Corona Daily 382: White Flags

In August 1998, Russia was hit with its worst financial crisis. Banks became bankrupt. Inflation was a record 84%. Pensioners could buy one loaf of bread and two liters of milk with their monthly pension. I lived and worked in Moscow then. My house was only a couple of miles from the Red Square. I often took evening walks to the Kremlin and back. Once I was returning via Bolshaya Nikitskaya. It was cold and dark as it generally is during autumn.

On that relatively empty street, I saw a row of young Russian women standing. Probably in their twenties, some even underage, they stood next to each other. The display of white Russian women was half a mile long. As I learnt the going rate was $10, because the supply far exceeded the demand. Most had arrived from neighbouring suburbs or small towns, many from decent families. Lots of them would not dream of doing anything similar before the financial crisis.

That long line of young Russian women is a flashbulb memory I cannot forget. It made me understand what hunger means. It can destroy human dignity. It can make a woman solicit clients on the street for ten dollars.

*****

In Guatemala, for the past few months, people stand on the streets waving white flags to denote they are hungry. Passing vehicles or pedestrians can offer food or money. With 65% population in poverty, the poor have neither savings nor social security. The emergency is colour coded by flags. White is hunger, red for medicine, and black/yellow/blue signal a woman, child or elderly person in danger of violence.

*****

Chronic hunger is defined as going to bed hungry. (Citizens of many rich nations have a reverse problem). 821 million in the world are chronically hungry. 265 million faring worse are on the brink of starvation. If not addressed urgently, the hunger crisis generated by the pandemic may result in 12,000 people dying of hunger every day. That is twice the number of people dying of Covid-19. United Nation’s goal of eradicating hunger by 2030 is in serious danger. UN has requested $10.3 billion to fight pandemic hunger.

*****

UN proposal for global ceasefire during pandemic was wilfully vetoed by USA. In the world’s hot spots, including Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan, the food crisis is aggravated by border and supply route closures. In Yemen, people are surviving on bread and tea. Unable to access even potatoes, they are scared of the food prices, not the virus. These four countries along with Congo, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria and Haiti have the worst hunger crisis. Their combined population is 135 million.

***** 

Many of us are exposed to media owned by USA or Western Europe. We look at their news, their stock markets. Don’t get fooled by those numbers. USA, EU and UK have given unprecedented aid to their citizens and companies. That creates an illusion of life returning to normal. But 86% of the global population lives outside of North America and EU/UK. Life can be very different there.

*****

Even in the USA, a staggering 43 million now receive food stamps. If the current $600 a week aid is not extended beyond July, another 20 million will join the queues for food. India has wisely announced free wheat, rice and pulses to 800 million till November-end.

Throughout the pandemic, the world must focus on providing free food to as many people as possible. Making people beg, or making women sell their bodies for food is inhuman. 

Ravi