It was but a generation ago when the late Afro-French psychiatrist Frantz Fanon called them Les damnés de la terre, the damned, the wretched of the earth.
And it was but a generation ago that the United Nations sought to end their hell on earth. An all out battle. A full frontal assault on the destitution that many call everyday life. That war was lost, and the damned, for a time forsaken, resigned to a life of misery and hopelessness.
Last week, the world's leaders resumed the battle and turned their thoughts once again to those 800 million unfortunate souls, bereft of sustenance and hope, starving amidst abundance and wealth. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization held its annual World Food Summit in Rome, Italy, to address the needs of and concerns of the wretched and came away, hopefully, with a plan of action that will decrease the number of starving people in the world. There were 194 countries represented at the conference.
Although one-seventh of the world's population goes without adequate nutrition and food, the earth produces enough for all to eat. The root cause behind this problem is the gap between the rich and the poor (in this case, the rich and the poor nations). While the Western powers and some of their newer Asian rivals indulge -- and how fat and content they have become -- the underdeveloped nations wilt away, denied the scraps and crumbs we are accustomed to throwing to our dogs.
The summit brought persons from all areas to speak on behalf of the world's downtrodden -- from Cuban President Fidel Castro to Pope John Paul II. Both the Pope and Castro lambasted the West, particularly that super-Western monstrosity that we call home, the United States of America, for its inhumane policies and trade embargoes which cause millions to starve.
For who knows better than Castro the ill-effects trade embargoes have on a country's populace. The Helms-Burton Act which was designed to punish the Cuban president has done little to diminish his power but has done much to add to the suffering of the Cuban people. The same can be said of the policies imposed on North Korea, Iraq, Iran and Libya. They effect little those persons America would like to see overthrown but only add to the misery of an already miserable citizenry.
Here, though, America stands alone. Most of the world (save the U.S.' sidekick Israel) is against these inhumane trade policies that deprive people of food and medicine, which, as the FAO has outlined, should be a basic human right. The U.N. voted 137-3 to remove the trade embargo with Cuba (the other dissenter being Uzbekistan).
The crisis in Zaire and the other Central African states should also fall in that category. While we waiver on whether or not to send humanitarian help, millions are dying from starvation and disease. America should be in the forefront of a peacekeeping force. Our presence has brought stability to Bosnia and Haiti, prevented a war between China and Taiwan, and though we tragically lost lives in Somalia, averted what could have been a potential catastrophe with the food and medicine we delivered.
But it is Canada who has taken the lead by sending a humanitarian force to the grief stricken area. And many other African and European nations are likely to follow suit. The U.S. is still debating its role in a multi-national force sent to aid the millions of refugees who are now homeless and starving.
And why should we, as Americans, give a care for these helpless individuals? Because Western imperialism and colonialism created this chaos. We benefit from the child and slave-wage labor American corporations employ in these countries. We drain them of their natural resources (petroleum, palm oil, rubber and precious metals are some examples). And what do they get in return? Starvation, warfare, homelessness and no hope.
Americans are not the sole cause of this problem and we should not have to give up our excessive lifestyle to make a difference. In fact, there really is no need for those tearful ";save the children"; commercials considering that there is enough food to go around for all. But the wasteful practices American farmers use (like recklessly killing livestock and cattle and burning crops to keep prices high) and the continual rape and plunder of underdeveloped nations by the Western powers should no longer be allowed.
In his closing statement, the Pope said, ";We have to jointly seek solutions so that never again will there be hungry people living side by side with people in opulence ... such a contrast between poverty and wealth cannot be tolerated.";
The truth is that it has and continues to be tolerated. And how much longer can we turn our backs while the damned go hungry? For the wretched of the earth, each day is hell. And hope, a bitter jest for those drowning in sorrow.
Chaka Ferguson is a graduate student in journalism from Miami, Fla.