Welcome to Part 7 of the Poverty Story

So far, we’ve established that a big part of societal change for the better is to understand our engrained systems – and then create alternate paths to progress within the system using new tools that bypass the barriers.

You use this approach rather than attacking the system because it is protected by the profits it generates and by reinforcing systems built around it.

Precisely – this is also why every generation has movements with amazing activists that are committed to changing the world to a better place – which is obviously needed – but then get worn down by banging up against these seemingly unmovable systems.

Right, and further that one of the only ways to weaken these broken systems is to cut off their source of power, in the case of the poverty system – this means dramatically reducing the number of people living in poverty conditions who end up making money for the system that oppresses them.

That’s it.

However I would like to emphasize one important point for everyone’s understanding – these systems, like poverty, exploitative farming, pollution, and so forth, ARE NOT BROKEN, they are working perfectly, consuming our world’s resources, and making their profits.

What about the civil rights movement – wasn’t that successful in bringing about change?

Of course – but as you know, that has been a very long and still incomplete journey. Rodney is one of our country’s many experts on this progression. And he covers it comprehensively in his amazing book – This Land is Your Land – which again, is available in our Resources Section.

MLK also committed much of his effort towards highlighting poverty as a central tool of the system of human rights abuse.

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). "In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.86, Beacon Press

Are you addressing poverty worldwide or here in the U.S.?

We are focused on the US until we have opportunities to branch out.

Ok – poverty in the U.S. seems like more than enough to take on.

Yes. And the more you know the more overwhelming it can seem. This is actually helpful because it concentrates public awareness and sparks the movement, the enthusiasm, and the urgency to instigate change.

As we’ve already covered, maybe exhaustively, our approach, and we think the most effective approach to change does not involve fighting against embedded systems. At least in its early stages.

That said – there are people and communities who have committed everything to changing exploitative systems – historically and today – and their work, though painfully slow, does cause change for the better. However, because the system carries most of the financial power, it has the resources to misdirect, camouflage, greenwash, temporarily pause, or reconfigure – or whatever form of subterfuge is needed to protect and continue its agenda. These outcomes are heartbreaking for the activists.

So – just to be exhaustive – societal change comes through creating new pathways around these systems and cutting off their supply of raw materials.

Yes – that’s our strategy with poverty, where the alternate path is Level UP Apps – and Mary’s strategy with environmental exploitation, where the alternate path is ARKs...