty in Australia overnight. And how the govt decided that a few months of that was plenty, now back to $40 a day bc fuck you, that's why
And then get very very angry and join an org like the AUWU or @AntiPovertyN_SA or give your money either directly to people who are struggling or an organisation that's actually doing something about the reasons kids are hungry in the first place. Call your MPS! Kick up a stink!
Tell everyone you know about the absolute travesties occurring and get them to make a fuss about it too! Do mutual aid projects! Just don't donate to charities like the salvos or Smith family then pat yourself on the back for "doing your bit" because now you know that's bullshit
And side note, why the hell are school supplies NOT free? If a PUBLIC education requires compulsory materials, why are they not publicly provided? Every parent I know is sick with worry about how they'll afford the book list - why should they pay for it personally anyway?
