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International Causes of Urban Poverty
Reference: Grigg, V. (2005). Cry of the Urban Poor.
GA, USA:
Authentic Media in partnership with World Vision.
AS JANE JACOBS
points
OUT from a secular point of view, there
are powers at work today beyond our control creating these great mega-cities:
It seems as though some force is bent upon
transmuting multi-city nations with very different histories, populations and
geographical sizes into something resembling city-states—that is states
overwhelmingly dominated by single city regions and their cities.1
One of the ultimate results of international
political and economic structures is the spawning of the slums with all their
chaos, tears and bawdiness. They are the final result of all of the major
powers that have come to dominate the world in the last
decades—urbanization, technology, industrialization, modernization, capitalism,
multinationals, nationalism, colonialism, the United Nations, World Bank—all are
what the Scriptures call powers that have contributed to the process.
Dependency theories
As we discussed in chapter two, there is a
historical pattern of industrial development beginning in an outpost of an
empire, and developing into an industrial mega-city that exploits the wealth of
the city’s hinterland. This pattern has led to what is commonly known as
dependency relationships between Third World cities and Western cities.
Changes caused by the demonstration effect
between Western cities and their third-world dependents result in changes in
balance of trade. Modernization is dependent on imported capital goods.
Third-world cities then have three paths open for continued industrialization:
import substitution (local production) of imported goods for domestic
consumption; export of a percent of national minerals and agricultural
production to pay for more imports; or manufacturing sectors set up to produce
exclusively for developed countries, providing finance to pay for more imports.
1. Substitute imports
Historically, the primary means of growth for
industrial cities was the process of copying and producing imported goods
within the city itself, and then exporting these to other cities of the same or
smaller size. In modern times, this process changes the nature of the imported
goods. Production requires the technology and tools of production. As a result,
the manufacture of new products creates further dependency on the already
modernized nations that provide the technology and tools. Since third-world
cities lack the capacity to generate these tools and technology needed for the
new products, they must be imported. These tools have a high capital cost.
Import substitution thus requires increased
dependence on imports. The developed countries profit at every point. Jane
Jacobs indicates that the way to break this pattern is to trade with other
underdeveloped cities.2 But existing dependency relationships between
former colonies and their ex-colonist country prevent this.
2. Export raw materials
and industrial goods
The second option is to increase export of raw
materials. But this leads to tragedies like the rape of the forests in India
and the Himalayas for sale abroad. The consequence is extensive flooding, an
increasing loss of good farmland through soil erosion, and the destruction of
the delicate balance between forest and farmland.
Exacerbating this problem is the relatively slow
increase in agricultural prices (an almost linear increase) in contrast with
the exponential rise in the price of industrial goods.
3. Set up manufacturing
sectors to produce goods for developed countries
A third option is to develop industrial areas
for the production of goods specifically for export to modernized countries. To
create such industries is not to industrialize, since they so often do not
become part of the host country’s development program.
Furthermore, export-oriented commerce leads to
concentration and monopoly that benefit multinational corporations. The future
under such conditions is frightening: “In a generation 400 to 500 international
corporations will own two-thirds of the world’s fixed assets.”
The positive result is transfer of capital and
technology to the developed countries. The negative is that:
Underdeveloped countries merely represent the
land on which the seeds of foreign capital bear fruit; however the fruit is sent
back along with most of the seed to the metropolis.3
The country becomes more and more dependent as
goods pour into a stunted and unsatisfied internal market. These expenditures
result in a growing need to export, but under continually deteriorating terms
of trade because industrial goods continue to increase in value faster than
agricultural goods or earlier industrial goods. To pay the bills, the country
reduces the value of its currency and third-world industrialization begins to be
linked to the developed countries’ import needs rather than to local needs. The
result is dependence.
Santos comments:
We will be working in a situation of bankrupt
economies with running inflation, countries that will not significantly develop
further into industrialization because of the worldwide economic trends,
dependency on the West, repayments of economies of other settlements.4
Mediating role of the
banks
Foreign banks prefer to focus on high turnover
trade activities, including trade in agricultural products. They operate
within the export-oriented sectors of the society. Since few local businesses
can satisfy the requirements for loans, the banks tend to loan to
multinationals. This fosters a flow of credit from rural to urban to overseas,
and discourages local initiative.
