As much as I have had a great childhood growing up in the United States, there are many things about that country that I can not agree with. Por hemplo, our form of capitalism. We talked about it in a class that i didn't even know existed until about a week ago. The class: Desarrollo, Development. In theory (dad and deb, don't cringe at this explanation), capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned, and when you sell enough products, a profit is made. This profit increases a persons quality of life because they can save it for a rainy day, os spend it on something that they need. In theory, this idea is really cool. You can sell stuff for other people and get stuff back to use on what you need. However in the world of the US and other capitalist countries, its spinning out of control. That profit is now used to play the "how much stuff can I get game." People "need" tvs, laptops, a new car, new clothes, a cruise at christmas time. YES i KNOW i am stereotyping AGAIN, and every single one of you amazing individuals reading this blog do not feel this way, which is probably why you are reading this blog. The sad thing is, many americans act like this, and because of it we are in trouble.
Now, i don't quite understand everything that is being said in desarrollo because of my language barrier, but I have friends who i ask questions to and our profit writes on the board and lets us discuss stuff in english, os i get a good grip. She wrote a quote on the board the other day that read: "Para los subdesarrollo países el futuro es cierra en el presante, no es una opcion abierte." Meaning: For those underdeveloped countries the future is the present, there is no open option. Meaning: All countries are striving to be like the US because thats the only thing they see. To them, we are the be all end all. We are the prime. I mean, yeah the US employment rate and education system is pretty awesome compared to other countries. But we are not the best in any means. Every country has something they are awesome at. Not every country is best at one thing. These subdesarrollo, underdeveloped countries need to know there is another future for them.
I'll never forget the conversation we had with my hall director Taras about the developing nation of Trinidad. Twice in our one week stay there, the family we were with took us to their malls. Everyday, they talked about how much they Loved KFC. I didn't think anything of it at first, but then Taras asked us THE question: Why? Why do you think they showed us the malls and the KFC, when we came to experience a new country? Well, after a very good discussion the answer was clear. They were proud because this made them that much more similar to the united states.
I guess what I'm trying to say in this very bouncy post is that 1) Desarrollo is everything i have ever thought about the world in a class, and I want to cry. 2) Learning Spanish is still hard. 3) These people who are here with me in Peru think what i think. We are here together, learning and thinking about the world. Maybe together, we can all figure out why we are here and what we are to do next.
p.s. Laura i swear i didn't mean to copy your post! I read it after i wrote mine....
LIbby you are totally awesome. And there are more people out there that think this way, even in the US (I know, I know, the evil empire), than you would assume. Two items of interest, perhaps, to you: 1) in my equivalent of your development class (called International Development Planning Policy-and thankfully taught in English) we were instructed that the primary difference between capitalism and communism is that, in theory, in Capitalism the extra wealth created by labor belongs to the corporation, while in Communism the surplus of wealth that is created belongs to the workers. I have to admit, from that description, Communism sounds much more appealing, even as it has failed in practice. And, 2) If you do it as a math problem, as long as two countries are freely trading what they have for what they want, EVEN IF one country (the US) is better at everything than the other country (say, Peru) there are some things that it is cheaper for the US to buy than make itself, because it could be making much more valuable products with its time and resources. This is why trade should be miraculous. The problem, as you've identified here, is that everyone wants to be American--that is, to have everything they want right now, and power to boot. And so they try to get cash by growing things that make lots of money (sugar, marijuana) and America pays just barely more than it costs to make...enough to make them hope and grow it, but not enough to feed their families and send their kids to school. So long as these countries try to imitate the US or trade with it, I don't believe they will ever succeed. They need, like you see, to go home and realize that life can be better...but only if they focus on home :) good luck, chica! I think this adventure sounds amazing for you, and I wish I could tag along!!
ReplyDeletepermitame un ejemplo:
ReplyDelete“Freedom and development are as completely linked together as are chicken and eggs! Without chickens you get no eggs; and without eggs you soon have no chickens. Similarly, without freedom you get no development, and without development you very soon lose your freedom…
“Development brings freedom, provided it is development of people. But people cannot be developed; they can only develop themselves. For while it is possible for an outsider to build a person’s house, an outsider cannot give the person pride and self-confidence in themselves by their own actions. They develop themselves by their own actions. They develop themselves by what they do; they develop themselves by making their own decisions, by increasing their knowledge and ability and by their own full participation – as equals – in the life of the community they live in…
“People develop themselves by joining in free discussions of a new venture, and participating in the subsequent decisions; they are not being developed if they are herded like animals into the new ventures. Development of people can, in fact, only be effected by the people.”
Julius K. Nyerere,
Freedom and Development, Oxford University Press, Dar es Salaam, 1973, pp 58 & 60.
Libby, thanks for asking the big questions here. On the topic of "profit" within US-style capitalism, it's important to recognize that people have values, but markets don't.
ReplyDeleteNobody who respects human dignity would choose to create an economy that runs on sweatshops, yet western consumers have built that economy (in)voluntarily through everyday materialism which only reinforces global inequity. Seen in this context, poverty is not a lack of wealth or stuff, so much as a lack of freedom (autonomy and opportunity), as defined in the quote posted above.
"Para los países subdesarrollados, el futuro esta cerrada en el presente, no es una opcion abierta."
en mi opinion, significa que nosotros tenemos que imaginar otro futuro, otra opcion que el sueno americano para liberar a los demas, y ultimamente a nosortos mismos tambien.
Wow, great stuff. I'll have to check your blog more often... looking forward to dialog and more insights!