FOOD vs ARMS BALANCE 1
At the start of the three-day World Food Crisis Summit in Rome (3 June 2008), UN Food & Agriculture Organization Director General Jacques Diouf, noting that $ 1,200 billion were spent on arms in 2006, asked the delegates: ” . . . how can we explain to people of good sense and good faith that it was not possible to find US$30 billion a year to enable 862 million hungry people to enjoy the most fundamental of human rights: the right to food and thus the right to life?”
The 2008 Philippine National Budget is about $30.3 billion, 0.1% of which is allocated to the Department of Agriculture and 4% to the Armed Forces; i.e., 40x allocated to arms vs food. Curiously, this is the same ratio of arms to food that FAO Director General Diouf quoted (i.e., $ 1,200 billion vs $ 30 billion). Is this the way most of the world’s governments allocate the people’s money? Is this the way your government spends your tax dollars?
What can people of good sense and good faith do?
images from Microsoft Clipart, reconstructed by Ren Garcia
