Does 'Eat the Rich'ensure End Of Poverty?

Directed by

Philippe Diaz

2008 | 104 min

End of Poverty is a documentary on the neoliberal logic of political economy that currently pervades the world. The film aptly builds up one’s understanding of the global apparatus that underpins modern-day capitalism by following a nuanced meditation on land, labour and socio-political structures. Interlaced throughout this historical evolution of neoliberal capitalism, we explore the focal points of shifting geopolitics that dictate our local/planetary realities.

What kind of society is wrought out of 'freemarket' economy?

The documentary unfolds with the arrival of conquistadors in the New World in 1492; Columbus lands in America, confusing it to be India & thus begins the process of domination. At this point, we can view the “explorers” as agents of a specific philosophy & worldview imposing themselves by the virtue of their technology of war & rampant violence - the origin of a Christian gunboat diplomacy.

An initial sequence of the film has a native Masai comment that two kinds of Europeans came to their land,“One with guns to kill and steal the land, and ones with bible to deceive”. From this beginning of European Imperialism we see how land & labour was robbed across continents, creating the poverty we witness today. The documentary spans back & forth across poor neighbourhoods of Africa & Latin America, depicting families barely surviving in decrepit homes as people toil hard under gruelling conditions to receive a minimum wage. We witness jarring statistics - 32% of global wealth is hoarded by the wealthy 1% of the world while billions are living in slums - a statistic which has only gotten worse; the current Oxfam analysis reveals that the world’s top 1% own more wealth than 95% of humanity put together.

As we meet Nobel Laureates, experts & historians such as Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, John Perkins, Susan George & others the sharp contours of poverty falls into place - we did not get here by accident or our own lack of hard-work. Control of commodities - Gold & Rubber in the Congo, Silver in Bolivia, Sugar plantations in Haiti to craft technology theft in Indonesia & India - imperial policies were manufactured that led to famines, hollowing of the earth & widespread destruction of natural economies & culture. It is no coincidence that international bodies such as IMF or WTO sit next to each other in Washington, dominating the economic policies around the world, the Washington Consensus is just the excuse to dominate the world after the fall of USSR in 1989. The entire world that needs capital needs to follow the diktats of Washington – simply put on sell all the resources to American companies.

The sharp commentary on inequality by so many experts interlaced with the narration by actor-activist Martin Sheen feels like a retrieval of history. A sobering weave of events that explain the deeply entrenched hierarchies formed as a result of a violent economic principle and its destruction that has left the world in tatters by destroying peoples’ lives by ensuring that basic amenities – healthcare, sanitation, food, education – is beyond the common people after privatisation of utilities.

It was as if the film is asking what kind of a society is wrought out of 'free-market' economy? And the film’s answer is one that is violent, myopic & validates death at its centre.

The 'image' of development & democracy

A powerful aspect of the image-making practice of American institutions is hitching their bandwagon to the idea of democracy. The usual rhetoric employed to support US invasions & their expensive wars.

My central question that builds up in the process of this documentary is how does one go about practising the principles of democracy if our modern-day sociopolitical institutions are so economically compromised? How does one enact the will of a people if the social contract itself is structurally anti-demos? The economic imperialism of the West & the consequences of its centuries of accumulation & dispossession in recurring cycles is finally catching up to us in the form of climate change & its accompanying poly-crisis.

Perhaps a conversation has to be had regarding the double consciousness we inherit from centuries of subjugation & how it makes us vulnerable to modern myth-making from those who control our modern modes of production.

Now is the time to resist this form of economic myth-making by revisiting Indigenous worldviews & epistemologies that offer possibilities to regenerate our ailing earth & restore the inherent value of life that was robbed somewhere along the way. A conversation that must transcend social boundaries & build solidarities - across class, caste, ethnicities, race, gender & nation-states.