WORLD COMMUNITY AGAINST HUNGER WHAT IS IT ?
	Contents
	Foreword Introduction Why World Community ? The causes Global work distribution The negative effects of traditional "aid" Self-reliance of peoples The action of World Community Hope for the futur The mutualist practice of World Community. a spirit of cooperation transnational co-operative organization mutual development Functionning of World Community. how to obtain a financial advance ?

FOREWORD The Development is the affair of every human individual or group.   Other chapters Foreword Introduction Why World Community ? Global work distribution Hope for the future The mutualist practice of World Community. Functionning of World Community.

Those non-governmental associations which are in some way devoted to helping the populations of economically oppressed regions are many in number, yet the support they find in the rich countries is often slender in relation to their objectives. In such circumstances, the creation of a new association, such as the WORLD COMMUNITY AGAINST HUNGER, would seem untimely unless the founders were ready with a frank explanation. And here it is : we are not expecting to do better or more than others working in their own fields; we gladly acknowledge the benefit of their experience and the extent of their achievement. We are trying to do something new. Starting from a planetary view of the problem, we state boldly that development is the affair of all mankind and calls for the curbing of selfish nationalism, yet is equally the affair of every human individual or group, in which each must take his destiny in hand. We see the possibility of giving a practical example of transitional action inspired by the ideal of mutual aid, giving particular priority to operations aimed at encouraging people to become self-sufficient in food production. These being our aims and objectives, we saw no point in being tied to one country or even to some international institution, modeled perhaps on a specialized U.N. agency, which would inevitably be bound by the out-dated political and economic structure of the world today. Far from doing this, we took the contrary course of making our appeal for the creation of the WORLD COMMUNITY AGAINST HUNGER direct to the Peoples Congress, obtaining their approval in September 1982. We ask the reader to study these few pages from the point of view of one in some way disposed to join with us in weaving a new network of solidarity reaching across frontiers.

Introduction     Same planet whose fruits have to be distributed on equal terms.         Other chapters Foreword Introduction Why World Community ? Global work distribution Hope for the future The mutualist practice of World Community. Functionning of World Community.

AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO ILL DESIGNED DEVELOPMENT The most intolerable difference between humans is the one based upon their being able to feed themselves or not. Indeed being able to feed oneself is the basic condition for everything else = from the quest for freedom and enrichment of mind of individuals and societies. In the fifties when the "cold war" was raging, WORLD CITIZENS with Josué de CASTRO, Lord BOYD ORR, l'abbé PIERRE, René DUMONT, Michel CEPEDE and Robert BURON, were the first aware and the first to denounce the shame of food not being shared equally between humans in the world. They went further than anyone else when they analyzed and defined the reasons for this state of things and consequently WORLD CITIZENS went further than anybody else when they suggested remedies and created the WORLD COMMUNITY AGAINST HUNGER. The World Community intends through its practice, which is to initiate development, not only under suitable conditions to improve the situation on the spot (with "projects") but also to institutionalize the principle of federal democracy on global scale. The conclusion of the World Citizens, after analysis, is that the obsolete partition of the world into sovereign States means wild competition and the building of imperialistic or totalitarian doctrines, the appropriation of the world resources by a minority, the denial of Human Rights to many, the arms race and deterioration of the biosphere. The World Community means reversing this trend with a co-operative practice independent of States and any kind of lobbies. Apart from multinational economic powers, its ambitious project is becoming strong enough to be able, one day, to propound the transnational will of the peoples to choose their own model of development freely. For implementation there will be units planned following their geographical location as homogenous in ecological, social, economic aspects; each with democratic structures and federated in the World Community General Assembly. This should allow a rational use of resources (self-directed development, endogenous economy) which can protect the genuine character of the populations. For the individuals themselves, practicing the community minded activities of the World Community will teach them much. Each individual receiving help can, if he (or she) is a member, take advantage of his (or her) individual sovereignty inside the World Community as he (or she) will be sharing ownership with the other members in a reciprocal way. The fisherman from Malagasy will know that the Brazilian peasant and the craftsman from Thailand helped him improve his living conditions and he'll help them in his turn. In this way many will become aware little by little, that they live on the same planet whose fruits have to be distributed on equal terms. Humankind needs a new awareness to reach the fully harmonious development it could easily master thanks to the techniques already available.

