My Reaction to "Life and Debt"

One evening we watched part of a documentary called "Life and Debt". It can be found on Netflix and I encourage you to go and watch it! Take the time to educate yourself about global relations because I found my view of global politics and economics to be inaccurate after watching just a portion of this documentary. I am certainly planning to watch the whole thing when I get back home. It explained why Jamaica's economy has suffered since the 1900s and the reasons really surprised me. Growing up in an individualistic and capitalistic society, I had an underlying assumption that poverty was caused by poor people not working hard enough to achieve success. I guess there are certainly cases of that in the world as well, but I had never imagined that poverty can be the indirect result of other people's actions. For example, the documentary explained how the IMF and World Trade Organization would lend a Jamaican business money to increase their exports, decrease their imports, and improve their economy. This sounds great in theory, except for the fact that they also wrote many restrictions into the contract. This resulted in the larger and more powerful economies who control the IMF and WTO to benefit while Jamaican businesses could not compete. The sad part is they couldn't even manage to sell their products in their own communities because the larger economies were then allowed to import their products into Jamaica and sell them for cheaper than the Jamaican business could. The business that was supposed to thrive ends up bankrupt and abandoned while the larger economies continue to take advantage of now being able to sell their goods in Jamaica. The fact that the three largest and most powerful economies in the world, including the U.S. by the way, control the IMF and WTO while any smaller and weaker economy cannot. This is where the true problem lies. Dr. Hilton, one of the owners of the Taino Cove where we are staying, also talked about this topic with us. Hearing a first hand account of what this country has been through from a local Jamaican really impacted me. He emphasized how this documentary discusses a world problem, but just the case in Jamaica. It happens to many other countries as well. The system is broken and if developing countries were given the chance to actually develop without being taken advantage of, maybe there could be less poverty in this world. These are real issues in the world and being in Jamaica to see the poverty first hand is an experience unlike watching a sad commercial on TV. You all know what commercial I am talking about. Seeing it first hand and learning the causes behind it is compelling me to act and become a global citizen. I want to research into more of the causes of poverty and what I can change within my own lifestyle to make a difference, no matter how small. To make big change happen, small change must come first. Leading by example is one way to raise awareness of how the way people live and the choices we make can really affect global issues. This trip and the discussions within our group have educated me enough to understand that I was not educated about global issues initially. I encourage you to educate yourself because you might be surprised by the information you find and the feelings you have from it. Remember, nobody can ever take knowledge away from you.  

-Julia