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I heard this phrase for the first time on Sunday at church, from Compassion Australia. I don’t doubt there are millions desperate for food, but I would like to ask some questions.

Compassion International’s research has come from the World Food Programme, The Economist, The New York Times, The Guardian, the World Bank and the BBC, who presented their video (July 2022): “What is the Global Food Crisis and How Can We Help?” They highlight five primary causes:

1. The war in Ukraine — halting the export of grain from Ukraine and Russia, about a third of the world’s calories.
2. The price of fertilisers and the price of energy have more than doubled.
3. Extreme weather events, droughts and floods, affecting notably the Horn of Africa and India.
4. Nations panicking, limiting their exports so they can feed their own citizens.
5. COVID-19 — countries have exhausted their budgets and have little left to support the poor abroad.

I get it! I think all these causes add up; yes, it’s a terrible scenario. Over one year on, and now, with the Israeli-Hamas War to add to the mix, it’s not looking any better.

The World Food Program

Conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and soaring fertilizer prices are combining to create a food crisis of unprecedented proportions. As many as 783 million people are facing chronic hunger. We have a choice: act now to save lives and invest in solutions that secure food security, stability and peace for all, or see people around the world facing rising hunger. (World Food Programme)

The WFP is Australia’s largest humanitarian partner. Our partnership is governed by a Strategic Partnership Framework which ensures that in addition to improving food security, our priorities of protection, gender equality and disability inclusion are addressed effectively in WFP operations. (Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

The WFP was founded in 1961 under the UN umbrella. I am sure that they have done, and are doing, vital work in seeking to alleviate poverty, starvation, and misery. But let me ask some questions.

Global?

As soon as this word is invoked, I feel it signals a factual, philosophical, and psychological message. Factually, it’s not global. In fact, the World Food Programme’s own map does not suggest it is the whole world. North America and most of South America are not included. Europe, Russia and Australasia are not included.

Philosophically, the use of global, says it’s a global problem that must have a global solution. Therefore, we need global players to manage and execute the remedies. But there is no global organisation to do this, although there are a bunch of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that do magnificent work, Compassion International being one of them.

Even though the United Nations has representatives from 193 of the 195 countries in the world, only 72 are considered to be fully democratic. So, the UN can’t claim to be a global government by any means.

Psychologically, when we use the term global, we think, “That’s big, that’s out of my league, not even my country can take responsibility here; we need to cede responsibility for this to global players.” But the global players don’t represent the world; more than half the countries should be seen much more as dictatorships than democracies.

Look at the organisations backing Compassion International; all of them are unashamedly globalist in their bias. They see every problem from a global perspective.

The Rockefeller and Gates Foundations have been behind the World Food Programme for many years:

In 2006, the Rockefeller and Gates Foundations set out to solve ‘Africa’s food insecurity problem by launching AGRA, that was also funded by Warren Buffet.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) has epically failed in Africa. It failed to meet its goal in reducing hunger or increasing incomes and food security.

By 2020, AGRA had envisioned doubling incomes for 20 million smallholder households in Africa while halving food insecurity in 20 Countries. How did that go? Terribly!

Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy expert Timothy Wise has a well-researched article that outlines how AGRA has continuously failed agriculture in Africa. (Afribundance)

Ukraine and the Israel–Hamas Wars?

The USA has so far spent more than $135 billion dollars on Ukraine. That could be a lot of food for the less fortunate. Is this a winnable war? Has peace been given a chance, in which case, the food supply chains could begin again? Follow the money — it strikes me that the winners here are the military-industrial complex.

Now we have the Israel–Hamas Wars since 7 October 2023. All this seems to sound so much like the prophecies of George Orwell’s 1984 (1949), which predicted that the global authorities would need perpetual war to be raging on various fronts across the world. One of the hallmarks of those wars was that the general population did not understand these wars, which never seemed to resolve, and they certainly could not relate to either side in the conflicts.

Energy Prices and Extreme Weather?

The price hikes around the world have been astronomical. I would argue that they have primarily been fuelled by the net-zero agenda of left-leaning governments around the Western world.

If this agenda was going to positively impact the climate and usher in bigger and better crops for the less fortunate nations, I could perhaps begin to accept them. But I have seen no evidence at all. All I hear is that this agenda is set to cripple Western economies and hurt the poor of those nations disproportionately. (Stone, 2022)

The extreme weather of drought and floods, in particular, are sadly normal, and there is no credible evidence I can find that they are any more devastating than normal now.

The starvation brought on by the 1970-85 drought that stretched from Senegal to Ethiopia captured the world’s attention with searing images: skeletal mothers staring vacantly, children with bloated bellies lying in the sand, vultures lurking nearby. Before rains finally returned, 1.2 million people had died.

Over the years, the disastrous lack of rainfall over the Sahel has been blamed on everything from overgrazing to El Nino. Many scientists still argue those are chief culprits. (CBS News)

Despite this history, it’s quite predictable that most people seeing the term ‘extreme weather events’ today think, ah, climate change is hitting. And we make an assumption that, oh yes, we have to suffer the fuel price hikes as we have to start to reverse climate change.

But again, is there a climate crisis? The internet is plastered wall to wall, with sources and organisations that accept the hypothesis. If we simply tallied up the commentaries for and against the alleged crisis, the crisis would win hands down. So, let us keep an open mind and not forget our history.

Covid exhausted our budgets and made nations cautious to give to the poor?

It is my understanding that Western nations printed money out of the covid era for the short-term gain of seeming to be seen as the good guys combating the deadly virus from China. (“It’s a Mad World! – Part 2: Economics“)

So, to claim that nations have exhausted their budgets and have little left seems to raise questions for me. If they could print money three years ago, surely they can print a little bit more now?

Perhaps the issue here is one of perception and chain of authority. During the covid era, governments were in the midst of their own situation, and they needed to be seen to be acting, or they would fall way behind in their popularity.

Whereas now, the food problem is largely off their shores, out of sight, out of mind; they are not answerable in the opinion polls for the Horn of Africa.

But here is the rub. There is no real global government with authority over the nations. Any effective alleviation of food scarcity must be addressed at the national scale, which is still the only real seat of authority. Most of the nations threatened with starvation are ruled by dictatorships. Perhaps we should cease beating ourselves up on their behalf and point the finger instead at the ruthless corruption in these unfortunate states.

Crisis?

This is such an emotive term. Unfortunately, it gets used far too often, in my view, so much so that the story of crying wolf comes to mind. There are real challenges, that’s for sure; I am not saying the Global Food Crisis is not one of them.

No, what I am saying is — let us always look a few layers beneath the surface. What’s the agenda here? There may be a consensus in agreement on a crisis, but what about some of those who haven’t joined the consensus? Are they simply wrong because they have another view?

What Should We Do?

My mind goes back to the Vietnam War (1955–1975). What brought that bloodbath to an end? The people. The people of democracies around the world eventually rose up. Their voices combined and echoed around the world until, despite the shame and humiliation, the military-industrial complex had to concede defeat.

I suggest that now, today, as we see the looming spectre of starvation and misery around many parts of the world, I think fair-minded, compassionate people need to hold our national governments to account. We need to insist that they have the courage of their own convictions and no longer act as puppets of unelected pseudo-global leaders, who have not and will not ever solve global crises. In fact, history suggests they have simply stoked them for their own gain.

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Photo by Ekaterina Bolovtsova.