Critical Reading and Review: Planet of Slums by Mike Davis - Book Report/Review Example

? Critical Reading and Book Review: Planet of Slums by Mike Davis of the Critical Reading and Book Review: Planet of Slums by Mike Davis Urban and rural population is like the scale of justice in a country. To strike the correct balance, both arms of the scale are important. Mike Davis proves through statistics his worst fears of unchecked rural migration. The greatest challenge of the urban cities/societies, whose number has been growing since the last 5-6 decades, is the deadly and poisonous waste that has been accumulating from all ends. It has contaminated the food that one consumes, water one drinks and the air that one breathes. It has been challenging the health of humankind and eroding his power of resistance without intermission. Technological innovations while contributing to lifestyle changes from one end have eroded the standard of life of humankind. Life-threatening developments are taking place in the cities that continue to grow in rapid pace and the demography of rural and urban sectors is fast changing. For majority of the poverty-stricken people, tomorrow’s bread is not assured from today’s labor and they continue to live an oppressed, dispossessed and starving life. Wise economists have written millions of pages, politicians continue to talk for thousands of hours swearing their allegiance to various philosophies, but the poor are stuck up in poverty, with no hope of redemption. The numbers of urban cities are on the increase, every city is growing directionless and destination-less with cluster of slums engulfing them. Not too in the distant future urban population on this Planet Earth will outnumber those in the sprawling rural areas. Those in the cities will outstrip the rural folks. Summary Mike Davis has articulated his viewpoints through chapters titled, The Urban Climacteric, The Prevalence of Slums, and The Treason of the State and Illusions of Self-Help. The last one has been broken up into three parts: Friends of the Poor, Soft Imperialism, and Profits of Poverty. In these subdivisions, Davis recognizes the somewhat erroneous efforts of the World Bank, the gross mishandling by NGOs, and the insincerities within governments that have resulted in very high slum dwelling rates. He illustrates every destructive aspect that is out to plunder the societal values that contribute to the degeneration of the humankind. He calls the unplanned growth of slum population as ugly dumps of human and waste, and makes mention of exploitation of child labor, child prostitution, criminal gangs and their procedures for extortion, non-availability of clean drinking water, lack of sanitation, improper functioning of democratic institutions and lack of education facilities. Davis has articulated every type of negativity that contributes to the degradation of humankind, and the plight of the growing cities going from bad to worse. The growth of slums has become integral part of the cities that expand, with no authority to regulate them. NGOs have their vision recorded only on paper and generally follow the captive agenda of the donors and the pressure groups. The impact of Marxist ideology is evident in the arguments of Davis. Critical discussion: An author may intelligently try to sweep under the carpet but one cannot hide one’s true moorings of political philosophy. Mike Davis stands for Marxist ideology, and he is quite vocal about it. The Marxist views the effects of technological advancement and industrialization as contributing to the interests of capitalism. He clearly visualizes the emerging class divide which will grow more acute with the growth of slums that are responsible for many folded societal ills. The current level of efforts and the blueprints prepared by the international level agencies are inadequate to meet the challenges of slums that continue to grow in an astounding rate. Urban migration is unstoppable. The current social economic and political structures are incapable to meet the challenges, according to Davis. The need of the hour is not only to create blueprints of great plans for eradication of poverty, but to entrust the responsibility of such projects to noble individuals who have the grit and vision to implement the plans. Davis has serious reservations about the role of aid organizations, which according to him are responsible for creation and spread of the urban slums. He begins the book with statistics based on which his credible arguments follow. They are difficult to deny and merit serious consideration. According to him, the developing world has the problem at hand and it does not have a proper blue print and the backup of a solid infrastructure to withstand the challenge of growth of slums that sprawl in all directions, like the octopus. His future projection about the growth of slums sounds the alarm bell. His views about the future perspective in the urban areas cannot be taken lightly and provides authenticity to his arguments and the grim prospectus that humanity in view of the onslaught of rural migration. Unless something tangible is done to reverse the process of migration, humanity has to face the impending doom, but like most of the votaries of Marxism, he is unable to articulate what those tangible steps are. It is much easier to refute a position from the theoretical standpoint, but to tender a practical alternative has been the challenge of history. The collapse of Marxist ideology in countries like USSR has been much quicker than its rise. Under the garb of Communism, China has embraced almost all the hallmarks of Capitalism. Poor suffered before the advent of Communism, and after its advent, they suffer more. When it becomes impossible for the poor to survive due to sociological and economic considerations, the only option before them is to migrate, and make efforts to search for a new identity. Turn the pages f economic history of any country, no political philosophy, be it Capitalism, Communism, Socialism, Military Rule or Theocracy has been able to do away with the problem of migration and growth of the slums. Technological innovations might have contributed some lifestyle changes in the slum dwellers but they have also created the new set of problems. Davis only reiterates the problem which everyone knows, with irrefutable statistics and his persuasive power. Conclusion: The original problem of the growing slums has remained the original problem, and no one is able to tender a workable solution. This problem thrives under the protective wings of bigger problems like political compulsions, religious beliefs, and dominance of the vested interests. The face of the problem has remained the same, only the masks have changed. The same forces have initiated the process of migration, and most of the people in the lower strata of the society in economic terms migrate under duress. I like the book and recommend it to others because the seriousness of the problem is articulated well and with genuine concern. The author is both persuasive and tenders statistics for the issues on which he heralds the discussion. The author tries to discuss the problem of rural migration and poverty and failure of the international aid agencies, from the Marxist perspective and I am not inclined to agree with the merits of this philosophy to solve this problems. The problems are there, the author has provided evidence for the existence of the problems and there I would like to stop. No political philosophy can solve these humanitarian problems. It can only be addressed to properly from noble individuals and corruption-free leaders of the society. Unless the thought process of the individual changes no tangible outcome will be forthcoming. An individual is like the brick of the magnificent mansion called society. When the thoughts are changed the mind is changed. When the mind is changed the man is changed. When he man is changed, the society is changed. When the society is changed, the nation is changed. Freedom from poverty is possible when Nations have the changed outlook, and live and work for the sake of the downtrodden. I recommend this book to politicians, economists and sociologists and university students of all streams. Reference Davis, Mike (2006). Planet of Slums. Verso; New York; Print Read More