Aulana Rogan 20 July 2021 UN Sustainability Goal Current Event Hunger and Poverty in Chile : Before and After Lockdown Jason Beck Chile - September 14, 2020 Summary : Chile is suffering from poverty and hunger. These issues are mainly due to government corruption, income inequality, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Chile is impacted by the result of the national government’s decades-long neoliberal policies, which have created a high level of income inequality in the country. The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has put an effect on the number of people working and poverty level. According to the University of Chile, “the salaries of workers have fallen by 60% since the beginning of the pandemic” (Thelwell, 2020). Before the pandemic and health crisis Chile was greatly improving. Levels of poverty had greatly diminished from almost 40% to 9% since 1990 although ever since the pandemic started the poverty level in the country has increased 15% since last year. A group named Desafío Levantemos Chile is trying to address the problem of hunger by aiming to aid hundreds of Chileans by distributing food, providing microloans and housing projects, and advocating for public education reform. So far they have provided primary medical care to over 185,000 Chileans. The impacts of Zero Hunger in Chile is being caused by the pandemic, government corruption, income equality causing poverty and hunger. Geography Theme : This article mostly clarifies region to be the cause of Zero Hunger. Coronavirus has been the main cause of Zero Hunger in not only Chile but everywhere. It has affected people, environment, agriculture, communities and more. The number of people going into poverty is increasing drastically. It has been increasing food scarcity and hunger. Number of local markets were forced to close due to government-mandated social distancing restrictions and high levels of debt among the country’s lower class. This article stated, “Beyond the rising cost of food and living in Chile, the recent social restrictions and rising unemployment due to the virus have left hundreds of thousands of Chileans in danger of hunger” (Thelwell, 2020). The economic impact of the coronavirus has had a particularly great effect on lower-class citizens living near the capital who work in informal and unregistered jobs. Food insecurity in Chile has risen dramatically over the course of the pandemic, and its impacts have been particularly acute among already marginalised urban populations. Both the pandemic and the lockdown measures to contain it have aggravated Chile’s economic crisis, which has been deepening in recent months alongside the political turmoil. This article states, “Government subsidy and aid programmes directed at low-income families have been insufficient, and local Chilean communities have set up hundreds of grassroot soup kitchens around the country to help alleviate hunger” (in, 2020). Zero Hunger is being impacted by region during the Covid-19 pandemic which has drastically affected people to where they arenʻt getting access to resources including food and shelter. Reaction : This article has shown me how awful Covid-19 has impacted and how people reacted to that in many ways. The pandemic has hit places everywhere on the earth and Iʻve heard and seen it on the news. How it affects the people makes me feel so miserable that they had to go through that. Reading this article showed me that people got tired of waiting for the government to make choices. They had a protest in 2019 mainly to the increased cost of living and rising income inequality in the country. This made me feel strong and grounded because people are standing up for what they believe in to help improve their lives because no one else was going to. I really do respect everyone elseʻs opinions and it's important to just listen to what they have to say because it's a way to feel what we control in the environment. It's important to care about what other people think and every single one of us will be affected by those views. Having multiple perspectives of life is important because itʻs makes the world more interesting. Knowing how and why these things affected Chile makes me tell myself to be more grateful for what I have here in Hawaiʻi. Connections/Analysis : A theme of history that connects to this article is advocating change. Advocating change means to support the change and have the passion and endurance to make that change happen. This connects to the article because this helped build the confidence in people to stand up for what is right. In the article I read that people protested mainly due to increased cost of living and rising income inequality in the country. A major factor that has contributed to the ongoing anti-government protests in Chile is the staggering income inequality present within the country. Although the popular protests against the government of Sebastián Piñera began in 2019, the socioeconomic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting shutdown have greatly exacerbated the poverty and income inequality in Chile. The article states, “The effects of this neoliberal approach have greatly expanded the economy of the country as a whole, most of this new wealth was heavily centralized with the majority of Chileans still facing grave economic and health-related conditions” (Thelwell, 2020). The protesters stood up for what they believed in and fought for their families, friends, communities, and even their own lives. In Hawaiʻi I've noticed advocating change everywhere. For example, Iʻm using the TMT-protest for Mauna Kea. Hawaiians attached themselves to a cattle guard stopping TMT equipment from going up to the summit of Mauna Kea. Vice President of Ku Kiaʻi Kahuku, Kamalani Keliʻikuli stated, "It all started from Ku Kiaʻi Mauna. If it wasn't for them, I don't think we would have had this much support” (Mahealani Richardson, 2019). This shows how Hawaiians want to protect their land and would sacrifice themselves by being arrested to stand up for their culture and ʻāina. This situation was very sacred and powerful and this is what it means to advocate change. Advocating Change is super important when it comes to history and standing up for what is right and what you believe in because it helps improve the wellness of not only yourself but everyone around you. References : Thelwell, K. (2020, September 14). Hunger and Poverty in Chile: Before and After Lockdown | The Borgen Project. The Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/hunger-in-chile/ Other References : in. (2020, November 24). Grassroots aid and growing needs in Chile. The New Humanitarian. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/11/24/chile-grassroots-aid-hunger-covid-new-needs Mahealani Richardson. (2019, October 29). Protests at other projects empowered by successful anti-TMT protest. Https://Www.hawaiinewsnow.com; KHNL/KGMB. https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/10/15/protests-other-projects-empowered-by-successful-anti-tmt-protest/
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |