By Lawrence Doe
All living things need to eat. Some animals can go days without food, while others must eat daily. Plants feed continuously. Even the tiny cells that form living humans need food. Single cells die with in moments without nourishment. Food is carried to our cells by the blood in our circulatory system, making food the actual “life-blood” of our existence. This fact of life has been used historically in war and conquest. Conquering armies have been slowed by removing food sources in the paths of army movement. Conquering armies have destroyed food sources, causing surrender due to starvation.
The first recorded event of food destruction as an act of war was in 513 BCE in the battle between the Scythians and Persians in what is now Asia Minor. The military tactic of food deprivation and starvation has been used in all wars, including the present day. Currently, it is used in several warring countries in Africa and by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The destruction of the North American buffalo as an indigenous food source was the strategy used against North American Plains tribes. US military, white market hunters, and trainloads of tourists slaughtered millions of bison in just a few years. Lack of food and military conquest forced the last native tribes onto reservations. The US government’s practice of with holding food from Natives on their reservations continued to create starvation as a way to subdue resistance to subjugation. The comment, “Let them eat grass”, by a Minnesota Indian Agent about starving reservation residents initiated the Dakota Wars of 1862. “Let them eat cake” (mis-attributed to Marie Antoinette) was a symbol of aristocratic opulence in the face of a starving population and highly impacted the French Revolution.
The Irish Potato Famine in 1845 1852 was a noteworthy use of starvation to achieve political agendas. The potato was and is indigenous to Maya and Inca cultures of Central and South America. They planted a mix of some fifty different potato varieties at differing elevations to avoid frost and insect damage. This ensured that enough food would be harvested each season. When seed potatoes were brought to Europe, that strategy was not followed, but rather mono-cropping was used. This produced so much food in Ireland that family food plots could be much smaller and still feed the family. This resulted in heirs dividing fixed family farms into small er and smaller sizes, increasing the number of people living on the land. When a potato blight hit those potato fields, it destroyed the tenant farmers’ main food source year after year. Much suffering and starvation resulted. The British al ways considered Irish Nationalism and the push for Irish independence a problem in the British Isles. The ruling government saw the starvation as a solution to the “Irish Problem”. While Britain was producing and exporting large quantities of wheat, the Irish were forced to emigrate because of severe food shortages in Ireland while it was occupied and controlled by Great Britain. The vacant land reverted to large landholders or was purchased by speculators. The British land management goals of the time were to rid the countryside of small subsistence family farms. Large sheep grazing operations, favoring the wealthy, would be established in the newly vacated lands.
Events of almost 175 years ago form a shocking parallel to today’s SNAP food program in the United States. It is ironic that the US received many of those emigrating, starving, and landless Irish, and to day the US government is poised to cause increased hunger and housing losses among our own population. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is currently defunded, sending one in eight Americans plunging into food insecurity. This results in our citizens going without food, or heat, or electricity, or medicines, and potentially losing their homes due to mortgage or rent defaults. In the same way speculators bought up vacated Irish lands, modern Wall Street investment funds buy up homes foreclosed due to the economic insecurity of our most vulnerable citizens. SNAP food assistance is a major safety net al lowing low-income individuals and families to have food and a place to live.
Increasing hunger in the United States is shameful in the face of America’s massive food production. Like Britain in the 1850s, we produce huge food surpluses to ex port all around the world while our people face food insecurity. Contingency money set aside for emergencies in the SNAP program is specifically and intentionally withheld or limited. This food deprivation strategy is not for military purposes on our own land, but for political control of our democracy. These events are perpetrated by one political party to force capitulation by the other political party. It is an old, old, and inhumane strategy used by a conquering army to force surrender. Currently in America, the condition of being “forced” is carried on the backs of children, the aged and disabled, and other citizens without enough resources.
It is stunning that the leaders of a self-professed Christian nation should act in such inhumane ways—taking away people’s jobs, food, and housing. “What you do to the least, you do unto me,” is what Jesus said as written in Matthew (25:40). This statement by Christ has always been interpreted as a core tenet of Christian behavior to wards poor, marginalized, and suffering members of society. Matthew also writes (7:16), “you will know them by their fruits.” It doesn’t say by their words but by their “fruits,” by what results from their actions. When actions create harm, suffering, hunger, or injury, any words to the contrary are not believable. These negative consequences might be militarily or politically expedient, but they are not the teachings of Jesus Christ being expressed in a primarily Christian nation.
Years ago, an acquaintance said to me, “The last true Christian died on the Cross.” I didn’t believe him then. However, I wonder about that now. With age, I have realized human flaws in myself and others. We are not perfect. But we can try harder, begin anew to realize the humanity of all people. Each one of us, as individuals and organizations, needs to recognize what actions are necessary for a peaceful, prosperous, and nurturing society led by a government serving at the feet of its citizenry.
