Vandana Shiva illuminates myths about poverty

This is definitely one of the more interesting things I've read this week. Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Earth Institute and author of The End of Poverty, would have you believe that the root of poverty lies in large sections of the world being "left behind" while the Industrial Revolution carried western civilization to new heights. Vandana Shiva begs to differ. "The poor are not those who have been 'left behind'; they are the ones who have been robbed. Without the destruction of India's rich textile industry, without the takeover of the spice trade, without the genocide of the native American tribes, without African slavery, the Industrial Revolution would not have resulted in new riches for Europe or North America. It was this violent takeover of Third World resources and markets that created wealth in the North and poverty in the South. Two of the great economic myths of our time allow people to deny this intimate link, and spread misconceptions about what poverty is.

You can read this article by Vandana Shiva at Ode Magazine.

Find books by Vandana Shiva at Powells.com