A specific initiative that I would offer is the following:
In situations where there is sufficient food (such as in the US
as well as many developing countries) it should be the community's
(government's) responsibility to provide nutritious food to hungry
people. This is especially so, where children's futures and very lives
are at stake and where any perceived moral shortcoming of their parents
should not be used as a reason to harm their children. Government
solutions, even ones that don't resolve all the problems, can work. The
various US anti-hunger programs (including WIC, school lunch, food
stamps, etc.) were reasonably effective in reducing the amount of hunger
in this country. Were there problems and/or abuses with these programs?
Certainly, but probably not much different than those of other government
programs.
In situations where there is insufficient food in the country or
community - local self sufficiency, as Jim pointed out, is certainly the
key to the long term solution. However, I would still suggest that we
have a moral responsibility to keep these people going (alive) until
local food self sufficiency has be achieved.
As long as one believes as I do that the reason most people are
poor and/or hungry is not because of some moral problem in themselves,
there can be only one response to these problems. But even if one
believes as some, that the problem results from some moral "deficiency" I
would still hope that malnutrition and starvation would not be used as
the weapons to try to change such behavior.
FRED
PLEASE NOTE: new email address--- fmagdoff@zoo.uvm.edu
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Fred Magdoff
Northeast Region SARE Program
Hills Building
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
tel:802-656-0472
fax:802-656-4656
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