Dire poverty in US to worsen under Trump, threatening democracy, top UN official says

Hey Reuters : Ken Roth’s Deep Devotion to US Empire Should Be Reported|Opinion|teleSUR
▻http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Hey-Reuters-Ken-Roths-Deep-Devotion-to-US-Empire-Should-Be-Reported-20171

Ken Roth wrote in 2015, “For all its faults, the U.S. government remains the world’s most powerful proponent of human rights.”

Dans les pays ennemis seulement ; dans les pays inféodés leur violation est au contraire fortement encouragée.

#Indonésie #Amérique_latine etc..

#états-unis #pauvreté

#USA

Dire poverty in US to worsen under Trump, threatening democracy, top UN official says | Article [AMP] | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-poverty/dire-poverty-in-us-to-worsen-under-trump-threatening-democracy-top-un-offic

One illustration of horrific poverty and inequality, he said, was the comeback of hookworm, an intestinal parasite, in the South where local governments fail to provide clean water and sanitation and force people to pay for such services themselves.

While statistics show 14 percent of Americans live in poverty, so many more people live precariously on the edge that 20 percent is a more realistic figure, he said.

For example, he cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc workers who rely on government-issued food stamps because they cannot survive on what they earn at their fulltime jobs.

The United States has the lowest rate of social mobility among the world’s rich countries, meaning “the American dream is rapidly becoming the American illusion ,” he said.

“A child who is born into poverty has almost no chance of getting out of poverty in today’s United States,” he said.

[...]

“Current trends in the United States are actually undermining democracy,” he added. “Poor people have no chance of having their voices heard, no chance of influencing public policy.”

[...]

Alston said he was struck by views he encountered across the country that people see the rich as “enterprising, altruistic, hard-working, dedicated” and the poor as “losers, scammers, people trying to profit from the system.”

Those views are promoted by politicians to justify cuts in services and tax reforms that benefit the wealthy, he said.

[...]

“The spiral downwards is fueled by public policy,” he said.

“#rêve_américain” #narrative #guerre_aux_pauvres

Leaked memo schooled Tillerson on human rights - POLITICO
►https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/19/tillerson-state-human-rights-304118

https://static.politico.com/51/6b/328d444c4a8a913cdd18a40497bb/171218-rex-tillerson1-gty-1160.jpg

The May 17 memo reads like a crash course for a businessman-turned-diplomat, and its conclusion offers a starkly realist vision: that the U.S. should use human rights as a club against its adversaries, like Iran, China and North Korea, while giving a pass to repressive allies like the Philippines, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.