1. The beginning of the documentary shows the victims of poverty in Recife, Brazil. A family of 6 has to struggle to even get by. The woman says, “My husband’s been unemployed for 5 years. Now to survive, he’s selling bottles of mineral water in the streets for 1 real each,” which is the equivalence of $0. 50. The man recounts on his situation as a result of being laid off and says, “I used to have a job delivering gas but they started to cut and cut the personnel and staff. Now, I’m here making a living any way I can. ”
Their circumstances are incredibly sad and unfortunate. They used to live by the beach, but now they are orced to live in a one room basement without sanitation. It’s sad how they are confined and debilitated by poverty in which they have to live in inhumane conditions. To make the situation even worse, they sleep on the floor. They are so improvised that when their daughter passed away due to an accident at only 9 months, they had to beg for money to bury her body. The woman says, “We look forward to the time when we’re not struggling to bring food home. ” Their optimism towards the situation is astounding. Despite their struggles to care after their four children, they manage and continuously try to do the best hat they can to provide for them. They are willing to fight to feed their children.
2. At least twenty-four thousand people die of hunger everyday, even thought there is a plentiful amount of resources. John Perkins, an American author and economist comments on poverty in Africa and other parts of the world. He says, “This system is an absolute failure from the most rational objective economic standpoint failure. ” He continues by saying that less than 5% of the world’s population in the United States consumes 25% of the world’s resources as well as causes about 30% of the world’s major pollution.
3. Eric Toussiant, a French author and President of CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt) places a huge emphasis on a certrain year in history because that marked the beginning of intense intervention concerning the Europeans. Eventually, this progressed into the 16th century in which most of the continents were “connected together by brutal European domination”. In time, this domination became increasingly dominant in Africa and Asia.
4. Edgardo Lander is a professor and historian from Venezuela. He comments that the creation of the colonial system was developed in the time span of 500 years. He says the modern apitalist system arose due to “the conquest of the colonization and the submission of the people of the Americas by the Spanish and the Portuguese. ” From there a deliberate, systematic, and permanent method of debilitation was created in which resources were taken and the land as well as the people were colonized.
5. The conquistadors and the colonizers came from Spain and Portugal. Eventually, they came from the United Kingdom and Holland. They stole riches from the Incas and Mayas. The riches consisted of gold, silver, artifacts, and jewels. In time, the situation progressed to the point in which the land became olonized. Thus, destroying the economy of those people. This was not a distinct practice, considering it also occurred a long time ago in European society when “the upper classes seized communal land from the poor families. ”
6. H. W. O Okoth-Ogendo who is a Kenyan author and law professor says that during the end of the 19th century they concentrated on possessing land that did not belong to them rightfully. The method that they used to seize the land was through their own legal system. He continues by saying, “They did this, precisely, through an advice that was given to the olonial government on the 13th of December, 1897 that said that in countries where there is no settled form of government that land belongs to the Queen of England. ” This is outrageous and beyond irritating because they forced their ways and beliefs onto a group of unwitting people. They took the land that was not theirs because they supposedly did not have any form of government at that time. They passed laws, which allowed them “to give settlers freehold interests 999 years leases and other forms of leasehold. ”
7. Miriam Campos from Bolivia concerning the ministry of indigenous people says that few families had in possession huge mounts of land that didn’t produce anything and at that at the same time, the indigenous people were unable to use their own territory. She explains “that by law, each head of cattle is allowed between 5 and 50 hectares of land. For one head they can justify 50 hectares. ” Those lands are called ‘engrossing’ since someone is able to profit from the land despite not producing anything. ‘Latifundios’ or large land tenures are associated with the colonial times in which that system was created.
8. The conquistadors and colonizers took control of South America, Africa, and Asia, which they did by using force or mplementing taxes on huts that the people were incapable of paying. Even now, the people still do not have their land back. It is currently in the possession of landowners and national corporations, which is incredibly unfair because the land should go to the true rightful owners. 9. The Maasai people survive by raising livestock such as cows, goats, and sheep. One of the Massai people said, “The Maasai were forced out of the Kinango Valley to the Rift Valley where we now live. But we came back because this land belongs to us. ” After they received independence, the territory was given to powerful people in the government.
He continues by saying that two types of British came during colonialism, which were “the ones with guns to kill and steal the land and the ones with a Bible to deceive. ” 10. During the end of colonialism in Kenya, the white 1% had in possession around 50% of the arable land. Mashengu Wa Mwachofi of Kenya who is a former parliamentarian comments on the situation and says that when an area became a British colony, both the people and land became their property. He says, “The natives were not recognized as human beings. ” He continues by talking about how the natives in his district refused to work in their plantations.
