Across the world people who live on the edge are the dispossessed - those left behind by globalization. True? Not quite. There's one country where it's the middle class who are on the edge - Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. Despite Chavez's recent setback at the polls, many thousands of professional people have fled the country, and some are still wondering if they should emigrate.
Like many of their friends, young doctors Yurani and Florencio like to think of themselves as wanting to care for the poor as much as the rich. They even approve of many of Chavez's policies, believing they've helped the poor. Like millions across Latin America, they hoped for a regional answer to globalization, and saw hope in the triumph of leaders like Kirchner, Lula, Morales, Bachelet and Correa. Maybe socialism wasn't defeated after all.
But now they believe Chavez may have gone too far. They think the Chavistas pose the middle class with a fundamental choice: help us model the country on Castro's Cuba, or quit before it's too late.
Can socialism still be an alternative to American-led globalization? Or will it always lead to dictatorship? Should they stay and fight for what they believe, or give up before it's too late and leave for Miami? For Life, Yurani and Florencio spent 10 days travelling Venezuela to help find the answer.
The other titles in the series are:
1. Edge Of Islam - Three Muslim students face a choice between their faith and their future.
3. No Country For Young Girls? - A young Indian woman has to choose - stay with a husband who doesn't want female children, or make it on her own.
4. The Unforgiven - Should General Butt Naked (née Joshua Blahyi) - now a Christian pastor - be forgiven for his role in Liberia's horrific civil war?
5. Looking For My Gypsy Roots - Hungarian film director Arpad faces a dilemma - should he track down his Roma father?
6. The Dilemma Of The White Ant - Dominic Ongwen is both a victim and alleged perpetrator of LRA war crimes. Should he face an international court?
7. Three Sisters - Eritrea's women fought in the war; should they now liberate themselves from harmful traditional practices?
8. The Pied Piper Of Eyasi - The Hadza are among Africa's last hunter gatherers - should they follow charismatic Baallow into the modern world?
9. The Prince - A young Pakistani landowner chooses between trying to implement the MDGs in the village that his family owns, and a quiet life.
10. Running On Empty - Highlights the plight of two young mothers - one in South Wales and the other in Northern Ethiopia.
11. Collision Course - Reviews the positive steps being taken in India and Brazil to confront the serious public health issue presented by traffic accidents.
Grade Level: 7-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 2008
Copyright Date: 2008
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-806-6
Reviews
"Life 6 is a wonderfully educational series that presents the viewers with the dilemmas faced by specific individuals in the socio-historical and economic context of their communities in the midst of an increasingly globalized world. The tremendous value of this series is that, in the brief thirty minutes that each episode lasts, it captures the complexities of the lives of those in it as they face Western influence that force them to reassert, defend, or challenge their local and/or individual identities, cultures, governance, wealth distribution, and practices of achi
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