They Have No Rice, Let Them Eat French Fries!

Published: 4/28/2008

Before losing her head entirely, Marie Antoinette is credited with making the statement, “If they have no bread, let them eat cake.” The context was late 18th century France at a time when the over-indulgence of the French royalty and nobility led to a state of famine and extreme poverty for most of the population. From her pampered life Marie saw none of this and was a little surprised by the anger she noticed in the city one day as she was couriered between palaces. “Why are they so angry?” She asked her attendant. “They have no bread,” he replied. “If they have no bread, let them have cake.”

With hindsight it seems a rather naïve and patronizing thing to say. But recently I have become aware of the parallel with the world of the early 21st century. In Cambodia recently the price of rice rose to nearly $1 a kilogram, about double what it was two months ago. While for some of us this is an inconvenience and a regular topic of conversation, for those in poverty it becomes a matter of life and death. They can no longer afford enough of the most basic of human needs, food.

Meanwhile, TASK, the Cambodian NGO we partner with, has run out of money for rice. Because of the price rises TASK has had to stop providing rice to the poorest of the poor in Phnom Penh. AIDS victims, orphans, disabled children and other already very vulnerable groups are now going hungrier. For these people, poverty is an unsustainable living situation. It is not as much a way of living but the antithesis of living. They have to scrimp and scavenge to just get enough food to survive and yet still be worse off than the day before. They are left with not only a lack of food and resources but a lack of freedom, a lack of choice, a lack of control over one’s destiny and ultimately a lack of hope.

But for the wealthy (and by comparison, everyone reading this is wealthy) how much are we really aware of this state of famine and extreme poverty? Are we happily going about our pampered and sheltered lives, driving our SUVs like carriages between our shopping palaces, oblivious to the world outside our tinted windows?

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There is enough on earth for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.” Are we greedy? The United Nations Development Program estimates that only an additional $US13 billion is required to provide for the basic health and nutrition needs of the worlds poorest people. But in the USA alone over three times that amount is spent on food that is bought and then tossed ($43 billion) while $18 billion is spent worldwide every year on makeup. And then of course there is the second or third car and the money required to keep it going, the latest in hi-fi equipment, the plasma screen television. Are we greedy? You decide! And how do we defend this lifestyle? How do we defend our over-nourishment in the face of the under-nourishment of the poor? By spending over $US1 trillion on the military every year!

A contemporary Marie Antoinette may say, “If they have no rice let them eat French fries,” or perhaps to more appropriately reflect the economic reality, “If they have no rice, let them eat bullets!”

I believe we need to respond with both charity and justice. Recently I have heard people rightfully say that charity without justice is a cop-out. I agree that is not enough to show charity without seeking to deal with the fact that inequality exists. However, from where I am sitting faced with starving people at the door, charity is still essential. It’s easy to talk about the fence at the top of the cliff when you aren’t surrounded by the victims at the bottom.

You can respond with charity by donating money to TASK to use for rice. Without food children can’t develop and learn and without that education they can’t lift themselves out of the poverty trap. Without food, sick people can’t get better. Without food, adults don’t have enough energy to work and earn an income. The first step in making poverty history is in providing access to the most basic of human needs, food.

But justice is also required. We need to consider the injustice of these inequalities and seek change. At this point many ordinary people, those who aren’t rock stars or politicians, throw up their hands in despair. I can’t influence military spending! What difference can I make when faced with the injustice of global poverty? I believe we can make a difference but the change has to start with ourselves. Mahatma Gandhi also coined the phrases, “you must be the change you want to see in the world!” By choosing to live in a different way from the consumerist world that surrounds us we can make a difference. Our immediate area of influence may look pretty small but then so did that of Jesus. You can be yeast in the dough. By changing your lifestyles and living by a different set of priorities you can help to change the world.

Reducing our household waste by half and reinvested the money saved in food aid is choosing to live by a different set of priorities, and malnutrition could be eliminated. Resisting our consumerist temptations to upgrade our cars and houses, to buy new hi-fi gadgets and wear the latest fashion clothing, we are choosing to live by a different set of priorities. Seeking to car pool or using public transport is living by a different set of priorities. It starts with me and you!

We don’t have to lose our heads, or bury them in the sand of apathy or despair. Picture a world without greed, hunger, inequality, war, or injustice. This vision starts with you, here and now. “We must be the change we want to see in the world!”


[Steve Tripp is a member of the Servants Cambodia team.]