book: World Hunger: 10 Myths, by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins
OK, so, when I was reading this book, I didn't shut up about it. Part of that is that is has a lot to say, and it also consistently threw me off for a few pages before getting back on track.
I think part of that is because the topic discussed is incredibly complicated, encapsulating ecology, economics, culture, politics, history, chemistry, physics, kind of bordering on “basically everything”. It is also because the premise is the book is dismantling prevalent myths, so its entire shtick is pushing back against pre-existing beliefs the reader may have, rather than starting from a relatively clean slate. And, as per the back cover, the book is “for novices and scholars alike” which is already a tough balance to strike even before considering all the different fields an individual reader may be a novice/scholar in. eish, shout out for even trying.
Up front, the “10 Myths” are:
- Too little food, too many people.
- Climate change makes hunger inevitable.
- Only industrial agriculture & GMOs can feed a hungry world.
- Organic & ecological farming can’t feed a hungry world.
- Greater fairness or more production? We have to choose.
- The free market can end hunger.
- Free trade is the answer.
- U.S. foreign aid is the best way to help the hungry.
- It’s not our problem. (the book is written explicitly for a USAmerican audience, I will talk about this fact a bit more in this post)
- It’s too late.
In totality I would say that this book is a good one and is a worthwhile read for sure. Given the aforementioned complexity, the chance the book will tell you something new is pretty decent. Moreover, the book doesn’t just address the myths and leave it there: the last pages of the book are calls to action including a list of specific groups one may support or become involved in. It says: Yes, things are messed up right now, and here are some things you can do about it! that’s an integral part of big-issue discussions that’s often not done, leaving people hopeless and aimless.
However, there are a few things that aren’t preferable. Sometimes, things are glossed over, which is an inevitability when trying to discuss so much at once. They provide examples from around the world to back up their claims, and of course, each example has an incredible amount of factors in play which would be a monumental task to catalogue. E.g. in discussions around sustainable farming, they give examples of communities finding that the best option was to stop animal agriculture completely, while others found success by incorporating animals in an nontraditional way … there isn’t a lot of digging into why both of these mutually exclusive tactics worked in different places, and while inter-myth connections are drawn, not all are (e.g. shifting away from animal-heavy diets is broadly good, and relying on imports is broadly bad, so what if achieving the former is reliant on importing?)
Then there’s the USAmerican Audience thing. Often, the things in discussion aren’t just USAmerican – in the US foreign aid myth chapter, it discusses the New Alliance, which is very much not just the USA. A focus on US policy is alright but there is a tendency to put non-USA countries on a pedestal, for example praising Germany as an exemplary democracy (?), there is hand-wringing about the influence of foreign elites and companies when examples of shitty corporations are often US based, and there are frequent allusions to the founding fathers as admirable ... which is just. ??? are you serious?
The book praises more-radical ideas like active law-breaking and illegal squatting and holding community land in trusts (abolishing private property), but when providing its own action-items is quite moderate and reserved. It looks at horizontal organizing and groups like Campesino a Campesino & then says “vote with your wallet” :] . Which becomes frustrating. I almost wonder if this is due to two authors reconciling their views, or making their ideas more palatable to a general audience, even though it makes it feel like they are ignoring their own real-world examples at times.
OK SO, World Hunger: 10 Myths is:
- a good recommendation for people who are that kind of does-nothing centrist who just refuses to acknowledge change is inevitable, and
- also good if you are already someone who knows of and fights for alternative systems, the book is good to fill in certain gaps, and especially as a springboard to further reading: the reference list is almost 100 pages long, ¼ of the book’s total length ; the book name-drops movements and organizations that you can look into further ; so on.
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All said, There are some solid central ideas which discussion begins to circle around.
Autonomy and agency not only as a more-stable way for a community to exist but as a fundamental human need, the lack of which results in radicalization into terrorism, violence, etc.
The Hyacinth Principle – horizontal organizing. Communicate with your peers, spread knowledge peer-to-peer, make public pledges that your community can hold you accountable for, and connect across different life experiences … “Why would [rural people] go through all this trouble and risk to grow food that’s just going to hurt people? We care about the people in the cities, too” - Jacir Pagnussatti of the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra)
Courage even if the chances of success seem low –
If a doctor were to tell you that the likelihood was small that you could make a difference in helping a loved one to survive an illness, what would you do? Would you fold your hands and say good-bye?
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