In preparation for tomorrow's discussion, I have been exhausting myself trying to think of new perspective i can give to class discussion. In my efforts, I stumbled upon the trailer for an independent movie that appeared in several film festivals in 2008 (we will watch in class). The movie talks of reconciliation among starkly opposed members of the Rwandan society: the innocent survivors of the genocide, and the guilty.
I think that so often we look at foreign aid in a too objective light. It is often looked down upon to be biased under such circumstances as those of international development, but this movie really helped me apply an honest principle of subjectivity to the cases we have been discussing. It is interesting to delve into the topic of individual crisis and understand that the grievances in the Rwandan population do not stem solely from a lack of resources and help on the world stage (though they certainly perpetuate them) but the tributaries of their burdens are equally an internal affair among a divided population and the heartache that comes from having to reconcile with the person who has shed blood that is so precious to them.
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It seems that it's fairly easy to forget that we're all humans and maybe just need a helping hand. If our next door neighbor were in trouble (whether from genocide, starvation, or just extreme poverty) we would probably come to their resuce right away, because that's what good neighbors do. We share our thanksgiving dinner for free, we stop burglars from breaking in. Why is it so different when we're talking about development? Why can't we be subjective and charitable in this case?
ReplyDeleteIt's a great point you bring up. The thing that sucks is that for whatever reason people's subjectivity and good deads still have power to make things worse. How do we learn when it's the right timt to be a good neighbor and when it's time to be totally objective?