Welfarism vindicated

The current mass-scale starvation and deaths in the Horn of Africa raise some troubling posers for the world community, which are, unfortunately, going insufficiently answered. The time seems ripe to revisit that memorable commentary on poverty and plenty that came off the pen of hunger expert Susan George some decades ago; 'How the Other Half Dies!'

Despite the current economic woes of the world, it is our considered opinion that George's insightful analysis on how the poor and the hungry of the world wilter and die, still holds. George engages in a thorough-going structural analysis on how starvation and death becomes the stark lot of the powerless of this world, but, to put a long story short, it could be said that it is the gross inequalities of wealth and power, domestically and internationally, which lead to endemic suffering, starvation and death in the Third World.

In other words, the decades-long posers on how the suffering of the powerless could be alleviated are continuing to be with us. This is the undisputable evidence that the world economy has changed very little or not at all, over the decades. So, the poor are still with us and, apparently, would continue to be with us, as long as the unfazing questions over poverty and inequality go unanswered.

As far as our memory serves, no-one died of starvation and want in the West at the height of the recent world economic downturn, although monumental hardships were the order of the day. In contrast, famine, starvation and death, evocative of the 'Black Death' devastation and plague of the Middle Ages in Europe, are continuing to visit extremely poverty-hit regions of the world, such as, the Horn of Africa.

The conclusion is inescapable that the crippling structural imbalances of the international economy are continuing to grip the powerless of the world in a stranglehold. The corollary of this ominous proposition is that nothing concrete or substantial has been done thus far to reverse this situation. Of course, international organizations, such as the UN, are continuing with their good work for the poor of the world, and we place here on record, our appreciation of such efforts, but, apparently, the gut issues in poverty and deprivation are yet to be addressed in a forthright, systematic fashion.

But if Sri Lanka's experience is anything to go by, much could be done domestically to ease the lot of the poorest of the poor. We are quite aware of the magnitude of numbers when we address these issues. In Sri Lanka we are just 20 million and are a small country but the Horn of Africa is part of a vast continent which is teeming with humans and is not at all amenable to easy economic handling and management, both by local governments and international organizations.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka could be described as having weathered many an economic storm as a result of keeping the essentials of welfarism intact. This does not mean that we could be smugly complacent about our economic management thus far because we have yet a long way to go in the task of achieving substantial growth and equity, but, generally speaking, Sri Lanka has survived some gruelling economic challenges on account of her commitment to the core principles of welfarism. For example, there were no major economic dislocations during the 30-year conflict. In fact, no one, not even in the North-East, went hungry and today it is the state's boast that even the LTTE got a considerable helping of the food that was lavished on the people of the North-East by the state.

Welfarism continues to be alive in Sri Lanka and this policy, clearly, accrues to the benefit of the common people. Just a couple of days back, we learnt that the state would be buying the produce of our paddy farmers at a guaranteed price to ensure that they are not exposed to any economic rough weather. Such policy initiatives and our continued commitment to free public education and healthcare services, have ensured a measure of well being to the people, although much remains to be achieved in terms of quality of living.

The lesson that Sri Lanka offers to the world is that welfarism cannot be abandoned wholesale through a belief in the market's ability to rectify economic anomalies and aberrations. The welfare system, apparently, would need to work in tandem with the 'market'.

That said, it should be emphasized that the international economic order should be refashioned to answer the pressing needs of the poor. For instance, the poor countries must be accorded reasonable prices for their commodities and protectionist barriers that prevent goods and services from the Third World from entering the First World must be systematically dismantled.

Lavishing charity on the starving and the dying is in order, but unless and until the global economy is refashioned to meet the needs of poor countries, the world will continue to be witness to Horn of Africa-type calamities.