The continent: South America

South America is the fourth largest continent in the world. The entire surface of South America is around 17,840,000 square kilometres big and its population as of 2021 has been estimated at more than 434 million.

The continent's cultural and ethnic perspectives can be traced back to the interaction between Indigenous people, European conquerors and immigrants and African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese. In comparison to Europe, Asia, and Africa South America has been a relatively peaceful continent with few wars.

Circumstances 

The high levels of income inequality in South America, which are the highest in the world, lead to protests and political instability in much of the region. The already high rates of crime and drug dealing are likely to rise as a result of poverty and the shrinking of resources for the police and the courts.                                                                      Additionally the climate change is likely to make things worse for the region's farmers and water suppliers. This could lead to more food and water shortages, which in turn could cause political and economic problems. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather are likely to reduce harvests, make water harder to get and make it more likely that people will get sick from dirty water and diseases like dengue and malaria.

Jonestown

Jim Jones, born as James Warren Jones, grew up in the rural town Crete where he was born on May 13, 1931. 

His family struggled with financial difficulties, due to the fact that Jones father was a disabled World War 1 veteran that suffered from severe breathing problems. He still tried to work and support his wife and son but his income was just insufficient. Caused by a following failure to pay theire monthly rent, the family was forced to sell theire house in the year 1934 during the Great Depression. Relatives purchased a small shack without electricity and plumbing in the nearby town Lynn, in which Jones and his parents could life.

In Lynn, the family often didn’t have enough food and had to rely on financial support from theire relatives, because the attempts to earn money always failed, caused by Jones fathers health further decreasing. As a result, Jones parents were frequently absent during his childhood to look for a way to gather necessary food and money. Additionally multiple biographies about Jones claim that his mother had “no natural maternal instincts” and regular neglected her son. Therefore Jones spend most of his time alone wandering through the streets of Lynn. 

A neighbour gifted Jones a bible and took him to the curch with her, because she felt bad for his situation. As Jones grew older, he went to most of the churches in Lynn. Each week, he was baptized in several churches. Jones wanted to be a preacher as a child and started preaching in private. Although they had sympathy for Jones because of his poor circumstances, his neighbors reported that he was an unusual child who was obsessed with religion and death. At some point Jones started visiting a casket maker and held funerals. One neighbor said he killed a cat for one of these funerals. Also Jones said he could fly. He jumped off a building to show others, but fell and broke his arm. Nonetheless he kept saying he had special powers even after the fall. He often put other kids in dangerous situations and said he was guided by the Angel of Death. 

While his strange religious practices stood out the most to his neighbors, they also reported that he misbehaved in more serious ways. He was known to steal candy from local merchants and used offensive language in public. His mother usually beat him with a leather belt to punish his misbehavior. Additionally Jones was known as a kind of a dictator over the other kids, ordering them to follow him and beating those who disobeyed.

Commenting on his childhood, Jones stated:

"I was ready to kill by the end of the third grade. I mean, I was so aggressive and hostile, I was ready to kill. Nobody gave me love, any understanding. In those days a parent was supposed to go with a child to school functions. There was some kind of school performance, and everybody's parent was there but mine. I'm standing there, alone. Always was alone."

 In Highschool Jones continued to stand out among his classmates. He often confronted them about drinking beer, smoking and going to partys and at times would even interrupt theire events. Additionally he was known for arguing with his teachers and wore his religious church clothing seven days of the week. During his time in school, Jones started to choach a baseball team of younger students, but one day he callously threw a dog out of the window in front of the team which led to the principal removing him from his position as a coach. 

Following Jones Highschool graduation he began working in a hospital as an oderly in Richmond, Indiana. The other hospital staff later recalled that Jones exhibited a disturbing behaviour towards the patients and co-workers. At his work place he also met his future wife Marceline Mae Baldwin, who he married on June 12, 1994. Jones frequently emotionally and psychologically abused Marceline throughout their marriage and often forced her to prove her love for him in dehumanising ways. 

In 1995 Jones and Baldwin moved to Indianapolis together where he achieved a degree in secondary education in 1961.

Jonestown 

In Indianapolis, Jim Jones accepts a pastorate in the Methodist church at the age of 19 without any formal training. He supported racial integration and preached socialism. In 1956, he opened his own church - the “Peoples Temple Agricultural Project”, also referred to as “Jonestown”. 

Together with his wife, they are the first white couple to adopt a black child. Later further adoptions of children of many different nationalities follow. Jones has only one biological child. His efforts on the subject of race relations are a source of disagreement and hatred in his neighbourhood in Indiana. Due to that fact and because of his conviction that he would be safe from nuclear attacks there, Jones and 130 members of the Peoples Temple decide to relocate to California in the year 1965.

“He didn't teach us any religion,” recalls one of his followers in a TV documentary. 'Socialism was at the centre, it was drilled into us.' Another explains: “He said what was on our minds. That the government didn't care about the people and that there were too many poor people - including children.”

Even tho Jones mainly preached equality and wanted to give a voice to all those who felt like minorities in the society, the negativ media attention about Jonestown started to increase. The public had many suspicions including financial fraud, physical abuse of the members and the mistreatment of children. Therefore Jim Jones decided to permanently relocate to Guyana, a small South American country in 1977. Here he planned to build a home for the Jonestown members with the hopes of creating a utopian world. In reality, the people were forced to work long hours in fields and were physically abused and punished if they tried to question Jones or his decisions. The food supplies were very limited due to number of members living in the village and personal items including passports were confiscated. Further, Jones read and censored letters from the members that were send to family members to hide the real living situation.

The end of Jonestown

In November, 1978, a U.S. congressman called Leo Ryan traveled to Guyana to inspect and observe the People’s Temple compound. He was supposed to investigate rumours about members being held against their will and that there was physical and psychological abuse used against them. When Ryan turned to leave the compound again to return home, several Jonestown members jumped onto his vehicle to flee and accompany him back to the United States. But shortly after, other members attacked Ryan before he and the others could leave the compound. Luckily everyone escaped unharmed. Following that, Temple members attacked them again at the airstrip from which they were to depart. Five people, including Ryan and three members of the press, were shot and killed, and eleven others were wounded.

During the shooting, Jones ordered the remaining members to commit suicide. They were forced to drink a fruit drink laced with cyanide, tranquilizers and sedatives. The Tempel members started by killing all the babies and children by pouring it into their mouths and following that drinking the fluid themselves. Jones himself was found dead with a gunshot wound. Approximately 909 from the 1110 members died that day.

Sources 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stern.de%2Fpanorama%2Fweltgeschehen%2Fjonestown--wie-jim-jones-mehr-als-900-menschen-in-den-tod-trieb-34180566.html&psig=AOvVaw0ULoxDbaJnc2qILQtj95QP&ust=1716997649938000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjhxqFwoTCMDgz-nYsIYDFQAAAAAdAAAAABBD<br>

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fevent%2FJonestown&psig=AOvVaw0ULoxDbaJnc2qILQtj95QP&ust=1716997649938000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjhxqFwoTCMDgz-nYsIYDFQAAAAAdAAAAABBK<br>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown<br>

https://www.history.com/topics/crime/jonestown<br>

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jim-Jones<br>

https://www.britannica.com/place/South-America<br>