Workers and young people speak out against growing poverty - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/06/05/mtdr-j05.html
On Wednesday, WSWS reporters spoke to workers, young people, pensioners and other people in Mount Druitt’s main pedestrian mall about the impact of the working-class suburb’s deepening social crisis on their lives.
Decades of job cuts and the dismantling of essential social services have produced rising homelessness, drug abuse and other indicators of social distress. One of the more frequented shops in the mall is a payday loan office, offering small loans at exorbitant interest rates.
Some residents were hesitant to give on-the-record comments, citing their experiences with the corporate media, which routinely vilifies the area.
A group of young mothers who spend time together in the mall said they were featured in the documentary, Struggle Street, produced by the government-owned Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). They said their comments were taken out of context, in an attempt to present them as “dole-bludgers.”
One noted that after the show aired, they were subjected to abuse online, and disparagingly referred to as “The Real Housewives of Mount Druitt” on a corporate network’s television panel show—a cynical play on a popular reality TV program.
Many others were enthusiastic to speak out, commenting that workers and young people from the area generally have no voice.