Overview

This book stems from the television series What in the World? which has been broadcast on RTE television periodically since 2004. Set in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the book features seldom-heard human stories - stories of intense pain and suffering, of small triumphs and occasional advances, of betrayal and complicity, of utter resilience and stout defiance. This book attempts to put in context the heart-rending stories of the poor and displaced people in some of the poorest parts of the planet. Lives blighted by poverty spawned by neoliberal economics, social and cultural imperialism and ideologically-driven class warfare. This is the story of the human cost of flawed ideologies and distorted priorities. In highlighting the corrosiveness of poverty and the violation of human rights at individual, familial and community level, this story clearly establishes the complicity of individual politicians, Western governments and powerful economic institutions in perpetuating the oppression of the world's poor. But equally, it seeks to challenge the sense of fatalism and inevitability that pervades much of the current thinking about global inequality. This is a story of stubborn witness and resistance by those who are at the bottom of what French film director Costa-Gavras calls the pyramid of power . Many of these stories are marked by deep anger and a by a sense of bewilderment at how the rest of us, particularly those of us in the Western world, can be so callous and indifferent to the pain of others. To paraphrase Patrick Chabal from his superb 2009 book Africa: The Politics of Suffering and Smiling, this book is about what happens when the camera is fixed at eye-level while engaging with politics as it is played out amongst some of the poorest communities across the globe. This is Peadar King's experience of that story.

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9781908308412

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Reviews

'If we want to think of ourselves as civilized, educated and caring people enjoying the benefits of living in democracies, then we need to understand the stories of lives blighted by poverty and understand our obligations to reach out. We need to learn of the seldom-heard stories of pain, suffering together with improvements, advances and resilience. This book would bring to real people as opposed to the often jaded experts , or worse politicians, what inequality, failed development aid, misplaced humanitarian generosity can do to those with very little. The choice of words, the photographs, the humanity of presentation can help tell the ugly story that makes it digestible without constipation so that a new understanding may flow in the minds of those fortunate enough to read this book.' -Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations 'We live in a global village and first-hand accounts, such as those contained in Peadar King's description of his travels in Africa, Asia and the Americas, are vitally important in helping us understand our neighbours - and our responsibility to them. This publication is an important and easily accessible contribution to aid our knowledge and understanding and Peadar's passionate and convincing arguments on the stark divisions between the rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless, should prompt us all to act on our responsibilities to the excluded and disfavoured of the world.' - Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 'An eloquent, indefatigable battler in the cause for human rights.' - Terry Eagleton, academic and author 'This remarkable travelogue, inquiry, and illuminating analysis provides a sympathetic and searching look at a world we have helped create but do not see - a world of painful and needless suffering, courageous resistance, and even inspiration and hope. And it offers a compelling opportunity to look at ourselves as well, at what we have wrought and what we can do.' - Noam Chomsky, academic, author and political activist

Author Information

Peadar King is the presenter/producer of the What in the World? documentary series, as well as an author and lecturer on a variety of political topics. He is a director of KMF Productions and the author of The Politics of Drugs.

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