AJWS Blog

The AJWS community has a lot to say about what's happening in the world. Read our insights about the struggle for justice and human rights around the globe — and meet the activists on the frontlines of the fight to build a better world.

Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice

I recently attended an event promoting Eric Holt-Giménez’s new book (co-authored by Raj Patel), Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice. Eric is the executive director of Food First and a powerful advocate for transforming our broken food system. His presentation unpacked the causes of hunger worldwide and promoted a reinvestment in local food …

Read More

Flood-Resistant Rice

Never heard of it? Me neither. But for farmers in Assam, India, it’s become a life-saving—and crop-saving—phenomenon. Developed by crossing and refining local rice strains, flood-resistant rice varieties have undergone five years of testing and are intended to boost yields and ensure harvests despite worsening flood problems in the region. Pretty cool, right? According to …

Read More

Ruth Tells the New York Times "Food is a Human Right"

In response to the February 10th New York Times editorial “Hungry in America,” Ruth wrote a letter to the editor putting hunger in global context. She asserts that “Band-Aid” solutions to food insecurity worldwide are not enough. And she insists that we “rethink the global food system.” Check it out!

Read More

Mudcakes After Earthquakes. Malnutrition in Haiti Worsens.

Just over a month after the earthquake, conditions for Haitians remain dire even as relief work, recovery and reconstruction efforts begin. Starvation and malnutrition persist in ways unimaginable. The situation is so bad that the country’s poorest people have been subsisting on mudcakes or gato te in Creole. Made with a little salt, margarine and …

Read More

Bean By Bean, Replenishing Haiti’s Food Supply

Imagine being chronically hungry, and then, after finally receiving a long-awaited plate of food, eating just one bean. According to The New York Times, this is precisely what happened to Maxi Extralien, a starving Haitian boy who received food from a Haitian civic group in the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. In the face of …

Read More