Sunday 23 September 2007
7:00pm
In this thought-provoking film, made with the help of Christian Aid, academic Robert Beckford undertakes a hard-hitting, emotional journey to Ghana in Africa to discover the hidden costs of three high street goods: rice, chocolate and gold. Robert wants to find out why, 50 years after independence, a country rich in natural resources is still one of the poorest in the world. He looks at whether the activities of multinationals, as well as the World Bank and IMF, have actually made countries such as Ghana worse off.
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Thank you for “The Great African Scandal”. It was very enlightening. Know that from now on, I will do all that I can do make sure everything that I buy has been fairly traded.
Please continue to broadcast such programmes. Let us work to change history, not only in Ghana but everywhere else where there is injustice.
They only put a bloody rice advert on in the middle! In the past the doc would have been off and the rice ad would have stayed though, at least thats something.
Vgood eye opening doc thou
Being Ghanaian it was not too much of a surprise to see the outcome of this documentary. I’m glad too that it was broadcast at a decent hour as opposed to 12 midnight when no one would watch.
The worst thing is that now there is talk of oil being in Ghana, there amount Chinese and American contractors and workers has shot up in no time at all. Again it will be to the detriment of the country. The Ghanaian hierichy will be given short term benefits whilst the natural resources are plundered - and the only ones that will suffer are the people themselves.
One can now understand fully well why there is frenzied coverage on Zimbabwe!Were every African country to follow Zimbabwe’s lead then one wonders how the Bretton Woods institutions viz.the so called Wolrd Bank and the IMF would be able to dictate such exploitative and immoral edicts across that continent which has suffered slavery….How can westerners reflect upon themselves whilst munching chocolate bars and ardorning themselves with diamonds and gold rings…Zimbabwe is not about Mugabe (let noone be fooled)..it’s about control of Africa’s resources and it begins with land.No white farmer ever bought a single piece of land in Africa and people dont eat tobacco!How did Africa survive before colonialism? What was was the inflation rate then?Robert Beckford is absolutely spot on when he calls for a deep economic revolution and that is why the West is so frenzied about what is happening in Zimbabwe.If they really cared about human dignity and African welfare how come that Ghana is touted in the media as an example of good governance when clearly humans rights are being trampled by the Western Institutions with the connivance of the local gvt.Why apply sanctions on Zimbabwe? Because that country will not sing the IMF and World bank songs.
Well done on a fantastic documentary. A real eye opener. What amazed me the most was that the fairtrade people only bought 3% of the cocoa, what was that all about?
missed that advert - noticed there were no commercals for chocolate.
Every advert for cars & building societies & M&S food seemed extra obscene
(specially that one suposedly ‘For A Fairer Society’
Great programme - should be shown in schools.
Linda Ramsden - you want to contact Ch4 http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates/scandal.html
if only this kinds of programmes are friquent on tv it will help bringing some understanding to the so called civilised,developed people and country to see how predator they’ve become over the years.This call for one to fight for survival, mind,sole and body.I am a Ghanaian and sometimes the thought of hatred towards me or been look-down on by others who will consider themselfs as having better status inlife more than me only because of some king of ancestral trend of cheating my ancestors and getting away with it, would wont me to accept things as if that is how nature intended.The Unfortunate senario is that most don’t know much of how who they are and what they’ve become was achieved.This is why I think this programme can bring about some enlightenment.
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