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Designed for high school global education classes, this document examines the consequences of dependency and self-reliance in developing nations. The paper points out that millions of people are denied control over basic resources and have little influence over decisions which deeply affect their lives. The forms of dependency and insecurity are illustrated through two brief case studies of a Bangladesh woman working for local landlords and a Puerto Rican farmer who stopped growing beans because a U.S. company shipped and sold canned beans at a cheaper price than he could afford to do. Next, several actions toward self-reliance taken by individual countries are noted: cooperative farming in Boureima, a rural women's program in Bangladesh, and the national food program in Nicaragua. Three steps toward self-reliance are then outlined: (1) replacing dependent or oppressive relationships with cooperation based on mutual respect; (2) discovering and gaining control over one's own resources; and (3) building a wider and stronger community. The document concludes with suggestions for how citizens of wealthy nations can help poor nations work toward self-reliance. Ideas for action and a brief reference list are included. (KC)

Designed for high school global education classes, this document examines ways in which the arms race affects the poor. Military expenditures and foreign economic aid of the developed nations are compared with survival needs of developing nations. Statistics support five premises: the arms race (1) diverts resources from productive activity and basic human needs; (2) contributes to repression of legitimate social change; (3) increases debts of poor countries who are buying increasingly modern and sophisticated weapons; (4) undermines efforts to establish a new international economic order; and (5) makes poor countries more dependent upon the superpowers. Involvement of the United States in the arms race is discussed in terms of national security, propping up the U.S. economy, jobs, technology, inflation, investment, industrial modernization, and trade. The document includes a chart from "World Military and Social Expenditures, 1981," and quotations from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Archbishop of Canterbury, an official of Lockheed corporation, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Ideas for action and a brief list of resource materials are provided. (KC)

Designed for global education at the high school level, this document presents statistics on malnutrition, infant mortality, and illiteracy in developing nations. The statistics are compared with private and government expenditures of wealthy nations. Examples of the statistical information for developing nations are: more than 500 million people in poor countries suffer from chronic anemia due to inadequate diet; in poor countries, 100 out of every 1,000 newborns die before their first birthday; and Ethiopia has one doctor for every 73,000 people. Statistics from wealthy countries include: North Americans spend more on chewing gum, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages each year than the entire annual budgets of many poor countries; rich countries consume 70 percent of the world's food grains, most of which is used to feed beef and dairy cattle; and the amount that the world spends in half a day for military purposes could finance the entire malaria eradication program of the World Health Organization. The document includes a poem, "The Great Tablecloth," by Pablo Neruda, suggestions for action, and a brief list of reference materials. (KC)