This Peruvian arpillera, from the Mujeres Creativas workshop in Peru, depicts the inequities between rich and poor in that society. The arpillera, which is a replica of the 1986 original by FCH, Mujeres Creativas workshop, asks: "Who carries the debt?" and we see that it is the poor who shoulder the burden of debt and those with plenty are oblivious to their plight.
It was the poor indeed who shouldered the debt in Peru in the 1980s. Servicing the foreign debt, secured from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), impacted on the daily lives of poor people through reduced services and a general decline in already abysmal living standards.
Furthermore, the violent conflict in Peru at this time resulted in further devastation for those who were already scraping by, and their lives of grinding poverty became ever more desperate. The extent to which conceptions of peace in Peru have addressed the violence of poverty, considered where responsibility lies and how the burden might be shouldered more fairly is questionable.
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