Debunking the Myths of Global Poverty: A Critical Analysis of Vandana Shiva’s Argument on Economic Colonialism and the Path to Ending Poverty
In his book, “The End of Poverty,” Jeffrey Sachs argues that poverty, a form of original sin, has its eradication following the industrial revolution, which has left some underdeveloped and developing countries behind. Vandana Shiva, in his essay, “Two Myths That Keep the World Poor,” argues that poor individuals are not those left behind but rather robbed (Shiva, 1). Precisely, Shiva outlines that the wealth found in North America and Europe is based on grabbed riches from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. To convince his audience of his sentiments, Shiva uses cause and effect reasoning and examples of tragedy and suffering.
Since time immemorial, the rhetor, speaker, or the writer’s credibility remains an aspect the audience profoundly focuses on particularly. The issue of poverty, its origins, and solution remains vast, with most authors providing debates on the latter. To lure his audience, Shiva illustrates the various colonial activities such as slavery, which prompted poverty among developing and underdeveloped nations such as India (Shiva, 3). Correspondingly, he provides the two myths most prevailing in providing the origins of poverty. One of the myths is that nature destruction and individual’s capability to provide for themselves are the blame. Shiva instead argues that economic colonialism is to blame for prevailing poverty in Africa and other parts of the world and not the poor. The second myth he introduces is that it fails to contribute to economic growth if you consume your production. People, according to Shiva, are seen as poor for not consuming commercially globally agribusiness-distributed food. When readers learn about such sentiments as articulated in Shiva’s work are likely to understand some of the reasons why Africa, Asia, and Latin America are poorer as opposed to the rest of the citizens around the world. Also, they long for a better understanding of how to end poverty, which other than providing strategies to limit it further notes how to approach its mythological also particularly.
Via the provision of various illustrations conveying how Europe and North American colonists grabbed riches from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, Vandana Shiva helps the readers to cultivate some strong feelings of anger, shock, and sympathy. The reader, for example, feels sympathy for Latin America among other citizens of how they were robbed of their resources. In his work, Vandana Shiva also understands that various examples are vital in providing relatable and concrete points driving their messages home (Shiva, 1). For instance, in his essay, Shiva uses various actions that European and North American personnel used to rob Indians of their resources. For example, Shiva argues that in the Indian textile industry, they took over their spice trade and introduced slavery, which necessitated their displacement and property destruction, limiting their success to the industrial revolution (Shiva, 3). Shiva profoundly helps the reader grasp his argument and have an emotional reaction of anger towards Europeans and North American colonialists and sympathy towards Africans, Asians, and Latin Americans who were robbed. Shiva also helps the reader understand why the industrial revolution is paramount in North America and Europe through such acts. The two groups necessitated a violent takeover of the 3rd world markets and resources, creating poverty.
“Two Myths That Keep the World Poor,” by Shiva, also uses logical considerations and ideas. Historically, there is various logic in understanding the end of poverty, the issues of poverty, and myths of poverty and, those are some of the reasons Shiva places into consideration. It is critical to eliminate the wealthy West’s myths that sustenance living is a symbol of low life quality (Shiva, 2). Shiva argues that every societal member must understand that quality lifestyles other than sustenance living are the major factors to consider to end poverty. Also, he provides logical reasoning that to limit incidences of poverty; every individual must have access to good water and food, robust cultural and social identity, and a sense of belonging in society. He notes, for human survival to be sufficient, individuals must have clean water, genetic diversity, and fertile soil (Shiva, 3). Consecutively, they should have access to the commons’ wealth. While focusing his examples on the Indian nation, Shiva indeed helps the audience understands how to bring poverty to an end. Furthermore, he notes that if the world’s richest countries and personnel wish to end poverty, they should end systems creating poverty.
In conclusion, authors in their respective writing must use cause and effect reasoning and examples of tragedy and suffering, among other elements, to help the audience understand their sentiments. Authors like Shiva, while discussing “the myths that keep the world poor,” as articulated in Jeffrey Sachs’s “The End of Poverty,” provides a vivid description of the major causes of poverty and how to end it. He grabs the audience’s feeling of sympathy and anger by understanding how the perception of western capitalist continues to cause poverty among underdeveloped and developing nations and how to create systems prompting its end.
Works Cited
Shiva, Vandana. “Two myths that keep the world poor.” Ode Magazine 2005 (2005): 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/springerreference_224467
