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发表于 2011-2-24 09:21:16
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VOX POPULI: Speculators' games are starving millions
Singer Haruo Minami (1923-2001), who suffered detainment in an internment camp in Siberia after World War II, discussed hunger with the writer Rokusuke Ei, who was 10 years his junior.
Minami: "Have you ever starved?"
Ei: "When I was a child, we only had rations of 2.5 go (about 0.45 liters) (of rice)."
Minami: "That's not starving."
Ei: "No, I was really hungry."
Minami: "Ei-san! Starving is not the same as being hungry."
The exchange appears in "Iwaneba Naranu!" (I have to speak up!), published by Japan Broadcast Publishing Co. Japanese people forgot the sensations of starvation and hunger years ago. That is why it is hard for us to understand the seriousness of soaring global food prices. The number of people who do not have enough food to eat is rising sharply.
According to the World Bank, the number of people suffering serious poverty has risen since June by an estimated 44 million because of the escalating prices. Many children must be affected. The poorer the country and the weaker the people, the greater the damage. It is the same old unforgiving pattern.
Natural disasters and expanding demands from emerging countries are contributing to the issue, but another major factor is speculation. Although the speculators had been inactive for some time, money has once again started to flow into the grain market. There must be something wrong with making a killing at the cost of many hungry stomachs.
I once quoted a humanitarian speech from the 1940 film "The Great Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) in this column. Let me quote from it again: "In this world, there is room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone ..."
The speech continues: "But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls ..." The global population, which stood at 2.3 billion at the time of the movie, is expected to top 9 billion by the middle of the 21st century. Our world cannot be at peace without the moral apparatus to even out hunger and satiation and to share food instead of fighting over it. I wonder whether the players of greedy money games and the major grain firms are aware of this.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 22 |
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