the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 22, 2001
The U.S. military makes a big display of its yellow packages of air-dropped food for Afghans.
The food isn’t the point. The display is.
Six million Afghan people are estimated at risk for hunger for this winter. At only one meal a day, in only one week, these people would need 42 million meals. The total number of meals dropped by the air force, up to October 21, was 1.2 million. A very small drop in a very large bucket. Especially considering that some packets land in minefields, some in mountain wilderness, and some are left uneaten or are burned because the people fear poison.
Compare this with one truck convoy. Just one aid convoy of 60 trucks can bring in enough wheat for three million meals.
With the U.S. bombings, however, the truck convoys have been held up; the warehouses in Kabul have been hit. Drivers of convoys don’t dare to get caught in or near Kabul while the U.S. is bombing.
Thus, the bombing has already reduced the insufficient aid that was before going into Afghanistan, making it more meager still.
If the U.S. wanted to aid the provision of food to starving people in Afghanistan, it would never have bombed.
If the U.S. prefers to drop a few flashy yellow packets in the midst of the bombing, it is because the primary target the food is aimed at is not hungry people. It’s us.
They think we can’t see through their charade.