It is incredibly disheartening to acknowledge that in the 21st century, hunger is still on the rise and remains one of the greatest outrages that jeopardizes world peace. A majority of the world’s population has fallen into poverty, while a privileged few enjoy a paradise built on exploitation and brutality.
What does this statement mean? That a complete imperialist system comprised of multinationals, international and supranational organizations, governments, foundations, elites, and NGOs coordinates trade, natural resources, technology, information, and financial flows, while imposing guidelines, laws, treaties, etc., leading to a minority of the world’s population living at the detriment of the resources and human lives of the vast majority.
This injustice has been and continues to be disguised in various ways to perpetuate its existence. Those proposals that attempt to conceal the true causes of hunger are unethical. These include the misguided misconceptions about the growth of the population, the deceitful promotion of the Millennium Development Goals and now the Sustainable Development Goals (which advocate for policies that actually exterminate the disadvantaged population); the fraudulent charitable contributions of the wealthy to alleviate their guilt, the cynical Official Development Assistance, and all organizations that claim to be tackling hunger, yet it persists to rise.
How can the majority of humanity still experience starvation amidst the scientific advancements driven by the current technological revolution? We cannot turn a blind eye to this issue any longer; the scale of this lie is too great to mask. The society of future generations will not forgive us for failing to confront the challenges that plague us as a global community, particularly given our abundance of resources and vast wealth of knowledge.
It is imperative that we take decisive moral action to liberate the people from this plight. It has been demonstrated that there is no political will to end hunger. Thus, it is necessary to respond from the base of society with a political and cultural approach that exerts pressure on the economic and political power to change the current system’s guidelines.
This involves building the «power of the powerless.» Living in TRUTH, being free, and ceasing to be accomplices of evil is essential. What our society requires most is the promotion and development of individual and collective consciousness. «The Power of the Powerless» is a call to speak out against the falsehoods wielded by totalitarian powers who aim to enslave us. It urges us to embrace the truth, awaken our conscience, and take personal and collective responsibility.
Historian Arnold Toynbee has posited that humanity’s true progress lies with the weak who possess a strong conscience; they set themselves lofty goals and strive to surmount them.
And thus, a group of friends who were willing to risk their lives and face persecution and rejection by the wealthy society of our country, initiated the Campaign for North-South Justice. In a David-versus-Goliath scenario, they persist with moral action that liberates. After over 30 years, we still strive for affluent countries to cease plundering impoverished nations and for the inviolable dignity of every human being to be upheld. We insist that starvation, joblessness, exploitation of children and the commodification of any human are reprehensible acts against humanity. We advocate for a genuine culture of fellowship and vitality. We are here to say that it is time for a radical change, for a fundamentally moral political programme and behaviour, and we invite you to join us!
Editorials from Autogestión magazine.
