And like slumps, famines always serve to strengthen the rich and weaken the poor. When an African country is stricken by famine, it is not the state that starves but the poor majority. The rich actually get richer as the prices of land and labour tumble and as the powerful monopolise the flow of food aid. The power of food-exporting countries like the US and Europe is also greatly enhanced during famines. Food supplies can be used to reverse the policy of a foreign government, to subordinate, subvert, punish and control.
Famine sums up the essence of a world order based on profits and state power.
Political and business leaders in both industrialised and developing nations avoid doing anything that might jeopardise profits and their networks of vested interest. There is no shortage of food, yet scarcity is forced on those who have no money to buy it. Today 10 per cent of children in developing countries die before the age of five. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world. Such a day will only come when production and distribution are determined by need rather than profit.