the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 25, 2018
If you live in wealthy downtown Chicago, also known as the Loop, your life expectancy is 85 years.
But if you live in impoverished West Garfield Park, just a few miles away, your life expectancy is just 69 years. That is lower than Syria, even in the middle of its civil war, or Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world.
According to a recent study, people in West Garfield Park die from diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and other treatable diseases. Unlike people in the Loop, residents of West Garfield Park are more likely to lack decent health care and healthy food, and they face much more stress in their daily lives. In short, people in neighborhoods like West Garfield Park die from the same basic reason as people in underdeveloped countries: poverty.
For the poor, even in this rich country, the capitalist system is murder.