Again, I'm waaay behind, but I'm finally watching Life and Debt. I've been meaning to watch it for years and am right in the middle of it. I'm taking a break since there's so much to process and so many papers to grade. While the documentary is set in Jamaica, I couldn't help but think of all the other countries suffering from similar economic strangulation.
More specifically, it made me think of Haiti's situation. When the earthquake happened, there was so much talk of the G7 forgiving Haiti's $1.2 billion debt. It really annoyed me that it took a 7.0 earthquake to make these powerful countries even consider partially forgiving a debt that they had set up for Haiti to drown in. It just doesn't make sense. Does it really take a catastrophe where lives were lost to get out of such situations? Debt cancellation won't even solve the issues that are now occurring because of the earthquake.
Watching the movie now, in May, made me wonder what happened to all the talk of debt forgiveness for Haiti? Granted, I don't watch the tv or check the news online as often as I should, but I feel like I would have heard something about this! When I went on my search, I found two articles. One from Black Politics on the Web and South Florida Caribbean News. Both articles said that the U.S. had approved a bill that directs the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct directors at the IMF and other development groups to vote in favor of canceling Haiti's debt. The SFCN quoted the following of the bill,
1. cancel immediately and completely all debt owed by Haiti to these institutions;
2. suspend Haiti’s debt service payments to the institutions until the debt is canceled completely; and
3. provide additional assistance to Haiti in the form of grants so that Haiti does not accumulate additional debt.
While the work of Maxine Waters is great in this case, I can't help but wonder how this will actually follow through. It makes me think of Brown vs. Board, where the legislation did not have strict timelines or stipulations for when desegregation had to be completely achieved and what that actually meant. I suppose we'll see how this works out in the short term and the long term.
In the meantime, numerous countries still suffer from the lack of economic freedom and control that they have over their own markets. Two of my favorite quotations from Life and Debt, so far, are from two farmers. On the lack of freedom, one farmer said, "It's an insult to our dignity. Not being able to produce and sell in your own market at home." This quotation brings me back to one of the most important things to me as both a human and as an educator -self determination. It always makes me extremely sad to see when folks don't have the opportunities to use the gifts and talents that God gave them, that God meant for them to use. It's complete degradation to force people to work like machines or to be forced into doing something they don't want to do, something that doesn't allow them to cultivate their potential. Many of the farmers are forced out of farming or into mutating their practice because of the trade barriers that exist.
The other farmer put his desire to be free as a farmer and as a country plainly, saying, "This is our country, our turf. Give us back our market. Don't try to force your idea on us!" While many of the farmers want the ability to impact and benefit from the market in a meaningful way, the representative from the IMF being interviewed spoke about the value of "these developing countries" to have markets that are open to the global economy. This made me so angry because folks know well the consequences of opening up developing economies to other more powerful forces. Without controls to protect their industries, their businesses, and workers,
foreign powers and transnational businesses have everything they need to trample on our countries' small businesses! We can't pretend that this is a level playing field. Surely, the governments of our countries have made so, so, so, so, so many mistakes, in the road out of colonization, but the stakes are high and it would be nice to get some type of consideration from the governments and businesses that are barreling forward, without thought of others.
This is one thing that I think that we need to learn and teach more about. I know individual teachers are doing amazing jobs with it, but our American students, especially students of color, really need to know about this for the improvement of humanity, true coalition building,
understanding, and action amongst Third World communities. Imagine what could happen if the American Third World effectively built and moved forward alongside foreign Third World Communities. What a beautiful day that would be! Amen!
Also, check out David Roodman's blog at the Center for Global Development. I like the different complexities that he presents us with when thinking about this debt relief issue.
Lastly, I LOVE Michael Manley!!! Whaat?!
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