World War III raging? Every 7 seconds a child dies as a result of hunger.

[Karmadillo]

NOTE: The author of this article says 100,000 persons die annually of hunger or hunger-related disease. I'm guessing that's a typo and the number is much, much larger.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=9541

Hunger in the Midst of Plenty
by Girish Mishra

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At the time of the French Revolution (1789), nobody believed that enough food could be provided to all inhabitants of the world. It was then termed a utopian dream. Now, the situation is radically different. As a result of the development of science and technology, world agriculture is capable of feeding 12 billion people at the rate of 2700 calories of food every day. In view of the fact that the world population is only around 6 billion, it follows that no one should normally go hungry or fall a prey to malnutrition. Yet, 100,000 persons die annually of hunger or hunger-related diseases. At present not less than 826 million people all over the world suffer from serious chronic malnutrition. Out of these, 34 million are in the developed countries while 515 million are in Asia where they account for 24 per cent of the total population. In black Africa 34 per cent of the total population or 186 million people suffer from “extreme hunger”, which means each one of them hardly gets 300 calories a day so that he somehow or the other just survives. In the words of Ziegler, “For people in the Third World, World War III is now raging, claiming every seven minutes the life of one child under 10 as a result of hunger.”

It is apparent that the situation is really tragic. “While the rich grow richer, the poor grow poorer at a much faster rate. … 20 per cent of the world’s population controls more than 80 per cent of its resources, they own more than 80 per cent of its cars and consume 60 per cent of its energy resources. More than one billion men, women and children share one per cent of the world income.” This situation he terms as New Barbarism! When Ziegler was asked: “Your book is entitled Empire of Shame. What is this empire? What is this shame?”, what he revealed was really shocking. To Ziegler, “In the favelas (shanty towns) in the north of Brazil, some mothers may, in the evening, put water in a pot and then put stones in it. They explain to their children who are crying because of hunger that “soon the meal will be ready…,” while hoping that meanwhile the children will fall asleep. Can one measure the shame felt by a mother facing her children who are tortured by hunger and whom she is unable to feed?” He goes on to add: “Empire of shame? It could be referring to the generalized impact of the feeling of shame caused by the inhumanity of the world order. What is actually implied here is the empire of the private transnational companies, directed by the cosmocrats. The 500 most powerful of these companies last year controlled 52% of the gross world product, i.e. of the entire wealth produced on the planet.”

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Certain immediate steps have been suggested for developing countries. They include completion of land reforms, adequate prices for agricultural products to farmers and just terms of trade for agricultural products of developing countries, curbing the activities of speculators along with the closure of Chicago Commodity Exchange and fight against privatization of water both for drinking and irrigation.

Jean Ziegler has declared: “There is no choice. Either you choose development and normative organisation or you choose the invisible hand of the market, the violence of the strongest and the arbitrary. Feudal power and social justice are radically paradoxical.”

[seemslikeadream]

1. Everywhere is war

WAR

Until the philosophy,
Which holds one race superior
And another inferior,
Is finally and permanently
Discredited and abandoned,
Everywhere is war.

WAR

Until there is no longer first class
Or second class citizens of any nation.
Until the color of a man's skin,
Is of no more significance than
The color of his eyes,
I've got to say "war".

WAR

That until the basic human rights,
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to race,
I'll say "war"

Until that day the dream of lasting peace,
World-citizenship and the rule of
International morality will remain
Just a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never obtained.
And everywhere is war.

Until the ignoble and unhappy regime
Which holds all of us through,
Child-abuse, yeah, child-abuse yeah,
Sub-human bondage has been toppled,
Utterly destroyed,
Everywhere is war.

War in the east,
War in the west,
War up north,
War down south,
There is war,
And the rumors of war.

Until that day,
the african continent will know no peace
There is no continent,
Which will know peace.

Children, children.

Fight!

We find it necessary.
We know we will win.
We have confidence in the victory
Of good over evil
Of good over evil

Fight the real enemy!