The Face of Hunger

Providing charity for the poor and hungry weighs as heavily as all the other commandments of the Torah combined.  

                                          Baba Bata 9a TALMUD

All the world’s great religions agree that providing help for the poor among us is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Providing for our own daily needs may be a material issue. However, providing for the daily needs of our poor sisters and brothers is a spiritual issue.

Abu Sulayman al-Darani used to say; “If I owned the whole world to put into the mouth of a brother of mine, I would still deem it too little for him.”

He also said, “I feed a morsel to a brother of mine and find the taste of it in my own throat.”

                                                          al-Ghazzali

In Sufi literature, everything we have flows from God and everything returns to God. We do not really own anything, but are just stewards of what has for a time been entrusted to us.

Generosity in Sufi thought has a number of levels, as it does thoughout Islamic theology. There is public charity, of course. A higher level of generosity is to give anonymously.

A still higher level, according Sufi wisdom, is “secret charity.” This happens when we give to someone who benefits from our action, but unlike the first two levels of charity, the recipient does not feel given to. There is no burden of gratitude.

For Sufis, each act of generosity is an act of rememberance and an opportunity to draw closer to God. Each time we give we recieve a greater gift, becoming closer to the Beloved.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has now joined the growing number of world leaders in warning of the immediate need of addressing the escalating global food prices. On Sunday, the UN top official stated that food production must be increased to help ease the skyrocketing prices.

The Secretary-General also pledged to establish a task force to deal with the crisis threatening to further destabilize developing nations. The storm of rising food prices have caused protests and riots in countries around the world.

Ban Ki-moon, speaking at a five-day United Nations conference on trade and development in Accra, Ghana stated, “We must make no mistake—the problem is big. If we offer the right aid, the solutions will come.” He also made the point that the world has consumed more than it has produced over the past three years.

“I will work on this right now with a sense of urgency,” said Ban Ki-moon. The United Nations World Food Program has plans to raise $750 million this year to hlp feed at least 73 million hungry ii 80 different countries.

The sense of urgency among global leaders reflects the increasing threat to global security being spawned by the food price crisis. As an increasing number of nations are beginning to feel the storm surge from the rising prices, it has become apparent that too many states are at real risk of serious instability, and possibly far worse, for world leaders not to take immediate action.

The question now is how fast can the world respond, and will the aid come in time to keep even more governments from being toppled by their poor clamoring for food they can afford. 

“My children, whenever you give sustenance to the poor, I impute it to you as though you gave sustenance to me.” Does God eat and drink? “No, but whenever you give food to the poor, God accounts it to you as if you gave food to Him”

                                                                         Midrash Tannaim

Jewish theology, like both Christian and Islamic theology agrees that service on behalf of the poor and hungry is imputed to the believer as service done to God. Reaching out in love to the poor is reaching out in love to God.

Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank stated  a week ago that global food prices have risen 80% in the past three years. He then warned that at least 33 countries face serious social unrest  as a direct result of these rising food prices.

As I discussed briefly in yesterday’s post, skyrocketing food prices have already toppled the fragile government of Haiti and is seriously threatening the stability of other governments around the world. One frightening aspect is that these threatened governments span the entire globe.

 Other vulnerable governments include Egypt’s authoritarian regime which is being threatened by its inability to maintain a sufficient supply of subsidized bread for its poor, and a growing number of other countries, as well. Cameroon, Mozambique and Cote D’Ivoire have all experienced food riots or demonstrations in Africa. Yemen, in the Middle East has seen the same, as has Uzbekistan in Central Asia and Mexico in Latin America. Indonesia has also seen demonstrations and food riots in recent months.

One aspect of this unrest that needs to be understood is that food riots don’t normally occur when there is an absence of food supplies. This quickly changes, however, when there is food available, but the poor are have no ability to purchase it to feed their children. It’s this latter scenario that is now being played out. And the direct result is the stability of a growing number of governments is being seriously threatened.

Josette Sheeran, Director of the World Food Program (WFP) made this point in a presentation last month. She stated, “We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it.”