Role of the government
National governments are relatively powerless to
deal with growing international dependency. They are often dwarfed by the
multinationals and are as dependent on them as they are on the foreign cities.
The State is weakened in three ways: first, it
becomes incapable of independent decision-making because of foreign dependence
and collusion with the monopolies; second, it becomes handicapped by increased
debt and reduction in its investment capacity, forcing it to limit investment in
certain sectors; finally, the State in its role as an investor finds itself
less and less able to orient the country towards maximum growth and authentic
national development. Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that
the State is allowed to take increasingly authoritarian steps towards the
establishment of a strong, even military, government without fear of outside
intervention from the supporters of monopolies and multinationals.
A new international
order
In response to an increasing understanding of
these issues, the NEIO (New Economic International Order) concept emerged in
1974 at the Sixth Special Session of the United Nations. There, third-world
nations (known as the “Group of 77”) joined to express their opposition to the
prevailing international economic system, which they claimed was unfair to
their interests. Leaders of the Group of 77 were instrumental in the Sixth
Special Session’s adopting a declaration for the establishment of NEIO.
Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania and
one of the most vocal third-world leaders, described the Group of 77 as a “trade
union of the poor.”5 It represents many of the 141 African, Asian,
and Latin American countries that belong to the United Nations and are defined
as the Third World. Containing 70 percent of the world’s population, the Third
World commands together no more than 12 percent of the gross world product.
Eighty percent of the world’s trade and investment, 93 percent of the world’s
industry, and almost 100 percent of the world’s research is controlled, in the
words of Barbara Ward, “by the industrial rich.”6
It is the very system, the proponents of NEIO
argue, that must be restructured. Historical wrongs must be righted, wealth must
be transferred from rich to poor, and developing countries must be given far
more voice and power in the world.
The dispute between these two blocs of poor and
rich nations—the latter being the United States, the European Economic Community
and Japan—has continued now for conference after conference, with little to give
the poor nations hope. They are trapped in an emerging world urbanization
controlled increasingly from a few powerful cities in the West and North, linked
by global technologies, dominated by a few multinational corporations and
banks.
Macro-economic
development and slums
The consequence of dependency and these
processes of modernization is the emergence of slums and squatter areas. The
implications for a ministry to the poor are obvious. One may work extensively
for the uplift of the urban poor through spiritual transformation, and this is
primary. But the issues of unemployment, macro-level oppression and economic
injustice in the fabric of the society must be dealt with at that level for the
eventual freedom of the poor from their bondage.
Thus we may work hard to uplift the poor in the
local community and completely fail, for the critical factor in terms of job
production is primarily determined by the macro-economic development of the
city.
A biblical response to
urban oppression
What is a Christian response to these issues?
What does it mean to walk with the God of justice in these cities? How do we
manifest his love? An awareness of such oppression must be the foundation of any
theology to deal with the issues of the urban poor. As Hugo Assman states:
We are beginning to realize what we are in
history: not merely underdeveloped peoples in the sense of “not yet sufficiently
developed,” but “peoples kept in a state of underdevelopment”: dominated and
oppressed peoples—which is a very different thing.7
Interestingly, oppression is a basic structural
category of biblical theology. In a biblical word study in the Old Testament,
Thomas Hanks concludes:
Oppression is viewed as the basic cause of
poverty (164 texts). In the case of the other 15 to 20 causes for poverty
indicated in the Old Testament the linguistic link is much less frequent—not
more than 20 times.8
In the New Testament, James places himself
firmly in the ranks of the prophets who viewed oppression as the basic reason
for poverty (James 2:1–7; 5:1–6). Never does he blame the poor, attributing
their poverty because of racial inferiority, laziness, vices, or other reasons.
The rich bear the guilt because they exploit and oppress.
To recognize oppression as the basic cause of
poverty implies the need of a corresponding Christian response. At the core of
any response to such oppression is the development of communities of the
kingdom in these slums.
