The End Of Poverty?

2010

Documentary

Cinema Libre 2010

R1 DVD

Director Phillippe Diaz uses a series of “talking head” interviews to discuss how the massive levels of poverty arose in the world today. Unfortunately this is one of the most boring possible formats he could have used, and much of the information given has been around for so long that the film falls rather flat. Its impact is reduced by the simple fact that we have heard most of this before. That said, though, there are some interesting points raised.

The various interviewees trace many of the problems back to the colonial days. One argument I haven’t heard discussed before is that before private ownership of land was introduced by the British in Africa, land was communally owned. Thus a villager always had access to land on which he could grow or graze something, either for his own subsistence or for trade for the goods he needed. The British system led to alienation of much of this land and it finished up in the hands of big landowners who could not farm it as intensively as the small villages could. Many of the villagers were dispossessed of their land and are the slum dwellers of today. Attempts to free up the big landholdings by people such as Robert Mugabe seem doomed to failure, as they merely perpetuate private ownership in African hands rather than go back to a communal system that evolved locally and worked. For me, this went a long way to explaining part of the African situation.

Private ownership of other communal assets like water, radio spectrum and transport also comes in for a serve. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund economic policies are rightly criticised here, as such privatisation is part of their policy for granting loans. The privatisation of these once publicly-owned assets has little if any advantage for the local people but serves to export profits back to the wealthy nations.

The point is well made that in the world today 20% of the population uses 80% of the resources and currently consumes 30% more than the planet can produce. That 20% is also responsible for 70% of global warming emissions. Although the runaway greed is highlighted, there are no suggestions as to how this can be halted. So far President Chavez of Venezuela seems to the only one to try to restrict the flow of raw materials (in his case, oil) to the wasteful northern hemisphere countries. The economic system itself needs to be changed, but how? One speaker points out that all the economists and banks are geared to fit into the existing system, so change from within seems unlikely.

The film summarises many of the relevant points about global poverty but does not offer solutions. After a while the reiteration of the problems simply becomes more background noise. There is also the concept that the Western world should be the one to do something about it. Little mention is made of efforts that could be made locally. One example that struck me early in the film is a huge slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. There is no sewage or drainage here, so human faeces are dumped in plastic bags on every fourth block. The disease risk is incredible. Surely it would be possible at minimal expense to the local government bodies to hire people to clear these disease traps and dig sewer trenches? It may not be perfect but it would have to be an improvement. Self-help IS an option, but is rarely mentioned in the film.

Similarly, the HIV / AIDS epidemic mentioned in the DVD can be treated by the people themselves. Leaving aside some of the more lunatic suggestions like abstinence, condoms are cheap and reasonably efficient and the local people could help themselves to reduce the size of their self-inflicted problem

There are some local people doing what they can to relieve the problems but funding is always a problem. So is the corruption that diverts so much of what aid money there is. This is a local political problem that can only be resolved by the people themselves..

This is the film’s weakness. It sticks to the old ideas and belabours them, but offers little that is innovative to solve the problems. Unfortunately this puts it across as just another self-indulgent guilt trip.

Reviews appear on the Synergy website with a single cover image. In the digital and print edition, reviews appear with multiple images and with expanded content. We recommend you download the free digital edition (or buy the print edition) to get the most from Synergy Magazine.

This review will appear in Volume 3 No. 4 of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

If you came to this page directly (and missed our menu), click here to go to the front page of Synergy Magazine Website or use the following link: http://www.synergy-magazine.com