Hope's Edge_ The Next Diet for a Small Planet - Frances Moore Lappe [28]
Exploding the Hunger Myths*
For us, learning began with unlearning these powerful myths. As we studied, traveled, and interviewed, we were able to cut through the media-repeated themes of scarcity, guilt, and fear. As we worked on the book, certain themes emerged that have grounded our work ever since.
• No country in the world is a hopeless “basket case.” The illusion of scarcity is a product of the growing concentration of control over food-producing resources. From Bangladesh villages to Wall Street commodity brokerages, fewer and fewer people are deciding how food resources are used and for whose benefit, yet the most wasteful and inefficient food systems are those controlled by a few in the interests of a few.
• The hungry are not our enemies. Actually, we and they are victims of the same economic forces. The direct cause of hunger in the third world—-the increasing concentration of economic power—is also accelerating here in the United States: 3 percent of U.S. farms now control almost half of farm sales. But concentration of production is only one aspect. Economists warn that monopoly power in the food-processing industry results in close to $20 billion in overcharges to Americans every year.1
•Our role is not to go into other countries to “set things right.” Our responsibility is to remove the obstacles facing the oppressed in the third world—obstacles often created with our tax dollars, such as U.S. economic and military aid that goes selectively to some of the world’s most repressive regimes, as in Zaire, the Philippines, and El Salvador.
The logical conclusions of what we were learning put us in conflict with positions we had previously supported, but eventually we came to an understanding that provided us with direction and energy instead of paralyzing us with guilt, fear, or despair.
We worked day and night to write Food First. For me the hard work and long hours were not new. What was new was working with other people. For the previous six years I had worked primarily at home or alone in the library. Now I was part of a team. With the advance from Ballantine, Joe and I were able to hire allies like Cary Fowler (now completing a book on the threat of seed patenting) and Robert Olorenshaw to help us. In the process of research and writing I communicated with hundreds more across the country and around the world, people who were willing to offer their ideas and expertise because they believed in what we were doing.
From 1975 on, learning to work as part of a team became a challenge equal to the challenge of writing Food First or any of the books I have worked on since. The message of this book and of Food First can be distilled into one theme—people can take ever greater responsibility to change the economic ground rules that determine how resources are used, once they understand these rules and can see where to begin. That means we believe in the possibility of genuine democracy. As I began to work in a team, I began to experience this democracy—so abstract and enormous in scope—as something I had to learn to live every day of my life. I discovered how little our society teaches us about how to share power.
A year and a half after we signed the contract, Food First was virtually completed. In all the turmoil of that intense work period, Marc and I had separated and he had taken a job with the State of California. To keep the children close to both their parents, we moved the new Institute to California.
On My Own
In January 1977, I landed with my two children, Anthony and Anna, in San Francisco. For the first time I was really on my own. Never before had I alone had to take care of finding housing and schooling for my children, buying a car, dealing with