Movements at the grassroots are a key to
long-term change. As the church has through history, we must reach the victims
of oppression. In the process we will generate life that will transform the
oppression itself. Parallel to these movements must be movements among the
educated political-military elite who rule the nations.
Biblical urbanization
As a Christian responding to injustices within
the urbanization process, I am affirming some moral views:
1. A transition from a two-level economic and
social system to a unitary system is a desirable goal (based on the principle
of being our brother’s keeper, of reconciliation between peoples, of the
equality of men before God).
2. Modernization is a desirable and biblical
goal (based on the mandate to manage the earth).
3. Urbanization is a desirable goal, for God is
a community and seeks community. Scripture begins in a garden but ends in a
city. Although there is conflict between the city of Babylon and the city of
Jerusalem in the Scriptures, we may still affirm there is a godly pattern of
urbanization implied in the Bible.
4. Something similar to a middle-class lifestyle
is a Just goal (derived from the principle of every family having enough for
their needs and development).
5. Each family has the
right to own its own land, and to have a place of security.
6. The flow of economic wealth from farm to the
city is a result of the fruitfulness of the earth, and a good process, but such
a process requires justice at every step.
There are theological reasons for such
assumptions that will require another book. Sufficient has been said, however,
to indicate that our role is to move with these processes, apply the Scriptures
to them, modify negative effects of change, and bring positive change with a
human face that reflects the face of God. At every step, we must seek just and
fair processes, structures and relationships.
Given this positive attitude towards
urbanization and the reality that today’s urbanization creates squatter
settlements, the question for us as Christians is how to bring justice into the
process of peasants migrating to the city.
The primary step is to establish
churches—communities of the kingdom among these poor. But as we form churches,
we are to respond to spiritual, cultural, economic and justice issues from
thoughtful biblical perspectives and deep levels of understanding about the
nature of poverty in the slums and squatter areas.
Justice is a grand theme to evoke positive
emotions and elect politicians. But in reality, it involves thousands of little
acts accumulating into processes and systems and relationships that are felt by
the participants to be right and fair.
The application of this aspect of justice in
understanding the urban poor in a city is to think of a “just urbanization
gradient”—of increasing levels of integration into the city from the rural
peasant or tribal background. This would involve increasing levels of
integration into the culture of the city, the economics of the city, the legal
and institutional structures of the city, the social relationships of the
city—in short, into the power of the city.
In some cities, migrants go through a more
gradual process of integration. In others, there is an abrupt barrier between
two economic classes, caused by the inability of the poor to obtain work and
rights to the land on which they are squatting. Specific legislation and
controls by the rich may also create such an environment.
For example, we may contrast Mexico City with
Bangkok. In Mexico City, the law of the land does not permit a Mexican to be
homeless in his own country. Within a year of invading an area of land in Mexico
City, the paracaidistas (who descend on the land as if by parachute) are
usually able to gain some initial legal basis towards land rights. The result is
that people build good houses, requiring good building materials, requiring
someone to supply them, producing more jobs. There is a gradual integration
into the city.
While there are injustices, it is a reasonably
just city compared with Bangkok, where slum dwellers may obtain rights to their
land after seven years—unless their shacks are burned down. Fire is the main
fear of the squatters in Bangkok. And it is a favorite pastime of rich
landowners. Consequently, there is no incentive to develop these areas.
Fortunately, the economy of Bangkok, for other reasons, is growing, providing
work for migrants. But a two-tiered society has emerged.
Transitional phase or
permanent?
This raises the question as to whether the
squatter areas are a passing phase, a transition to an integrated urban
society. The answer may be affirmative or negative, depending on the
macro-economics of the mega-city state to which they belong. But as Christians,
we must work for harmonious integration and social, political, and economic
justice in either case.
If squatting and the problems of adaptation
listed above are part of a transitional society, we need to have clear
definitions in mind concerning the ends towards which the transition is
leading. Likewise, we need to know what kinds of Christian responses are
important at each phase in the transition.
For we must not only seek to facilitate
integration into the city. We must seek at the same time to redefine the city,
to establish the city of God within the cities of men. We look forward and are
building towards that city of God that is yet to be revealed from heaven. We
seek his kingdom now in the city. Yet in the midst of imperfection and failure
in this task, we set our hopes on its future coming in fullness.
