by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Hunger in America exists and is definitely real for nearly 49 million people. That is 1 in 6 of the entire registered U.S. Population and includes more than 1 in 5 children. We can safely assume that we could add a few more to that number considering those families that are not registered as they are so-called illegals.
This is, most certainly, a disgrace that the, probably, richest country on the Planet has such a level of poverty and deprivation. We must not forget that the USA is, probably, the only country in the so-called Western world where entire families are homeless and forced to live on the streets, under bridges, etc. I mean families with small and young children.
Most other countries have some sort of safety net and while it still may be a disgrace that single adult men (and women) are forced to live on the streets for some reason in places such as the UK, Germany, etc., one would be very hard pressed to find entire families with children in that predicament.
Child poverty and general poverty is real also in places such as the UK and Western countries but it also depends how this “poverty” is calculated. However, real hunger is probably not a thing that is just found among the poor in America. It is also there, despite the supposed safety net of the welfare state in Britain, Germany and elsewhere.
Poverty and homelessness go hand in hand often and especially now in time of the Great Recession that we have been going through and are still going trough at the time of writing in December 2011.
In fact it would appear that the Great Recession might still be headed for a Depression, of we are not careful, but at least may be headed for a serious double-dip recession.
If that, and G-d forbid, a Depression takes hold then we really are in trouble and we will see more of this kind of poverty and homelessness. But the fact remains that it is a disgrace, the homelessness especially, considering that in the UK, as well as in the USA, there are enough empty homes to house the majority, if not indeed all, of the homeless people, families and single people alike.
Would be consider other empty unused properties that could be converted into homes and communities then we would, in fact, in the UK, the US, and some other developed countries, be able to house the great majority of all homeless people around the globe.
The community of Christiania near Copenhagen, Denmark, a former military barracks, shows what is possible. There are a fair number of former military establishments now empty in the UK, in Germany, and elsewhere, because of the fact that the Cold War has ended.
Former barracks are an ideal raw material for the construction of communities of like-minded people and for communities in general without the need of much conversion. Let's go and use them.
© 2011
