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It is amazing to see this on the top of HN right after I get off a call with my mother about sending more emergency remittances to my uncle's family in remote e

It is amazing to see this on the top of HN right after I get off a call with my mother about sending more emergency remittances to my uncle's family in remote east Ethiopia/Ogaden. The situation there is very dire with all the livestock (all their wealth) perished, no rains from this year's Deyr rainy season that just ended and no working wells for groundwater. If anyone is reading this and wants to help with the crisis situation there, please donate to The Denan Project[1] which is basically the only aid group on the ground. All the majors (Oxfam, ICRC, etc) have been awol during this year's extreme drought (worst in more than 30 years). 100% of donations go to directly supporting people with food and water aid, medical aid (we built the only clinic for hundreds of miles) and other direct support. All overhead costs are already covered by the very generous, selfless folks behind The Denan Project. Dick Young, founder of The Denan Project wrote a letter to the editor response to this same article by Alex de Waal in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/opinion/ethiopia-and-the-end-of-famine.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/opinion/ethiopia-and-the-e... [1]: http://www.thedenanproject.org/ http://www.thedenanproject.org/

pdeuchler 10y ago
It's rather disturbing to see such a disconnect between reality and the perception of it among the western elite, specifically concerning the general living conditions most of the world lives in. This article seems to be nothing more than the same old post-scarcity rhetoric that certain groups push for political gain every couple of years. The world is as it has always been; some things are getting better in some places, other things getting worse elsewhere, and in many places the status quo is largely continued. Making such sweeping declarations like the article does merely serves to turn extremely nuanced and interconnected systems into black and white judgement calls. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader as to why that is, and why it's being printed in the NYT.
- andrewmutz 10y ago
  Perhaps the article linked is wrong about the conditions in Ethiopia. However, aside from this particular instance, I think it should be mentioned that the world is not as it always has been. Tremendous progress is being made at reducing global poverty and global undernourishment. You can see evidence and data here: https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment/#ref-8 https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment/#ref-... I think it is important to acknowledge successes so that we don't falsely believe we are failing and as a result, reject systems that are working.

pdeuchler 10y ago

It's rather disturbing to see such a disconnect between reality and the perception of it among the western elite, specifically concerning the general living conditions most of the world lives in. This article seems to be nothing more than the same old post-scarcity rhetoric that certain groups push for political gain every couple of years. The world is as it has always been; some things are getting better in some places, other things getting worse elsewhere, and in many places the status quo is largely continued. Making such sweeping declarations like the article does merely serves to turn extremely nuanced and interconnected systems into black and white judgement calls. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader as to why that is, and why it's being printed in the NYT.

andrewmutz 10y ago
Perhaps the article linked is wrong about the conditions in Ethiopia. However, aside from this particular instance, I think it should be mentioned that the world is not as it always has been. Tremendous progress is being made at reducing global poverty and global undernourishment. You can see evidence and data here: https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment/#ref-8 https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment/#ref-... I think it is important to acknowledge successes so that we don't falsely believe we are failing and as a result, reject systems that are working.