In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – began to bomb Yemen. That war has continued, with the Saudis and the Emiratis backed fully by the Western countries, who have sold them billions of dollars of weapons to use against the impoverished Yemeni people. Saudi Arabia, the richest Arab country, has now been at war for the past six and a half years without much gain against Yemen, the poorest Arab country.

The roaring sound of hunger afflicts one in three people on the planet. But hunger is not inevitable: it is a decision of capitalism to put profit before people, such as allowing the global population to remain hungry while one third of all food produced is wasted. On World Food Day, seven media outlets produced a booklet called Hunger in the World, looking at the state of hunger across the world, how this was influenced by the COVID-19, and what people’s movements have done to respond to this catastrophic reality.

Women in India have been an integral part of the farmers’ movement, the workers’ movement, and the movement to widen democracy. When three harmful farm bills were introduced in 2020, it was no surprise that women were at the forefront, since 73.2% of women who live in rural areas work in agriculture. Despite being disparaged and having their work trivialised, women have played a central role in holding together society; the demands they raised at the protest sites, amplified by the farmers’ unions, echo long-standing claims put back on the table by the left women’s movement.

On 1 October, the International Peoples ’ Assembly – a network of over 200 social and political movements – had its public launch.One of the dilemmas of humanity that the IPA confronts is world hunger. This week, as we approach World Food Day on 16 October, we set out to sharpen our thinking about why hunger persists and look more closely at the path towards creating a just food and distribution system as a solution to eliminate world hunger.

On 25 September at the UN General Assembly, Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley offered a biting critique of the complacency of global leaders and their inability to advance humanity: ‘If we can find the will to send people to the moon and solve male baldness… we can solve simple problems like letting our people eat at affordable prices’. As the US and its Western allies undermine the UN Charter through illegal sanctions, wars of aggression, a New Cold War, and a myriad of other tactics, the task of building multilateralism and processes of global solidarity are more urgent than ever.