“Starvation tactics against civilians are being used as a weapon of war” -BBc 2015
How does the conflict theory relate immigration and hunger?
“More than four years after it began, the full-blown civil war has killed over 220,000 people, half of whom are believed to be civilians. Bombings are destroying crowded cities and horrific human rights violations are widespread. Basic necessities like food and medical care are sparse," (Mercycorps 2015).
“Families are struggling to survive inside Syria, or make a new home in neighboring countries. Others are risking their lives on the way to Europe, hoping to find acceptance and opportunity,” (Mercycorps 2015).
“Most of the refugees work in low-wage food processing plants, in the hotel-motel industry, as cab drivers or other service-sector jobs. To make ends meet, they often supplement their income with government assistance such as food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing. A Congressional Research Office study, for instance, found that 74.2 percent of refugees in the U.S. make use of food stamps and nearly a quarter live in public housing,” (WND 2015).
“When the body consistently does not get the required energy and nutrients it needs each day, it breaks down. This means a decrease in mental and physical activities and ability to fight off illness. It means a lower ability to work, to play and TO LIVE,” (The Issue). These four quotes prove the conflict theory. These quotes are stating that the Syrian refugees are fleeing their homes, leaving everything behind, trying to save their lives. After a long journey seeking for refuge, these Syrians are in necessity of food, water and a shelter. When they finally reach a safer country, several people don’t give them what they need. Since the refugees left everything behind; they begin having hunger issues and start looking for ways to afford food. The migrants look for a job, not caring much about the wage; only wanting some money and most jobs give them a low-wage. Since most jobs require lots of mental and physical activity, which hunger doesn’t provide, they end up in jobs that don’t fulfill all their necessities. After this, they enter the poverty cycle since they have low chances to earn enough money to receive their proper needs. If they don’t receive sufficient money to afford food, it is probable that their family doesn’t fulfill their needs. Their children won’t receive the proper education and the cycle begins again. The conflict theory can be caused by both immigration and hunger, as explained above. Overall, immigration causes the poverty cycle, which is part of the conflict theory. Hunger also relates to the conflict theory since when they don’t receive the proper food, they have less mental and physical activity, which many jobs require. Therefore, these people can’t receive a good job and enter the poverty cycle, with a poor chance of escaping it.
“Across the globe, conflicts consistently disrupt farming and food production. Fighting also forces millions of people to flee their homes, leading to hungeremergencies as the displaced find themselves without the means to feed themselves. The conflict in Syria is a recent example,” (WFP, 2015).
In other words, the conflict theory explains this statistic, because as a response to the conflict in Syria, millions of people have suffered from hunger. This may be due to the fact that, in the rush to flee their homes to get to a safe place, people can’t find the means to feed themselves- this leads to hunger emergencies. Hunger is also used as a war tactic; soldiers destroy their opponent’s food ammunition and contaminating their water sources, which forces them to leave.
“Since the start of the crisis, WFP has injected more than US$1 billion into the economies of neighbouring countries through the food voucher programme used to support Syrian refugees.” -World food programme 2015
TOGETHER, WE FEED THE REFUGEES. TOGETHER, WE SAVE THE REFUGEES. TOGETHER, WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE.