When discussing the myth that ‘Free Trade Is the Answer’ to ‘ending’ hunger, the author states of free trade: “Such an appealing theory! It falls apart only when we apply it to the real world.”
That about sums it up. This is an important book for anyone serious about addressing hunger and starvation.
More quotes:
“Wherever people are suffering needlessly, ‘the train is already moving’ - that is, movements for change are already underway. Appreciating this truth, we understand our responsibility differently. It is not to start the train, but to remove obstacles in its path and to get onboard ourselves.”
“Focusing on the best projects funded by USAID can be misleading as to the overall impact of foreign aid. There is no doubt some projects, when viewed outside of the larger context, appear unambiguously positive - but in the final analysis they really facilitate the far more common programs that have net negative impacts, simple because the ‘best projects’ make the very idea of aid more palatable.”
“Self-interest is legitimate. The problem is that most of us are currently supporting economic and political arrangements that are neither in the interests of the hungry nor in our own interests. Changing these arrangements so that hunger is ended would not undercut the majority in the so-called rich countries, but would benefit them.”
“Freedom for whom, and for what? Do we mean freedom to speak our minds, to organize and be free from repression, from exploitation, from unfair discrimination, even freedom from hunger itself? Or do we mean the freedom to do whatever we please, regardless of its impact on others, and the freedom to choose among thirty brands of breakfast cereal and twenty of shampoo?
Ending hunger is not at all incompatible with the first group of freedoms. But it may require limiting the second kind.”
“The failure of our society to protect subsistence rights means that all of its members are deprived of the intellectual breakthroughs, spiritual insights, musical gifts, and athletic achievements of those whose development has been blocked by poverty and hunger. Denied the potential inspiration, knowledge, example, and leadership of those who are directly deprived, all of us experience a diminution of our freedom to realize our fullest potential.”