Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
To a Western audience the terms “people” and “people's perspective” could appear somewhat perplexing. Technically, every person belongs to the class of “people”; hence, to talk of “people's perspective” seems to make an artificial division within one monolithic group. This ostensibly artificial division reflects a reality that necessitates it. In a Third World context, the term “people” has a fairly distinct connotation. It is not just a majority which is governed by a system that gives all people a minimal quality of life and allows them a meaningful participation in the political process. In a Third World context “people” are a “mass”—a faceless body of massive energy to be manipulated and kept domesticated in the interest of the powerelite. It is a power-bloc that is threatening as well as inescapable.