The End of Poverty?

: A Reaction Paper
Carlo Antonio B. Jao
I. S!!ary
Under the production of Cinema Libre Studio in association with Robert Schalkenbach
Foundation, the film The End of Poverty? was a documentary written and directed way
back 2008 by hilippe !ia", an award winnin# filmmaker and an acti$ist% &he film be#an by
askin# a 'uestion to its $iewers why po$erty still e(ists all o$er the world despite that there is
so much wealth, moderni"ed cities, and plentiful resources% )t is still a conundrum for e$ery
nation that almost more than half of its population comprises citi"ens who li$e with a less
than *+ a day for sur$i$al% &hus, a lot of acclaimed professionals such as historians,
professors, economists, and lawyers attempted to #i$e their $iews and opinions on the
uncontrollable #rowth of what we consider as the world,s epidemic disease%
-martya Sen, an author and economist, characteri"ed po$erty on an inter$iew with
him as a nasty, brutish in thou#ht% .eyond to that, he emphasi"ed the idea that there are some
people who continue to suffer under depri$ation due to po$erty despite the means to make
their li$es satisfyin#ly at ease% -s for /ric &oussaint, the key date of this e$ent where people
started to be classified as rich and poor dated back in +012% &his year was the start of
e(tremely brutal inter$entions by the /uropeans amon# the people whom we now call as the
people of -mericas% 2owe$er, althou#h the domination of the /uropeans mannered
inhumanely, it led e$ery country to be interconnected to one another or to be #lobali"ed
which spread not only in South -merica but as well as in -sia and -frica% &he con'uistador
men, who came from Spain, ortu#al and later from the United 3in#dom and 2olland,
e(propriated the 4inferior5 countries, resources and confiscated all their lands% &he upper
class societal in /urope sei"ed communal land from the poor families from the countries they
coloni"ed and depri$ed them to their li$elihood% &his occurred because of the intention of the
/uropeans which was to make these indi#ent nations be dependent on them and to work
under their #lobal colonial power as their sla$es% &his lon#6term practice of the con'uistadors
lasted for about 700 years%
)n the late +0
th
century in 3enya, .ritish e(propriated the land which did not belon#
to them and used their own le#al system to rule the said poor nation and also, 3enyans did
not ha$e the ri#hts to own producti$e lands since the white +8 owned about 708 of the
fallow land% &oday, such nati$e lands in South -merica, -sia, and -frica still does not ha$e
their land property back since it is still in the #rounds of transnational corporations and lar#e
land owners%
Under the .ritish colony, a poor state becomes its property includin# the state,s
people% )n addition to the aforementioned, the nati$es were not e$en acknowled#ed as human
bein#s% -s the /uropean power continued to rule the poor nations, they introduced an order
throu#h the 3ipenda system% )t is a system of re#istration where e$ery male in and abo$e +9
years of a#e should ha$e to ha$e a labor record% 2owe$er, these labor laws of the rulin#
empire were :ust an e(emplary of sla$e laws% /$en up to the modern century, there is still
pri$ati"ation of land or land #rabbin# amon# some economically incapacitated nations that
the only way for its underpri$ile#ed people to sur$i$e is to depend on the 4superior5
countries and work under them as their sla$es% )n e(chan#e for there work, these poor
families do not recei$e any salary wa#e but instead, they render their ser$ice only for food%
&his sla$ery happenin# are obli#atory transmitted from #eneration to #eneration% -n
increased on drop out rate had occurred since it is a compulsory amon# the youths to work
rather than to #o to school% Lack of knowin#, this child labor also led to the increase of crime
rate, where mostly of them become thie$es, and $iolence% Fact shows that o$er 90680 million
people still li$e in a sla$e like condition all o$er the world%
-part from economic problems in indi#ent nations, reli#ion and culture had also been
taken away from them by the coloni"ers and introduced Christianity% Coloni"ers introduced
the concept of superiority in terms of race and culture in which the indi#enous people ob:ects
destined by ;od to sla$e for the white man% &hus, this created mar#inali"ed people in which
all of them today still do not know where they place in society% )n addition to show how
superior coloni"ers are, they imposed ine'uality between the white men and colored ones
both in church and in state%
To end up, in an interview with Alvaro Linera, he described colonialism as a part of the
expansion of capitalism. This system can be viewed as the embedding market forces in international
and global sphere through regimes such as International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Non-
Government Organizations, etc. These regimes are mostly viewed in developing countries because
they have the power to lend their hands toward the poor states. Also, Michael Watts said that
capitalism is nothing without free labor.
II. Annotation
In my view with Philippe Diazs controversial documentary film, The End of Poverty?, what it
tries to imply to everyone is the extent of global poverty and its effects. The poverty shown in the
documentary affects mostly the people of the Third World, also known as the Global South,
which are the countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. Half of the world lives life with
$2.50 a day. Worst, there are 368 million people live only with less than a dollar a day. Thus, the
facts presented proved that all their mea#er income comes from labor< they suffer more as
that labor is lon#er, more backbreakin#, and more uncertain than in the wealthy
countries% Si(ty to 80 million people li$e in sla$e6like conditions around the world%
=$er one billion li$e in slums, most of these in the countries of the #lobal South% =ne
third of the world does not ha$e access to water% -nother 871 million suffer from
malnutrition%
(First worlds way of colonizing)
)f we may come to think of it, colonialism, ne$ertheless, ha$e a lot of ne#ati$e
conse'uences that we still see up to present% &his 4domination5 ser$es as a rationale on why
many countries maintain their positions which is in po$erty section% )s it not too much> ?any
nations, especially .ra"il and 3enya, had already lost the pri$ile#es to li$e accordin# to their
own preferences for a lon# period%
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However, that doesn,t mean such statements are not more true than false% )t,s ar#ued that
the creation of the )nternational ?onetary Fund and the @orld .ank, which set up countries
for indebtedness under the #uise of free trade ideolo#y, is really nothin# more than a
perpetuation of the colonial relationship, a relationship that essentially make the poor poorer%
SourceA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pktOXJr1vOQ&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1