FILMS FOR ACTION
FILMS FOR ACTION NEEDS YOUR HELP
We don't run on ads. We run on donations. Please help us by committing $5 a month.
DONATE NOW

How Welfare DOES NOT Work The Way You Think It Does

11

It is time for us to reconsider who is dependent on welfare. Poverty is not only the lack of income and wealth but also the poverty of power. A key part of the poverty of power is to be defined as dependent: dependent on charity, handouts, welfare. Yet, it is the wealthy, not the poor, who are dependent on government subsidies.

To transform dependency into self-determination is the work of poor people's movements. To demonstrate the dependency of the wealthy on welfare as well as on the labor of the poor must be our collective work.

The #GlobalPOV Project is a program of the Global Poverty and Practice (GPP) Minor. Based at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, University of California, Berkeley, the GPP Minor creates new ways of thinking about poverty, inequality and undertaking poverty action.

Join the #GlobalPOV conversation on Twitter.
Website: http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/globalpov
Behind-the-Scenes Blog: http://blumcenter.berkeley.edu/global...
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalPOV

Please share!

blumcenter.berkeley.edu
Trending Videos
Never Forget: Lessons of the Post-9/11 Warpath
13 min - As the US Empire tries to leave its 9/11 warpath on Afghanistan & Iraq in the past, Abby Martin reviews the core lessons. Support her ad-free work and get EXCLUSIVE content by supporting Empire...
Afghanistan War Pays Off BIG For Generals Who Lied
5 min
The Victims of 9/11 Should Have Got Justice, Instead They Got War
9 min
The One Thing NEVER Mentioned When Talking About Islamist Terrorism
13 min
Not Going Quietly (trailer)
3 min - Ady Barkan’s life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS, but a confrontation with a powerful Senator catapults him to national fame and ignites a once-in-a-generation political movement.   
The Big Scary "S" Word (trailer)
2 min
Why Does The Media Love War So Much? | George Monbiot
10 min
The IPCC's New "CODE RED" Climate Report
17 min
Schooling the World (2010)
66 min - If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it...
Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power (trailer)
3 min
Earthlings (2005)
95 min
Oliver Stone: The Untold History Of The United States (2012)
570 min
PBS FRONTLINE: The Merchants of Cool (2001)
55 min - They spend their days sifting through reams of market research data. They conduct endless surveys and focus groups. They comb the streets, the schools, and the malls, hot on the trail of the "next...
Dominion (2018)
120 min
Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980)
780 min
The Corporation (2003)
145 min
LOAD MORE
Trending Articles
Communication Skills
Permaculture
The Best Films For Action
Featured Documentaries

Films For Action is a library for people who want to change the world.

 

Our mission is to provide citizens with the knowledge and perspectives essential to creating a more beautiful, just, sustainable, and democratic society.

Films For Action was founded in 2006 by a few friends in Lawrence, Kansas, after realizing how essential healthy media is to a healthy democracy.

Over the last 15 years, we've reviewed and curated over 1,000 free documentaries and 4,000 short films, plus over 150 pay-per-view documentaries, spanning 34 topics related to changing the world.

During this time we've been able to reach tens of millions of people - not by owning a TV network or spending truckloads of cash on advertising, but because millions of awesome people keep sharing 'films for action' with their friends on social media - in particular, our 850,000 supporters on Facebook and 70,000 site members. 

One of the coolest things is, thanks to our patrons, our library is ad-free and 100% supported by member donations, while 99% of our library is free to access and always will be. The pay-per-view films on our site, of course, help support the filmmakers, and 90-100% of the revenue for PPV films hosted by us goes to the filmmakers. 

To thank our $5/mo patrons, we partner with filmmakers and distributors to provide free access to a growing number of films that are normally pay-per-view. With just 20 highly curated films at the moment, it's basically a very, very tiny Netflix for world changers, but its main function is to support the library as a whole.

If you'd like to know more, want to help out, or you're a filmmaker looking to collaborate, feel free to get in touch!

Cheers,  Tim Hjersted