Victims of Development

This combination of analysis and first-hand reportage looks at the connections between development, economic growth, social justice and the environment—not in theory, but as this tangle of relationships affects people in their daily lives. It is rooted in the experience and struggles of people all over the world—in the Himalayas or on the islands of Malaysia, in the slums of Manila and Delhi or the tenements of Sao Paulo, as well as in the inner-city areas of Liverpool or the council estates of Cornwall. The author argues that the Western path of development has brought at least two intractable problems. The first is the widening chasm between rich and poor, within countries and internationally. The second is the damage to the resource-base of the earth, on which all economic systems depend. With the end of Communism, the dispossessed apparently no longer pose any threat to this kind of “development.” Relieved of the threat from the poor, the rich, only too aware of the environmental menace to their well-being, may be tempted to resolve it at the poor‘s expense. Avoiding this harsh possiblity is the objective of those seeking another form of development: one based upon a decent sufficiency for all, within the limits of what the earth can bear. This book aims to illuminate and champion that struggle.