Famines are caused by Wars
It's not our fault that there is an eight year drought in the Horn of Africa and farmers cannot grow any crops. We try and help by sending money to various aid agencies so that they can buy and distribute food to relieve hunger. We try not to look too closely at the images of starving children periodically shown on our TV screens. It's too upsetting. But it does serve to remind our own privileged children how lucky they are to be living here in the land of plenty. We become our parents and grandparents saying the stock phrase: Think of the starving children in... (substitute whatever African country is undergoing a famine at the time). We come to believe that tragic as they are, these famines are inevitable in African countries. We wonder why those poor people don't just leave and go to a country where the weather is more predictable?
It is convenient for the Western world to blame the weather for the famine in the Horn of Africa. We have little control over its machinations, often relegating it to the realm of fate or God or whatever belief helps us to rationalise it. But if you examine every famine that has occurred throughout the world, in the twentieth century, you will see that war was either a direct cause of it, or exacerbated by it. The Horn of Africa famine is no different.
Famines are created by wars and greed. It is convenient to put the blame for a war solely on the actions of countries where it is being waged. However, there are a number of countries and organisations who are involved in supporting the wars in Africa, and are thereby instrumental in causing the famine.
Their actions range from providing economic, political and military support for particular Somali or Ethiopian leaders, to the forced acquisition of farmers' lands. There are armaments manufacturers and dealers, overt and covert training of defence and guerilla forces and the sanctioning of death squads.
It is naive to think that a situation where ten million people are now at risk of starvation occurred overnight. We have known this is a possibility. History tells us so, even if our reasoning for why this is happening may have been faulty. But how am I responsible?
I didn't steal the traditional land that farmers grew their crops and grazed their animals on.
I didn't shoot the civilians who demonstrated for democracy, land rights and safety.
I didn't know about the death squads, government corruption or violence.
I didn't block food aid to the hungry.
But I have shares in the the companies that did.
I am a member of the organisations who did.
I patronised the groups who did.
I voted for the governments who sanctioned these actions.
I find it too difficult to comprehend, so I am ignoring it.
In these ways we are all responsible for the famine. But it is not too late to take responsibility for alleviating the plight of the victims of war and hunger?
Act with Compassion and Truth. Speak out about the role of your people or government in creating and sustaining the conditions for a famine to exist.
Investigate the most effective organisation for giving aid and examine what form it takes, particularly when aid is blockaded or stolen.
Lobby for an end to war and the business of war.
Peace is no mere matter of men fighting or not fighting. Peace, to have meaning for many who have known only suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as freedom and human dignity - a steadily better life. If peace is to be secure, long-suffering and long-starved, forgotten peoples of the world, the underprivileged and the undernourished, must begin to realize without delay the promise of a new day and a new life.
Ralph J. Bunche (1904 -1971) Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Photograph by Roman W. Schatz