Why WCH ?       The Earth can feed every one ...	1.- THERE IS NO WORLD FOOD SHORTAGE. Despite the fact that various international bodies estimate the number of human beings who are undernourished at between 400 and 1200 millions, it remains true that the whole population of the earth, up to eight thousand million persons, can be fed acceptably from existing or potential resources, using present-day methods. In its July-August issue of 1977, the F.A.O. itself notes that the taking of responsibility for the problem of hunger is held back by groups, certain prejudices which conservative elements, acting worldwide, maintain in all parts of the world and skillfully exploit. They are summed up in eight myths "The world is starving for lack of food "The world is starving through a land shortage "The earth is over-populated "The only solution is to produce more food "Only the big landowners can solve the food problem "We must increase production even if it means sacrificing the environment "Each country should specialize in what it can most easily produce "Hunger marks the struggle between the rich world and the poor world"  We hope to show that the World Community Community against Hunger, through proper action, can give the lie to these false and obnoxious assertions.
The causes	2.- TO DEAL WITH MALNUTRITION WE MUST BE CLEAR ABOUT ITS CAUSES
natural causes demografic causes historical and cultural causes in the economically dominated regions in the rich countries                                     Other chapters Foreword Introduction Why World Community ? Global work distribution Hope for the future The mutualist practice of World Community. Functionning of World Community.	It will help to clarify matters if we distinguish three types of cause of persistent under nourishment. Yet these causes in fact interact in varying degrees, and proposed solutions must take account of this globally. One can make out : 2.1. Natural causes 2.1.1. Limiting factors : climate, soil, water and its irregularities (drought, flooding, ...) 2.1.2. The vulnerability of soil ecosystems in many regions, particularly in the tropics; unreasonable and harsh human intervention increasing the impact of erosion and leading to the creation of deserts. 2.1.3. The natural growth of deserts : in terms of geological time, the planet is passing through a phase of desert growth : this can be worsened by human influence in land bordering the desert. 2.2. Population Although, globally, population growth is not the explanation of food shortages, it is, however, true that in many areas facing crisis the availability of food is not increasing as fast as the population. 2.3. Historical and Cultural Causes These are linked, since social structure is the product of history. 2.3.1. In the 18th and 19th Century, the countries of the North in the process of industrialization put off the threat of economic stagnation (impoverishment of the lower social strata and rising prices) through the exploitation (at small cost) of the planet's resources. This was the time of the plunder of the colonies' resources of goods and manpower. 2.3.2. In the 20th Century the process was extended to sources of fossil fuel and to many raw materials, some agricultural. 2.3.3. The resulting imbalance between the developments of the North and of the South has thus placed the regions which we shall call "economically dominated" (E.D.R.) at the heart of a system of free trade where they are in a position of inferiority. The consequences are : borrowing to survive, economic dependence and erosion of cultural identity. 2.3.4. This set-up destroys those native social systems which used to maintain equilibrium with their environment : a) it dictates the development of types of production intended for rich consumers either in developed countries or in economically-dominated regions (E.D.R.s). Hence the increasing conversion of land that should be feeding the population, towards : à export crops that are out of season in the consuming countries (e.g. potatoes and early vegetables). à export crops for the wasteful sector of agri-business in the rich countries (e.g. Brazilian soya food for livestock, Siamese cassava yielding one calorie of protein for every seven calories of the vegetable). à speculative cultivation of crops whose exchange price is determined by the rich countries (sugar-cane, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, rubber,...) b) The result is : à that the peasants are deprived of their land, taken over by big concerns working for export, as in the production in Mexico of fresh vegetables for the United States ; of their freedom to choose what to produce and what kind of cultivation to use ; à the further impoverishment of the less favored classes who can no longer find low-priced food, à the rural exodus towards the shanty towns of the giant cities, à an excessive birth-rate caused by the reflex of investing in children as a safeguard for old age. 2.3.5. To deal with the social imbalance created in this mechanism, ever more repressive political regimes arise and are consolidated. 2.3.6. We can hardly ignore the weight of unfavorable cultural and social factors affecting development. They vary from region to region, and although the role of religious fanaticism and tribal rivalry has been underlined (sometimes as an alibi) there has rarely been mention of masculine domination, with its consequent abuses affecting the division of labor between the sexes, and of deleterious practices in the treatment of staple diets (among others that are not necessary and suitable). In the rich countries the most important cultural obstacles are usually of another kind : the technological development of the West has bred a superiority complex by which the people believe in their own efficiency, their own capacity for adaptation, and find in these a justification for their domination of the rest of the world. Such a belief cannot solve the world crisis since no thinking has been done to change it and imagine new economic concepts that would create other economic systems and above all one that would take into account both our high technology and the aware-ness of ecology we are now experiencing. Ties with the colonial past are still strong and slow to disappear and the inability of rich countries to think in other terms is so vicious that it takes us back centuries, with islands of poverty and starvation in the affluent countries themselves, where unemployment is growing.