My point is simply to point out the obvious. Doing whatever it takes to feed ones family is a basic instinct. If my child is hungry and all that stands between you and warehouse full of food is a locked door and the law, my hungry child will win every time.. And that is exactly what we are seeing happen. Governments will either respond to help alleviate the hunger of their poor or they will see those same poor take to the streets.

This morning I talked with a colleague in Sierra Leone. Francis Webber is the Director of the Sierra Leone Alliance Against Hunger. I want to share his comments.

Life is becoming very hard for the average Sierra Leonean as the price of food commodities are on the rise. Sierra Leone poverty is wide spread over 70% of the population cannot live on a dollar a day and yet food prices are going up every day. My worry here is, most of our people living in rural areas cannot provide a meal a day, and this will cause serious malnutrition especially for children living in rural areas.

The worsening crisis for the world’s hungry continues to spread. And as the crisis spreads, the civil unrest spawned by the rising food prices has become a global security issue.

This “perfect storm” which is battering the poor and hungry is the result of a confluence of a number of factors when all added together have caused a deadly rise in food prices.

Haiti’s government was brought down this past weekend when riots over rising food prices could not be checked. And although no other governments have yet fallen due to the hunger of their poor, the possibility such occurances cannot be ruled out.

Unless the world responds in a timely fashion, Haiti will not be the only nation to have its government toppled by hungry rioters. Egypt and the Philippines are among a number of other states also suffering major unrest due to the rising food prices. As Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) wrote, “A hungry people listens not to reason, not cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers.”

Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have predicted dire consequences if world food prices remain at current levels. And the problem is not just a humanitarian question. The problem could also create serious trade imbalences affecting major economies.

Today there is news that North Korea is now facing its largest food shortfall since 2001. The situation is rapidly growing worse in this closed-off Communist country, and is a result of a unexpectedly sharp drop in aid from both South Korea and China, flood-damaged harvests, and the soaring world food prices.

The storm is raging unabated. Untold thousands of poor are threatened by its fury, and as Haiti graphically illustrates, even governments have reason to fear the storm surge.

Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank, has now joined the growing chorus of world leaders in urging for immediate action to deal with escalating food prices. This storm of rising prices is causing increased hunger around the world, and has incided protests, riots and deadly violence in a growing number of countries. (My post, Agflation: a food price tsunami on 4/12/08 provides good background.)

Zoellick reported that the World Bank is granting an additional $10 million for feeding programs in Haiti. He added that, ”and I understand others are looking to help.”

On Saturday, a United Nations police officer was killed in Port-au-Prince as the violence there continues. The deadly rioting was spawned by rising food prices.

Calling for the international community “to put our money where its mouth is,” Zoellick stated that action is needed now to help the hungry. “It is as stark as that,” he said.

The World Bank is asking governments not to delay in fulfilling their commitments to fund the emergency appeal from the United Nations World Food Program. Unless the WFP receives $500 million by May 1 its emergency relief feeding programs will have to be cut back.

Zoellick’s concern is that food prices have continued to rise even higher since the World Food Program issued its emergency appeal (see my post, extraordinary emergency appeal on 3/26/08). That adds to the ugency of governments making a timely response.

The World Bank is responding to the food price crisis in a number of other countris as well as Haiti with conditional cash transfer programs, seeds for planting, and providing food in workplaces.

Food prices have doubled over the past three years. This, according to the World Bank, could push people in low income countries deeper into poverty.

In my estimation, it’s not a question of “could.” This perfect storm of rising food prices is already tearing into the fragile security of the poor. Their children’s lives are at stake. The violence this storm is spawning is a natural result of desperate people responding by whatever means they have in a cry for help.

Violence is never the right answer. But if my child was starving and I couldn’t afford food…I would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary to get someone’s attention. Obviously it is working. At least Robert Zoellick and the World Bank has heard their cry.

Merciful lord,

           Hunger seems so massive, so intimidating, that we feel hepless. Because there is so much we cannot do, please save us from concluding that, therefore, we can do nothing. Help us, like children learning to walk, to take one small step to assist the hungry. Then show us how to take another step…and another. Free us from the captivity of seeing only what cannot be done, and enable us to see what we can do. Then give us the courage and the love to do it. And help us to do it, Lord, not as an unwanted burden, but as an opportunity to celebrate life more fully and reflect your love more completely. We ask it in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who came to save us from sin and death; yes, and to save us also for a life devoted to deeds of love.

