Month: May 2016

Sarah Glassford Publishes on the History of the Red Cross

The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History is pleased to announce the publication of Sarah Glassford‘s first monograph, Mobilizing Mercy: a History of the Canadian Red Cross, from McGill-Queen’s University Press.  Dr. Glassford is a social historian of Canada, having received her PhD from York University in Toronto.  She is also a founding member of our Network and has previously blogged on Humanitarianism in the classroom.

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Matthew Bunch Blogs on the First and Second World Food Congress

Matthew Bunch, member of the CNHH and founder of the Freedom from Hunger Project, recently made the Network aware of not one, but two blogs written and posted to his website.  The first, from 7 March 2016, discusses the First World Food Congress held in 1963, the conditions surrounding its creations, and its effects.  The second, published earlier this month, discusses the Second World Food Congress (1970) and the construction of youth as activist.  Both may be of interest to Network members and can be found via the provided links.  These are both posted to the Network’s growing resource list of Canadian Blogs and may, alternately, be found there.

CNHH Second Newsletter

The second Bulletin of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History was sent out last week.  For any who missed it, the full text of the newsletter may be found below.  This bulletin covers the upcoming Congress and Workshop in Calgary, some recent blogs, and the Network’s research activities and work with NGOs.

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1984: The Parable of Ethiopian Famine and Foreign Aid

by Nassisse Solomon

The Terrible Face of Famine - Maclean's, November 18, 1984: 28.

Ethiopia has recently resurfaced in international headlines, in light of yet another looming apocalyptic scale famine.  It is being widely reported that Ethiopia is facing its worst drought in 50 years. [1] A result of three failed rainy seasons, coupled with an El Nino effect warming the Pacific Ocean and affecting global weather patterns.[2] Changes in weather patterns that have resulted in punishing heat waves and drought throughout the horn of Africa region, and in Ethiopia becoming one of the worst afflicted countries.[3] With just weeks remaining before the start of the main cropping season in the country, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling for urgent funding to assist farmers in sowing their fields to abate drought stricken areas from falling deeper into hunger and food insecurity.[4] With a future saddled by the “uncertainty of what nature has called down upon it”[5], Ethiopia, as CBC’s Margaret Evans among many others have characterized it, is once again “on the edge.”[6] Continue reading