Reading, reading, reading … it’s about time I read a feel-good novel … Norwegian, perhaps … But alas, at the moment in a stack down there on my floor, Chomsky, Klein, Johnson and Galeano are glaring up at me, a menacing four to be reckoned with (particularly since I have to bring them along in my backback if I don’t finish them within a few weeks). Here’s Galeano again, from Upside Down:

So The Deaf Will Hear

The number of malnourished children in the world is growing. Twelve million children under the age of five die every year from diarrhea, anemia, and other illnesses caused by hunger. A 1998 UNICEF report, full of such statistics, suggests that the struggle against child hunger and death “become the world’s highest priority.” To make it that, the report turns to the only argument that seems to work today: “The lack of vitamins and minerals in the diet costs some countries the equivalent of more than 5% of their gross national product in lives lost, disability, and lower productivity.”

A sensible argument.