These biblical themes lead us towards the
acculturation perspective and away from a dualistic class-conflict or
viewing-squatters-as-a-problem approach.
But where dualistic or conflict situations
occur, we find ourselves affirming the squatters’ entrance to the cities. We
defend their rights to unused land. We stand against authorities that would
oppress them, yet in a spirit of reconciliation that leads to equality within
the city. As Christians, we find that we are biased towards the protection of
the poor, to the use of justice as a means of rectifying inequality, and
against the use of justice solely to protect the rights and privileges of the
rich. We look at justice from a perspective of equity.
The legal conundrum
He was a lawyer. His strong commitment to
squatters had caused him to leave his job and become involved in development but
there was also a nagging doubt. “Are we legalizing them into poverty? How can I,
as a lawyer, be assisting illegal persons?”
The answer was to refer him back to historical
analyses of the emergence of cities. In general, new patterns of living in
cities emerge among a large sector of people; are at first legislated against;
and then, as the extent of the pattern grows, politicians change legislation to
accommodate the people. This was the case during the emergence of guilds, labor
unions, citizenship laws in Europe, banking structures and many other present
urban patterns.
Squatters are, by definition, illegal
inhabitants—even when they constitute 60 percent of a city. Yet for the
majority of them, this is the first time they have ever knowingly broken a law,
and then it is only because there remained no other options.
An understanding of the nature of law in the
Scriptures and in reality is important to deal with the ethics involved. The
relationship of law on paper and law as it is implemented in a given culture is
important. Perceptions of law vary greatly from the system of law introduced by
Western colonial powers. The relationship of law and political decisions is
also an important factor.
The issue also involves citizenship. In Manila
and Bangkok, simple processes are in place for slum dwellers to obtain
citizenship and obtain the right to vote, even while residing illegally.
Politicians need their votes. It is to the benefit of the city to recognize the
reality of squatters, even if they are formally illegal. Recognition opens the
way for planning, education of children, and rationalization of land rights—ways
in which politicians can “buy” votes.
The ethical issues concern both the right to
stay and the right to own. In Mexico, they say that no one can be a squatter in
his or her own country. The Bible affirms the right of every family to own a
plot of land and a house. This universal right is reflected in the whole process
of apportioning the promised land, and in the jubilee requirements that enabled
the poor to regain land every fifty years.
Then there are the historical issues of
ownership. In Manila, three families owned most of the land on which the city
is built because of an immoral law passed last century by the Spanish. The law
took the land from the Filipino people and gave it to 400 families who have
since ruled the nation. Three families were given the land that is now the city
of Manila.
Legal ownership on paper has little moral
validity before God in this situation. It is stolen land, despite legal titles.
And the poor have a moral right to be on land stolen from them. What then should
a pastor among the poor or a godly politician do?
These are complicated political issues.
Urbanization is an existing phenomenon, as is the growth of the slums. Squatters
are not there because of their fault, but because of processes far beyond their
control. Their sheer numbers make it politically expedient to voice their
concerns.
Working on behalf of people that are breaking an
unjust law is not evil. The history of cities is one of evolution from existing
illegal situations to legalization of those situations. In the process, there is
conflict—often violent conflict. As Christians, we are to diffuse
confrontations, but at the same time seek an improvement of the situation with a
bias towards the poor.
Notes
1. Jacobs, Jane, “Cities
and the Wealth of Nations,” Atlantic Monthly, March/April 1984.
2. Ibid.
3. Santos, Milton, The
Shared Space, (tr from Portuguese by Chris Gerry). Methuen: London and New
York, 1979.
4. Ibid
5. Nyerere, Julius K., “A
Trade Union for the Poor,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vol. 35,
No. 6, June 1979, pp. 38-39.
6. Ward, Barbara, Rich
Nations and Poor Nations, Norton, 1962.
7. Assman, Hugo,
Theology for a Nomad Church, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1976.
8. Hanks, Thomas, For
God So Loved the Third World, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 1983
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