I donate to UNICEF on a monthly basis. These sorts of things are terrible, but I’d like to think donating helps a little.
Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
301–310 of 415 posts
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#302I am very sad to watch this situation. I spent 3 weeks driving my 4x4 through Sudan in early 2019 [1], just a month before they finally got rid of Al-Bashir, and it was incredible. The people of Sudan were some of the kindest and friendliest I have ever encountered on the planet. When I asked for directions to buy bread and it turned out to be complicated, the following morning locals brought a bag of fresh-baked bre…
I don't think I've heard of a single group that was not described as the 'kindest and friendliest'.
Dutch (as a Dutch guy I think I'm allowed to say it). Not exactly known for our hospitality or generosity
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Random: https://nypost.com/2024/06/29/world-news/german-woman-given-... https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15gn0lq7p5o (Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Act_to_amend_the_Canadian_H... One can easily find examples in all countries. These countries do not have a free speech right in their Constitutions, for example, and no plans to include it.
Canada does indeed have free speech (expression) in its constitution. There are limits to speech, but that is true in every country, including the USA (if you dont believe me, try yelling "i have a bomb" in an american airport and see what happens next)
Section 1 and Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee that it's useless in practice.
This was confirmed by how the Charter did nothing to stop the abuses that Canadians endured from 2020 through 2022.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#304There's this awful semi-famous photograph online of a previous African famine that depicts a man walking past a child who he stole U.N supplied foodstuffs from. This might be naive but what's stopping the U.S, Russia, E.U, China or any capable world power from just air dropping tons of food onto Sudans population centers? You can't tell me Sudan's military has the ability to shoot down advanced aircraft. Am I missing…
> just air dropping tons of food onto Sudans population centers?
Super inefficient, but makes for great photos. Good piece on NPR US airdrops of food into Gaza here:
"the first thing to understand about airdrops is they are probably the most inefficient possible way to deliver aid. So they're used very, very sparingly and only when there is truly no other way to get aid in.
"...ballpark eight to 10 times as expensive logistically to deliver by air as by overland transport"
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236019060/gaza-israel-airdro...
Basically because of the logistical nightmare it is to airdrop food, there is no way that you can feed millions in famine with it. You need trucks on the ground bringing in food.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#305yet while people here debate the semantic meaning of this or that, real people are starving and dying over there.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#306In the article's picture, zoom in to look at the white horse. It's so famished it looks like it came from an apocalyptic painting.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Central planning has a very good record in countries like China It's got a very terrible track record in China; the government caused tens of millions of its own people to starve to death, and set the economic development back decades. The GDP per capita in Taiwan is more than double that of China currently, but both started at a similar position. If China had had a similar political system to Taiwan, its people's s…
> If China had had a similar political system to Taiwan, its people's standard of living would be much better. This is just absurd. Taiwan's entire economy is TSMC + some small things. Copying political systems doesn't get you per capita standard of living. Yes Mao's China did stupid things but post Mao China has done well economically atleast. They had an enviable job of bringing so many people out of extreme povert…
>They had an enviable job of bringing so many people out of extreme poverty and have done well.
Literally zero work is required for this. You just need to stop keeping people in extreme poverty - and that's it.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#308I donate to UNICEF on a monthly basis. These sorts of things are terrible, but I’d like to think donating helps a little. https://www.unicef.org/
I also donate regularly. It is a great organization. Also other great charities in this space is Médecins Sans Frontières and World Food Program and of course the Red Cross.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
Civil wars tend to create anarchy, it is the anarchy that causes the famine wars themselves doesn't inherently do it. For example the American civil war didn't create anarchy, the states continued to function on both sides so there were no mass starvation events.
Anarchy is when two factions try to govern instead of one? It is an interesting take. I can't say it makes sense.
Anarchy is when two factions fail to govern. Thus, lack of government.
Re: Anarchy in Sudan has spawned the world’s worst famine in 40 years
#310That's not anarchy, obviously
It may not be anarchism as professed by anarchists (which is itself a broad and fractious array of philosophies generally having to do with abolishing involuntary hierarchies, related to classical libertarianism), but it is a form of anarchy, at least as it is popularly understood. Terminology fails here; at this point any serious anarchists need to come to grips with the fact that this sort of "chaotic anarchy" is w…
1. I agree that anarchists probably need to grapple with the fact that people think of this as a first association...
2. ...but terminology does not at all fail here, there is a separate term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomie which describes a breakdown in order and social function.
Notably, anarchists would probably claim that the fact that there's a civil war of various warlord factions and wannabe-states going on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023%E2%80...
is a good example why anomie and anarchy probably _should_ be distinct concepts, as there's probably plenty of hierarchy, localized state power and centralized decision making going on in Sudan, while e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_Army_of_National_Lib... appear to have done absolutely fine keeping and improving a social fabric for the last 30 yeras (until recently, gangs arrived and brought the anomie that comes with organized crime).
Again, I don't think it's a winning strategy for political anarchists to try and convince people that "acshually it's anomie, not anarchy", but I think on this page, peoples professed self-identity makes sharing out this separation of concept worth it