the morningside post

Meet Me and Malthus at Dinosaur BBQ

By Christian Kim
MIA 2009

The recent spike in global food prices touched off a storm of violent protests in developing nations and unsettled those keeping close tabs on the global economy. Unbelievably, many economists failed to anticipate that an increased demand for biofuels would lead to more expensive grain, which in turn has had a deleterious effect on the purchasing power of the world’s poor and exacerbated their struggle for survival.

Perhaps this food supply shock, in addition to the increasingly serious debate among analysts about the veracity of "peak oil" and concerns over the future supply of potable water prompted a May edition of the Economist to publish an article entitled, “Malthus, The False Prophet.” Thomas Malthus’ 1798 thesis, “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” postulated that future food production would fail to keep pace with population growth because the former had finite parameters whereas the latter, in theory, did not. According to the Economist, while Malthus presents “arguably an accurate description of pre-industrial societies, which teetered on the balance between empty and full stomachs,” his prediction of food shortages in face of exponential population increases (which has gone from nearly one billion people in 1798 to 6.7 billion today) has proved to be but an empty jeremiad.

Humanitarian Aid Done the Wrong Way in Chad

By Eamon Kircher-Allen MIA, 2009

Humanitarian aid comes from the noble urge to help the helpless. People and organizations who do aid the right way and for the right reasons keep disasters all over the world from becoming much worse than they would be otherwise.

That’s why anyone involved in humanitarian aid should be especially concerned with last week’s disturbing news of an alleged kidnapping of more than 100 children in Chad.

The perpetrators in conflict-battered eastern Chad on the border with Darfur were not a band of rebels, but a French charity group called Zoe’s Ark that was trying to airlift the children to Europe. According to the AP, the group insists it was taking the children, which it says are “orphans,” to place them in host families abroad. (Read about the origins of Zoe’s Ark here.)

One little problem: UNICEF, UNHCR and the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) –- who have been helping care for the children since Chadian authorities interrupted Zoe’s Ark’s attempted airlift -– say that in interviews with the children, 91 of them “referred to a family environment consisting of at least one adult whom they considered a parent.” UNICEF is referring to the children as “abducted.”

Looks like the children weren’t orphans after all. What’s more, the charity had no authorization from Chad, the UN -- or anyone else, for that matter -- to carry out its operation. Understandably, the abductions have drawn widespread outrage in Chad. Members of Zoe’s Ark are now being questioned in Chad’s capital, and could face prison time.

Chadians shouldn’t be the only ones outraged –- if the reports about the abduction are correct, the circumstances are truly shocking. Worse, the incident is only an egregious example of the attitude behind too much humanitarian aid in the world: that the victims of conflict -– especially in Africa -– are a faceless mass that should have little voice in their destinies. Local contingencies and complexities -– not to mention the sovereignty of the countries where aid takes place –- are too often ignored.

It’s time for rich countries to stop using Africa as the playground for fantasies of adventure, righteousness and domination. We can start by taking cues from those aid agencies that work effectively with governments, multilateral agencies and locals, like OCHA and ICRC.