{"id":101324,"date":"2025-10-13T10:18:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T08:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=101324"},"modified":"2025-10-13T10:18:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T08:18:43","slug":"history-and-why-it-matters-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/history-and-why-it-matters-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"History and Why it Matters \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Hidden Poverty: Working and Poor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>History of the Day and Why It Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>17 October \u2013 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>History of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed every year on 17 October. It was first recognized by the United Nations in 1992, but its roots go back earlier \u2014 to 17 October 1987, when over 100,000 people gathered at the Trocad\u00e9ro in Paris, the site where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948.<\/p>\n<p>They came together to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence, and hunger, and to affirm that poverty is a violation of human rights. A commemorative stone was unveiled that day, engraved with these words:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWherever men and women are condemned to live in extreme poverty, human rights are violated. To come together to ensure these rights be respected is our solemn duty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, 17 October has become a global day of reflection and action \u2014 a time to listen to the voices of people living in poverty and to reaffirm our shared responsibility to build a world of dignity, equality, and justice for all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why This Day Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This day is not just symbolic \u2014 it\u2019s a reminder that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Poverty is not inevitable; it\u2019s the result of social, economic, and political choices.<\/li>\n<li>Eradicating poverty requires participation \u2014 especially from those who experience it first-hand.<\/li>\n<li>Dignity is central \u2014 fighting poverty is about restoring people\u2019s rights, voice, and hope, not just meeting basic needs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In a world where wealth is more abundant than ever, it challenges us to ask why so many still struggle to survive \u2014 and what kind of societies we truly want to build.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction to Our Theme: \u201cThe Hidden Poverty: Working and Poor\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While poverty is often associated with unemployment or destitution, a growing number of people today are employed yet still poor. These are the working poor \u2014 individuals who work long hours, often in essential or low-wage jobs, but whose income is not enough to meet basic living costs such as food, housing, healthcare, and education.<\/p>\n<p>This \u201chidden poverty\u201d exists in plain sight: among the cleaners who maintain our offices, the security guards who keep us safe, the teachers, caregivers, and delivery drivers who keep society running. They are not jobless \u2014 yet they are trapped in cycles of insecurity, with little room to save, grow, or dream.<\/p>\n<p>This theme invites us to look deeper \u2014 to understand:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why work no longer guarantees a way out of poverty,<\/li>\n<li>How rising living costs and stagnant wages widen inequality, and<\/li>\n<li>What changes are needed \u2014 in policies, business practices, and mind-sets \u2014 to ensure that every worker earns not just a wage, but a life of dignity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hidden Poverty: Working and Poor History of the Day and Why It Matters 17 October \u2013 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty History of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed every year on 17 October. It was first recognized by the United [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43],"tags":[5476],"class_list":["post-101324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-feature","tag-special-feature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/images-1.png?fit=299%2C168&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qmg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 09:16:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}