Paul Simon's brother lectures on world hunger

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute couldn't have had a more appropriate speaker for the first address under it's new name.

Art Simon, brother of the late Sen. Paul Simon, spoke at the Student Center Monday night about what could be done to alleviate the problem of world hunger. Simon is the founder and president emeritus of Bread for the World, the nation's largest citizen's lobby against hunger. Simon has written several books on the subject including "Bread for the World," which won the National Religious Book Award in 1984. In 1973, he co-authored "The Politics of World Hunger" with his brother Paul.

Simon credits his brother for instilling in him an interest in the subject of world hunger. He said Paul tackled the subject on his own before they ever worked on it together.

"I'm sure that if it had not been for Paul, a citizen's lobby would've never occurred to me," Simon said. He said a main cause of hunger in the United States is poverty stemming from violence. The only cure for this violence, Simon said, is peace through justice.

"There are many paths to peace, but the solution to violence has to begin with ourselves," Simon said. "Justice is the way to peace." While the judicial system does a good job of punishing criminals, Simon said it fails when it comes to teaching criminals the right way to do things. "We are tough on crime but we are not smart on crime," Simon said.

Thirty years ago, the government spent $300,000 to build new prisons, and this year, that number has rose to more than $2 million, nearly seven times as much. Building prisons has become a major industry that Simon said would not be necessary if prisoners were given an education. He said prisoners with high school or higher education rarely return to prisons.

Another major problem Simon said the United States must address is the way other countries perceive it. In the past, the United States was admired by other countries. But now, Simon said, other countries perceive the United States as an oil hungry nation that uses its power for advantage and doesn't care for anyone else's suffering.

The United States ranks last in donor nations in the amount of money donated per amount earned. For every hundred dollars Americans earn, they only donate 14 cents. President Bush has improved on this number by increasing assistance for world hunger by $5 billion a year, but has only since given $2 billion of the promised amount, he said.

Every day 30,000 children die because of malnutrition or disease. Simon said in five days, enough children die to equal the total number deaths caused from the tsunami. Americans gave in droves during the tsunami, but he said that they take little effort in fighting world hunger on a daily basis.

"We do the best in response to high visibility emergencies," Simon said. While Simon pointed out several negatives in how the United States deals with world hunger, he said some positives do exist. The government started a child survivor fund in recent years and has given $300,000 per year to treat world hunger in children. While that is nothing compared to the billions of dollars pledged by Bush, this money saves 600,000 lives every year.

Simon said when the United States does things like this, other countries take note and other donor nations donate more. He said if the United States takes a leadership role against world hunger, it could be cut in half by 2010.

"The question is not can we afford to do it, the question is do we want to do it," Simon said.

Large strides have been made in the past couple of years to rid the world of hunger. Since Simon started Bread for the World, world hunger has decreased from 35 percent to 15 percent.

While the United States has helped the rate of world hunger go down, it has watched the rate of hunger at home go up. The United States has as many starving people as ever. This is an area where Simon said the United States could improve.

Simon said there are legislative measures that can be taken to cut hunger altogether in 10 years. The only way they will be brought about is if people make them known to politicians. He said bad things happen when good people do nothing.

"Silence does not have to be our voice," Simon said. "We can do better."