The Guardian 6 April, 2005
Globalised capitalism blamed
for increasing famine
In his speech to the Lowy Institute last week, John Howard "reaffirmed the power of
globalisation to lift the dead hand of poverty around the world" and that "the greatest
contribution nations can make to alleviate poverty is to slash trade barriers".
The truth is the opposite. On the same day as Howard was delivering his homily on the problems
of the world the UN Special Reporter on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler said that the
globalisation of neo-liberal [economic rationalist - Ed] capitalism and its resulting injustice is the
main cause of the expansion of hunger in the world.
In a report presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), Ziegler said than in
less than a year, 10 million people have joined the planet's army of starving people.
At least 100,000 people die of lack of food every year, and one of every four is permanently
blinded due to lack of vitamin A, he noted.
"I have not fabricated these figures", he said. "They have been provided by the Food and
Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)."
"All governments in the world should be concerned that there are 852 million people starving
while a program to address the scourge is in existence."
"FAO itself has stated that world agriculture could currently feed twice the world's population.
Thus, we can say that every person who dies of hunger has been assassinated," the Swedish
jurist and sociologist stressed.
Daily genocide
"What this is all about is a daily genocide against people who are starving amidst the silence of
the rich countries" he said.
The globalisation that Howard is pushing is the globalisation of the power and control of the
transnational corporations while "free trade" also means that the stronger industrial countries
dominate the smaller and weaker countries.