On 3/15/2019 1:37 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
PESO:
We visited a place in Jaflong, Bangladesh, where workers had seasonal jobs
moving rocks from the river bed during the dry season. I got some
criticism when I first posted a couple of these while still in Bangladesh.
There were comments that I was taking advantage of people who were, in
effect, working as slaves;
Why these in particular? "Unloading the Ship", "Dredging With Buckets" and others show essentially the same thing, the
working of a culture and economy based on manual labor.
Whether one finds changing such situations desirable or not (I make no judgement here), the enormous changes necessary
to accomplish it and those that come as consequence have vast social and cultural effects.
"Proud Family", with the seven children highlights only one of the many things that have to change if a "modern",
Western style economy is desired. It doesn't, of course, resulting in hordes of displaced persons living in grinding
poverty in the ramshackle slums of capital/large cities as the manual labor jobs of the countryside vanish.
As an erstwhile grad in Econ from Berkeley (about 1,000 yrs. ago), who studied the economics of "underdevelopment" in
Asia and the Americas, I could natter on endlessly. Suffice it to say that "taking advantage of people who were, in
effect, working as slaves" is ludicrously simplistic.
however, that was not the impression I got while
I was there at all. The people seemed happy to have jobs and were joking
and laughing as they worked. Men, women, and children all worked together
very cooperatively. They were very friendly and nobody objected to my
photographing them as they worked. When they put their baskets and rocks
down, they posed for photos and wanted to see them on the camera. All in
all, it was a very positive experience
Lived experience and experience beheld from another planet are vastly different. We saw something similar in Bhutan.
Road crews rebuilding the national highway and other roads were all Indian nationals, working for Indian companies. They
lived in huts made by hand from the rusty, tarry barrels the road bitumen comes in. Their situation looks appalling to
our eyes.
Yet, apparently, this living situation is a great deal better than it was where they are from. The dwellings are made
from better materials, more durable, rainproof and in uncrowded rows. They are living in verdant, largely unspoiled
forest, with clean air and abundant clean (at least by their standards) water running all around them. Watching them
washing and brushing their teeth in a roadside waterfall, they are apparently very happy.
Hard, often unpleasant work, sure. But it's work, and the pay is good. They will go home after their 6 mo. contract
better off than when they left.
So many things look different, depending on where one stands.
Ranting Philosopher Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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