                                                                         Amen

a prayer from Art Simon, founder of Bread for the World in for they shall be fed editied by Ronald J. Sider

A new term has been coined to describe the rapidly spiraling escalation in food costs around the world. “Agflation” is now used to discuss the worldwide surge in food commodity prices.

This storm surge of rising prices is impacting nearly every agricultural commodity. The price of wheat has more than tripled on the international market since 2000, and maize prices have more than doubled. In March of this year rice prices jumped to unprecedented levels. Meat, poultry, palm oil, cassava and dairy products have all seen price increases, as well.

The sharp increase in food costs is causing increasing havoc among the poor. I have called it a “perfect storm” in the making, and at this point the storm continues to grow, both in its intensity as well as its breadth.

Food prices rose over 9% in 2006 and over 40% in 2007. The increase is continuing so far in 2008. The cost for basic food commodities is now the highest it has been in decades.

This has slammed the most vulnerable, and they are responding in the only way they know how. The poor are rising up in protest around the globe over the rising cost of basic food. In many countries the basic staples have already been priced out of the reach of the poorest. Protests, demonstrations, riots and civil unrest have followed.

• December 2007–Mexicans rioted in response to an enormous jump in the price of tortillas. In some parts of Mexico tortilla prices had quadrupled.
• January 2008—Indonesians held street protests in outrage over high soybean prices.
• February 2008—Protesters in three major towns in Burkina Faso attacked government offices and shops in their anger over rising food prices.
• March 2008—TCL Egyptians killed in rioting over loss of subsidized bread.
• April 2008–Haitians riot in protest over increased food costs, closing the capital Port-au-Prince for three days. Over 200 are injured.

Protests and civil unrest directly linked to the increase in food prices have also recently occurred in Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

My question: “Are we surprised?” Why would anyone expect anything different? Do we really expect the poor to have food priced beyond their reach without complaint? Do we expect them to be silent as they are forced into ever greater hunger and malnutrition?

This storm of rising food prices has global impact, and carries with it the potential for far more destruction than the Christmas tsunami. Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have already felt the tremors. And the storm is still forming.

What is our Emergency Disaster Plan? We are going to need one.

Soaring food prices have brought three days of chaos to Haiti in the latest wave of growing outrage over the inability of the poor to afford even basic foods. Political unrest and violence in Haiti is nothing new, but the past three days of protests and looting is a direct response to the spike in food costs. Hundreds of injured have been treated by Medecins Sans Frontieres, the international medical aid group.

This recent violence in Haiti is not an isolated event. It is just the latest outbreak in riots and protests from the poor in countries around the world in what is developing into a growing tragedy (see my earlier posts, “perfect storm” in the making on 3/14/08 and extraordinary emergency appeal on 3/26/08)

The rioting brought Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince to a standstill, but the violence was not limited to just the major city. Reports of rioting or violence also came from Martissant, from Jacmel in the south, and also from Gonaives in the northwest. Over 2,000 held a peaceful protest in Nippes

While there are some who describe the riots as purely political, such is not the case according to Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia. He doubts there is any political motive to the protests, and describes them as a spontaneous reaction to food prices, which have risen over 40 percent globally since mid-2007.

This sharp rise in food prices is causing unrest and protests among the poor in an increasing number of countries around the world. Haiti is especially ripe for such protests as the poor are in such extreme poverty that the majority of their income already goes toward the purchase of food. Even before the increase in food prices some Haitians had to resort to eating cookies made from clay (see my post dirt cookies from 2/27/08).

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called this week for emergency aid, and France said Thursday it will send $1.6 million, including $1.2 million worth of food. However, this is only a short-term solution. Unless rising food prices are addressed there will be further protests by the poor in Haiti.

The protests are very logical given what’s happening to the cost of living  Unfortunately, we will also see growing violence from the poor in other countries as basic foods become too expensive for them to purchase. Hunger among the poor is increasing as food is being priced out of their reach.

The “perfect storm” continues to grow in intensity. More to come…