Written By: Miguel A. Antunes, Emilio M. Recio.
The problems facing today’s citizens of the so-called third world include poverty, malnutrition, backbreaking sweatshop labor, child labor, and land theft (`repossession’ of land by banks on behalf of agribusiness monopolies). As the corporate juggernauts spread throughout the world, pushing forward “free-trade” and “democracy” through globalization, the developing nations whom have adopted capitalism is the exploitation of the country’s environment and its people. The corporations change the balance of power such that its citizens become dependent; when they can no longer support themselves by their traditional methods, the people have no choice but to move to the cities.
There is, then, no doubt that there is a growing gap between the rich and poor throughout the world. In most post-colonial countries, the poverty is so high, that their governments have had to take out loans from the World Bank to alleviate its economic status. Unfortunately, all countries, after having taken out a loan from the World Bank, find themselves in a vicious cycle of poverty and debt. They have had to cut back on social programs, which the capitalist class sees as frivolous spending, and allow themselves to be invaded by multi-national corporations so that they might `rebuild’ their economies. What has emerged, since the non-governmental organizations have pushed their trans-national economic agendas, is a new form of colonialism: economic dependency. By breaking the tide of economic dependency, we prevent, on a large scale, the monopolization of agriculture by corporations; in turn this prevents the poverty stricken shanty towns on the outskirts of major cities, because it prevents rural to urban migration by making it economically feasible for farmers to keep their small farms. This paper is an outline on how every one of us can help the citizens within these developing nations maintain their culture, tradition, livelihood, and health of current and future generations through financial stability, by simply buying a particular cup of coffee.
Follow me on Twitter 
