Clip of the Month: Extreme Poverty & the U.S. Government with Philip Alston

Jan 25, 2018

Philip Alston is the special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights for the United Nations. Recently, he spent two weeks traveling across the U.S. to investigate poverty. In this clip, he talks about his visit to a San Francisco church that provides a haven for the homeless—one of only two churches in the area to do so—and goes on to discuss the role of government.

Philip Alston is the special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights for the United Nations. Recently, he spent two weeks traveling across the U.S. to investigate poverty and discovered appalling conditions, from homelessness in California’s richest cities to open sewage in rural Alabama backyards. In this clip, he talks about his visit to a San Francisco church that provides a haven for the homeless—one of only two churches in the area to do so—and goes on to discuss the role of government. Today's policies are the reverse of the New Deal, he says, which assumed that government had a responsibility to look after those at the bottom as well as those at the top.

You may also like

MAR 22, 2023 Podcast

How Feminist Foreign Policy Can Reshape the Globe, with Kristina Lunz

In the second conversation of our Women's History Month podcast series, Kristina Lunz, co-CEO and co-founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy, joins "Doorstep" ...

MAR 21, 2023 Podcast

Freedom of Thought, with Susie Alegre

In this first episode, host Hilary Sutcliffe explores . . . our freedom to think from another angle. International human rights lawyer Susie Alegre discusses the surprising ways ...

MAR 16, 2023 Podcast

From Another Angle: Trailer to the Series, with Host Hilary Sutcliffe

In this new Carnegie Council podcast series, Hilary Sutcliffe, a member of the Artificial Intelligence & Equality (AIEI) Board of Advisors, explores fresh perspectives from some ...