Saturday, September 01, 2007

Dream On

"If we are going to stop wars on this Earth, we are going to have to make war on hunger our number one priority."

~ David W. Brooks, circa 1980, a member of the U.S. Presidential Commission on World Hunger, established September, 1978.

How prescient was Mr. Brooks ?

Not very. While there have been a few conflicts since 1980 that were motivated by lack of food, or that used hunger as a weapon, (such as in Ethiopia during the 80s), a full generation after Mr. Brooks made his remark it's clear that lack of food is not a large initial motivating factor in international conflict, or civil wars.

3 Comments:

Blogger erp said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

September 01, 2007 9:40 AM  
Blogger erp said...

In today's world famines are politically motivated.

September 01, 2007 9:52 AM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

Was it ever?

Japan thought it had to expand in the '30s because it was 'overpopulated,' and Hitler demanded 'lebensraum,' but though underfed their populations were not starving.

Bread riots did not ususally lead to wars.

September 01, 2007 11:01 AM  

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