The worst picture I ever saw, which I am not going to post here, is of a very young African child, about to die of starvation, and there's a vulture on the ground a few feet away which can barely wait to start in on him.

Grr, I hope the photographers do something in this situation. But usually, they can't. :(

I've read about it, BTGOG, and unfortunately, they couldn't. Like the child and the vulture, the subject died, I think, within minutes of the shot being taken. Maybe hours. It's heartbreaking.

Photographers often talk about trying to help with immediate aid, and find that it fails again and again (advanced stage starvation is usually irreversible). They learn that the best way they can help is to take pictures and send them to newspapers in wealthy countries where eventually they'll make people like us care enough to spare some change for charity or lobby our governments to help.

Unfortunately for the photographers, the only way to do this is with a sustained effort. A photograph taken in 1993 may sear itself into our consciousness for life, but the attendant opening of the pocketbook doesn't last as long (and the fiscal memory of governments is even shorter).

Combine this with the complex relationship between famine and civil war (not so complex, really) by which foreign aid for beleaguered African governments, in order to prop up the government, goes towards war materiel that arms young men (taking them away from crops) and sends them out to kill other young men (taking them away from crops) to "restore peace" enough that food aid can be delivered (to armed young men); however, the best interests of the beleaguered governments lie in continued foreign aid, which they fear would slow if there was no civil war, so in order to keep the guns loaded and their soldiers fed (and everyone else starving) they perpetuate civil war. Opposition forces tend to be financed by other countries' governments, who, finding their own civil wars at an end, keep the materiel pipeline pumping their own power by sponsoring external strife.

By no means are all these wars funded by Western governments (though far too many are, or were instigated decades ago as a matter of convenience by failing colonial powers intent on subjugation by division). Understanding that crises in Africa embarrass the West, rich backers in the Middle East and North Africa see continued war in Africa as a way of hurting the West by draining its bank accounts, distracting its attention, and lowering its esteem in the community of nations (Africa is yet another demonstration of Western impotence).

Add to this all the child soldiers and all the rapes and the AIDS emergency, and it seems like I've been crying for Africa my entire life.

When I see stuff like this, I remember P.J. O'Rourke's explanation in All the Trouble in the World that when you see starving people, they aren't merely starving but usually being starved by somebody else's geopoliticomilitary fscking around. I'm also reminded of this famous picture of a POW from Andersonville.

Hugh, that's a great post. That picture is so sad, and Africa is full of sad stories like it.

What should a person do to help? Give money to Oxfam, and what political action? It seems hopeless and overwhelming, but surely effective help would make a difference to individuals who are suffering.