Johnson's an ti-poverty programme

from Geoff Meggitt In an article in "New Society"(3rd March) Professor Nathan Glazer exposed the sham U.S, Anti-Poverty Programme: "The entire g 1.5 billion for the anti-poverty programme is about 1.5% of the Federal budget or about 4 of 1% of the gross national product.e. Whether the poverty-stricken are 15 or 25% of the American people may be argued. Certainly there are a good number of them," The money spent on the programme is not wasted: "..,.through these programmes we subsidise some parts of our affluent society which we know are starved, such as maintenance work in city parks,” Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of Professor Glazer's article is when he discusses some possible results of the Community Action _ Programme: "Politically, the Community Action Programme can be a feather in the mayor's cap, or it can provide political resources, in the form of paid organisers, offices, mimeograph machines and paper supplies, for a variety of groups, and thus frighten political leaders out of their wits! What will the organisers be up to? Their activities may begin. They organise the people on a block to discuss their problems, but they may go on to organise a rent strike against slum-lords, or even to throwing garbage on the mayor's lawn in protest against poor garbage-collections. And they may go on to educating the poor to believe that the power : structure is against them and will be moved only by militant organisation and outrageous action." Remembering Los Angeles you can see his point.