There is no famine where there is a functioning democracy.
It's a bold statement and it's also true.
The statement was made by Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize winning economist, so the statement came from a pretty reliable source who made it only after years of careful observation and assessment.
It speaks volumes for democracy and it also makes us wonder about what we're going to do about it.
Famine, Sen added, is brought on by war and politics, not drought or tough luck.
Many countries suffer from droughts and difficult times. Even in Saskatchewan, we've forged our way through consecutive years of drought and very dry years. The crops haven't been very successful, but we've always managed to get something to grow and if we can't, there is a political, social and economic democratic system in place to help see us through the malaise. Same thing in Australia, the United States and even the more fragile democracies like Mexico find a way through it.
This last summer I had an opportunity to visit with a well-versed foreign traveller who was driving home the same point made by Sen, only doing it within the context of a few countries like Somalia or Sudan.
"They shift the starving people around. It's tribal, it's power brokering, it's cynical. They move from one region to another at the whim of those who have the guns or the money or the tribal strength," she said.
In the meantime, we send food, money and on occasion some of it gets through to those in desperate need, but for the most part, those who need it most have been shifted on to another desolate camp by the tribal gun-toters. Many die in the process. Material goods are unheard of and life is cheap. A sad state with no answers in sight.
Common sense would suggest that we simply ignore the plight and let the villains suffer along with the victims. But then where would that put us in the world order? And let's face it, the world order is shifting significantly with China, India and Russia rising, the European zone declining along with the U.S. while we try to sort it out from our corner.
Here is China, a country with 1.3 billion people, demanding their place in this new world order. With six times the population of the United States, with more than 60 cities with populations of over a million people each ... that will be 220 cities of over a million each within 10 years ... they create a huge world power with a rising middle class.
China represents 18 per cent of the global demand for oil.
So you don't believe we could learn a few lessons from them regarding building sustainable urban centres?
How about India? More of the same in terms of power of population and a growing economy.
Pretty soon this won't just be a country for outsourcing American and Canadian services and products. They'll be calling the shots and we'll be responding.
And if you don't believe that, well just check on who is holding the majority of North America's debt paper, natural resources and commodities.
I'll give you one clue, it's not us and it's not America.
So on those happy notes, I'll end with a few more of those fun-filled paraprosdokians.
Whenever I fill out a form that asks "In case of emergency, who should we notify?" I always put down doctor.
Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they're sexy.
Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man, is usually another woman.
Behind every successful man is a totally surprised woman.