Sometimes they would come late or even not come at all. So as a result, the rich and powerful implemented labor laws by using the Kipenda system, which is “a system of registration where every male the moment you turn 16 you have to have a labor record. ” The purpose of the labor record was to make sure that all male laborers would perform work. The labor laws were just another name for what it actually was, which was slave laws. In the twenty-first century, there are those that are still ‘captive’ or ‘retained’. Those words sugarcoat their true condition.
In actuality, they are pretty much he equivalence of slaves since they don’t receive money for their hard labor. Also, the debts that they inherit from generation to generation forces them into a relentless cycle of debilitation. In addition, “they can’t even leave the farms because they are indebted to their bosses. ” It’s not just individuals that are indebted, but in fact whole families. As a matter of fact, children work instead of going to school for nothing but food. 11. Around 60 to 80 million people still live in enslaved conditions around the world. Their working conditions vary. Some people work in plantations, mines, cities, rural areas, with amily, and etc. for food and shelter.
12. According to Maria Luisa Mendoca who is the Rede Social President from Brazil, “Sao Paulo is the largest state that produces ethanol in Brazil and at the same time it is the richest state. ” In the same retrospect, the severity of the situation is so much detrimental and dangerous that last year 17 workers passed away due to exhaustion. While, 419 workers died as a result of their work. As well as that there were “several cases of slave labor in the sugar cane workers that the Ministry of Labor has registered. ” 13. Jaime de Amorim from Brazil is the coordinator of Landless
People Movement and he comments on the situation and says that the growers view the workers as nothing other than slaves. In addition, the workers do not rebel so it is much easier for growers to gain wealth compared to the period of slavery when “the boss was the slave’s owner. ” He continues by saying, “He had to take care of the slave’s health and food; he had to take care of shelter even if it was the slave’s quarters. ” Unlike today, the boss does not bother to involve himself in such and “he just has to drive the truck to the outskirts of the city; the truck loads up, he takes them back. No more worries.
Once the cutting is done, the worker, who lives on the outskirts, has to find another way of surviving, selling popsicles or popcorn. Kids go into prostitution, into drugs; they go find other alternatives in the world of crime. ” 14. One of the workers said that they were promised a lot of things such as bottles, boots, and everything that they could possibly need prior to working there. However, this turned out to be a lie. In actuality, they were not provided with anything and they have “to wake up at 1 A. M. without even a fire. ”
To make the situation even worse, there are only 4 fire burners for 0 people to use to cook food. In order to make breakfast, they have to wake up at 1 A. M. Even the water that they use has rust in it. They live in such deplorable conditions that no human should be forced or have to live in. Another worker says, “We take a bath today, tomorrow we are sick. ” As well as that they were not provided equipment all at once, but instead were given them piece by piece. The worker said, “The hat first, then came the boots and even now some work barefoot because they didn’t get the equipment. ” Another worker has been working for a duration of four months and he had his work permit taken from it.
He asked many managers for it back, but all they did was keep on lying. As well as that a worker said, “By the time we get here it is 3:30 a. m. ; some get here at 4:00 but usually we arrive from our sheds at 2:30 or 3″ and “To get a daily wage, we need to cut 40 bundles, or 32 when the cane is as hard as this. If we do not do it, we do not get paid. ” They only get paid 12 Reais and 34 cents per day, which is only $6. 50. They can’t even eat much of anything and someone even said, “What we eat is cornmeal, the meal of the poor; sometimes a cookie, when we bring one, buy one, and beans. Edinaldo who has been a cutter for 17 years makes around $27. 50 every month.
15. The gap between the richest and the poorest country has widened drastically over the years. From 1820, it was 3 to 1. In 1950, 35 to 1 and in 1997, it was 74 to 1. Clearly, there is a huge discrepancy between the living standards and conditions in the poorest countries and the richest countries. 16. The gold mines of Brazil, and silver and tin mines of Potosi, Bolivia provided the European countries enough money for the industrial revolution.
They made an extensive amount of money to the point in which the hill of Potosi became the symbol to represent the Virgin Mary in religious art. In addition, the pope gave Africa to Portugal and South America to the Spanish. The Spanish had such a huge debt due to their war against Islam that their riches actually benefited those in northern Europe since they owed them a lot of money. As well as that “the transfer of resources that happened at that time was mainly of gold and silver but also of the so called ‘precious vegetables’.
Above all, the sugar cane was the main reason for the accumulation of wealth that took place in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. ” 17. Holland was a country with a population of 1 million people. In that country, there were no natural resources. So, “the theory of the neoclassicists and of the neoliberals is that if an elected people driven by Protestantism that if an elected people driven by Protestantism in very adverse conditions, can become on of the planet’s richest it means that they have adopted an economic system superior to others. ‘
