| A World of Our Making | |||||||||||||||||
| By Guy P. Harrison | |||||||||||||||||
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This essay was originally published in the Caymanian Compass (7 August, 1998) during one of Sudan's all too frequent famines. |
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Starvation inflicts a cruel death. It devours from the inside out, seemingly killing its victims long before they stop walking. For those of us who live in societies of exercise bikes and all-you-can eat specials, famine is almost in-comprehensible. That is why we cringe and shake our heads in disbelief when CNN and the BBC show us images of the latest slow-motion slaughter in Africa. How does this happen? We are a species of so much wealth, beauty and ability. We have touched the Moon and split the atom. We produced Michel-angelo and Beethoven. Yet, right now, a mother in Sudan is pushing leaves into the mouth of her baby, in the hope that it will live one more hour. How can such hell exist in a world so wonderful? What caused this famine? Was it Nature? The wrath of some God? Are the starving Sudanese somehow too stupid to feed themselves? Why do they die? The current crisis in Sudan threatens more than two million with starvation. The United Nations World Food Program has responded with the largest aid operation in his-tory, delivering some 10,000 tons of food per month. People and governments of rich na-tions are giving millions of dollars to help, evidence that they are not completely discon-nected from the poor of Earth. But is it enough to give money? Shouldn�t we also attempt to confront, and change, the circumstances which make this happen over and over? If the suf-fering of all those still-breathing corpses in Africa is a result of the world we help to make, then aren�t we obligated to change it? Like the famines of recent years in Ethiopia and Somalia, Sudan�s crisis is not primar-ily a result of unfavorable climate or inadequate agricultural meth-ods. Violence and our belief in divisions are behind it. �The Sudanese shouldn�t need food assistance. They have coping mecha-nisms that are simply amazing,� said a relief worker, quoted in a recent As-sociated Press report. �They know how to deal with floods, they know how to deal with droughts, but what they can�t deal with is war.� �The only way to end this is to put an end to the war,� echoed a leader of the relief in a recent Time report. Do not write off Sudan as some violent anomaly. Sudan merely belongs to the world we have made. From 1990 to 1997, we have averaged 40 armed conflicts per year, ac-cording to the Worldwatch Institute. Our species cur-rently spends some $700 billion per year to fight and prepare for wars. All of this military spending has made the world a very dangerous place for civil-ians, as they are increasingly the victims of war. In World War II, for exam-ple, 67 percent of all deaths were civilians. That number has climbed stead-ily. In the 1990s, civilians have accounted for 90 percent of all war deaths (Worldwatch Institute). Countries such as the US, Russia, China, Iran, South Africa, France, Great Britain and oth-ers have flooded the world with weap-ons, and they have done it primarily for profit. This global arms market, which deals in everything from missiles to bayonets, guarantees that troubled nations such as Sudan will have their challenges compounded. Why talk to an en-emy when you�ve just loaded your new AK-47? Why consider compromise when you just accepted delivery of an armored personnel carrier? Violence, however, is not the only reason that Sudan is a nightmare. IMAGINARY LINES. Division, more than anything, is the real culprit behind disas-ters such as Sudan�s famine. It simply would not happen in a world without divisions on our maps and in our minds. The artificial splits of races, religions and nations consistently set the stage for death�s visit throughout the world. Sudan�s civil war includes elements of all three. The government is led by Islamic fundamentalists, who consider themselves to be Arabs. They want Sudan to be a strict Muslim nation. The rebels, who consider themselves to be black, have different ideas. Southern Sudan is made up mostly of Christians and fol-lowers of traditional African beliefs. Outside governments such as Iran and the US have backed different side in the struggle. So a clash of politics, race and religion is the real rea-son we keep seeing all these ghosts wandering the earth, trying to stay one step ahead of death. Still, the rest of the world should be able to see past the petty differences that have ripped apart Sudan, right? Apparently not. We see, we care, but something prevents a commitment by the wealthy nations to end the cycle of acute fam-ines, not to mention the less dramatic but more deadly chronic hunger which is always present. The obstacle likely is the belief that they are not �us� and we are not �them�. We live in a world fiercely loyal to its archaic divisions. Different nations, different religions and different races mean dif-ferent pri-orities. It�s a troubling thought, but I sometimes wonder if the wealthy nations of North America and western Europe would respond differently to a severe famine if the victims �looked more like� the people who rule those countries. Imagine withered white-skinned babies, dying by the thousands on CNN and the BBC. Would there be more concern, more action? I wonder. Several psy-chological studies on altruism concluded that we are more likely to help oth-ers if they are �similar� to ourselves. This shouldn�t be a problem, how-ever, because we are all similar to one another. Right? Wrong. It is the human way to mag-nify minor differences and ignore significant similarities. Every generation teaches its children to believe in harmful divisions. Without much thought, we continue to embrace the tradition of a world divided by race, religion and na-tions. And each generation pays a steep price for it. Ask a physical anthropologist about race and you will learn that it is an in-valid con-cept. The human species is too genetically blended to draw any credible borders between populations. Race is a cultural choice, not a bio-logical reality. Organized religion has divided people and stirred up violence for thousands of years. Sudan is just another footnote to a long, sad story. Ask ten people about a passage in the Koran or the Bible and you likely will hear ten unique answers. Theological debates are fine, but taking it as far as murder is ridiculous. Any religion that justifies killing people in the name of some invisible god is a superstition we can do without. Most faiths offer wis-dom and inspiration, but when used to turn human against human they would be best left behind in the dust of human history. If Sudan was made a state or province of a wealthy nation today, then there would be no famine in Sudan tomorrow. But because of borders millions may starve this year. Giving or withholding compassion and positive action based upon an address or the geography of birth is ludicrous. Is it logical to love and appreciate one small piece of a beautiful painting while ignoring the masterpiece in its entirety? When we define our world by borders we restrict our love for all the Earth and all its people. As a result, we live lives tragically stunted in one way or another. A divided world also makes it easier to avoid the responsi-bility of helping those most in need. Beyond the shallow horizons of nations, religions and races await the love and responsibilities befitting a species of our ability. Remember the scenes of starvation in Sudan the next time you salute a flag, call yourself a color or cast a condescending eye at a religious rival. Those starving children ride the jagged edge of the divisions we uphold. If we care about Sudan, if we sincerely wish to end the cycle of famines, then the next moves are obvious. We must pursue peace everywhere and begin to accept our world as one. Food for Thought An estimated 250 million people have died of hunger-related causes in the past 25 years. That is approximately ten million each year. Most victims are infants and small children (Paul Ehrlich, The Stork and the Plow). Nearly one billion people live in absolute poverty, defined as being unable to buy enough food to maintain health or perform a job (Paul Erlich, The Population Explosion). More money flows out of impoverished nations (interest payments, capital flight, repatri-ated profits, royalties, etc.) than comes in through international aid (Global Issues 1997-98). The assets of the world�s 358 billionaires are greater than the combined incomes of the world�s poorest countries, which contain 45 percent of the world�s people (Associated Press, 27/7/98). Americans spend $75 billion each year on plants and gardening supplies. They spend $9 billion per year on dog and cat food. Pet obesity has been reported as a growing problem in the US (A&E/CNN). The photographs below are of famine victims in Sudan. They were taken in 1998 by Associated Press photographer Brennen Linsey and appeared with this essay when it was originally published. All other photos within this web site are by Guy Harrison. | |||||||||||||||||
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