Life and Debt: Another Perspective

By D. Manggala

If you learn international and global trade in school, understand Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” and David Ricardo’s “comparative advantage,” then you need to watch this [documentary] movie: “Life and Debt.”

If you are just an ordinary people and wonder why there are people strikes on the street to oppose globalization, WTO, IMF, global trade, multi national companies, then you need to watch this movie.

Life and Debt, directed by Stephanie Black, talks about the situation in Jamaica related to its struggles out of poverty. IMF is the bad guy in this film- along with WTO, World Bank and some big multi national companies (which are only mentioned briefly). Spiced with some reggae music and some interviews (mainly with former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley), this movie tries to bring some arguments about the fatal flaws in IMF’s policy especially in pushing Jamaican to open its banana’s market. Unfortunately, what are IMF flaws are not deeply discussed…sooo….somehow it looks the director is too one sided against IMF.

As a perspective, this movie is a good resource to understand the argument of most anti-globalization movement. It shows the social and real implications of globalization: losses of thousand or millions of jobs. As we all know, unemployment leads to other bad things: poverty, hunger, crimes…

Even though this movie talks about Jamaica, its topics can be discussed broadly by many people in various countries, especially the third world countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Argentina and others.

So, is IMF evil? Is globalization bad?

Honestly, I don’t know. Globalization is the fact that we have to face right now. We cannot stop it…it is just the result of the world evolution.

The best way to see this movie is, I think, to understand the perspective of each side.

What are the arguments of anti-IMF, anti-WTO, and anti-globalization?

What are the arguments of supporters of global trades, global economic, and globalization?

Then let’s the dialectical process works!