The concept of Neo-liberalism has been extensively spread in the United States and the effects of this growth are immensely felt. However, unlike the expected redemption of the economic crisis experienced by the poor, the rich continually become wealthy while the poor get a seasonal aid. Ananya Roy has successfully illustrated this in her video by narrating on the facts that surround the micro donations. She admits to liking the feeling that comes about as a result of making the donations at the grocery stores or during shopping (Ananya, "The GlobalPOV Project"). However she goes on to dismiss this idea of ethical consumerism and calls it “Bullshit” due to the element of arrogance that she feels the idea holds. Additionally, she insists that poverty is not the lack of funds, food or material things but it is the dis-empowerment of people that result in exploitations and systematic depravation of rights and long term disinvestment in the marginalized communities.
Ananya goes on to say that, we can go on and try to change the poverty conditions by buying the branded commodities or by making micro donations or even through sponsorship but these techniques will not solve the underlying conditions. Another technique that she applies to change the poverty state is through changing the conditions in which goods are produced. She simply tries to imply that, the root cause of poverty will not be solved through simple acts of neo-liberal globalization or consumerism and therefore people should try and understand the history of production, trade and consumerism in order to cause real change to the poor and needy. Through improving the producers working conditions and application of other resourceful techniques aid can be given to the poor who are mainly the producers. Additionally, we should stand up against the current capitalist exploitation and advocate for reforms.
Work cited
Ananya, Roy. The GlobalPOV Project: Can We Shop To End Poverty? With Ananya Roy. YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 03 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpuf-N66CGI>.
