Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Life and Debt

Posted on January 6, 2012January 29, 2017 by Dharma Documentaries
This film, made in 2001 by Stephanie Black, explores the effect that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has on poor countries by forcing them into globilisation.

Jamaican Boy

This film, made in 2001 by Stephanie Black, explores the effect that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has on poor countries by forcing them into globilisation. The name of the film is taken from a song by Mutabaruka.

Focusing on the case of Jamaica, the film shows how traditional industries are destroyed, new exploitative industries introduced, governments prevented from protecting their constituents and the resulting high unemployment and socail unrest.

Throughout the film we have interviews with both economists and politicians – an interview with former Prime Minister Michael Manley forms the backbone of the story – and also with those most affected: farmers, producers, workers and the youth.

We see how traditional farming has been destroyed by unfair competition, which is either from countries which are being even more heavily exploited, or because of heavy subsidies being meted out to farming in richer countries.

The introduction of free trade zones where corporations are free to exploit their workers outside of any governmental controls, unionisation is not allowed and foreign workers are imported replacing jobs if there is any trouble.

Meanwhile farming and other traditional industries are destroyed, unemployment is at record levels, organised crime is on the increase and rioting is becoming commonplace.

The film makes good use of its interviews, often juxtoposing statements by local politicians with those of bureaucrats from the IMF, and has a good and socially aware selection of songs from Jamacan artists.


In case you think things have changed in the last 10 years, following the Genral Election at the end of last year, Al-Jazeera had this as part of its report on the problems facing the new Government:

The winner will face deep economic problems. The island of 2.8 million people has a punishing debt of roughly $8.6bn, or 130 per cent of gross domestic product, a rate about 10 percentage points higher than Italy’s. Jamaica’s economy has been on a meagre upswing, but roughly 60 per cent of government spending still goes to debt and another 30 per cent pays wages. That leaves just 10 per cent for education, health, security and other parts of the budget.

How we can ever hope for the betterment of the poor people of the world when 60% still goes on debt repayment I don’t know. It seems to me that the first world is still enslaving the 3rd world, even though it is now done by (forced) agreements.

 

if this video is no longer available please leave a comment so I can update the page
(the comment is not published)

 

Michael Manley
Michael Manley

 

IMF Bureaucrat
IMF Bureaucrat

 

Rastafarian
Rastafarian

 

Poor Farmer
Poor Farmer

 

Free Zone Workers
Free Zone Workers

 

Riots on the Streets
Riots on the Streets

 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Shortlink

http://bit.ly/2hreiwy

QR

Donations

This site has taken 10 years to build, and has 700+ documentaries on it. If you would like to support the expenses involved, you can do so here. Even small amounts help.

choose amount:  

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe by Email Subscribe to our Feed

Top Ten Tags

Theravada

Mahayana

Vajrayana



India

Silk Road

China

Tibet



Arts

Lectures

Rights

Popular Posts

  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
  • The Silk Road Series 7/16: Khotan-Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • The Tibetan Oracles
  • Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth
  • Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
  • The Journey of Xuanzang: An Introduction
  • The Chinese Emperor's Secret Garden

Recent Posts

  • The Story of Buddhism 03, The Journey Within
  • The Story of Buddhism 02, Beyond the Illusory World
  • A Monk’s Life
  • The Story of Buddhism 01, Path of Compassion
  • The Legend of Buddha
  • Unity
  • The Anthropocene, the Age of Mankind
  • Yeshi Dolma, Song of Tibet
  • Tibet, What Remains of Us
  • 40 Years on the Farm

Related Posts

  • Seeds of Freedom
  • Dominion
  • Can We do it Ourselves (Economic Democracy)
  • Call of Life (the 6th Mass Extinction)
  • Our Daily Bread
  • To the Last Drop
  • Into Eternity (Nuclear Waste)
  • Wangari Maathai: Environment, Democracy and Peace
  • Unity
  • Fall and Winter (Deep Ecology)
© 2019 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme