IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10-4-04 CONTACT: EMMA BAILEY 538-6824

SILVER CITY--The 21st annual international World Food Day Teleconference, entitled the “Politics of Hunger: What’s at Stake?” will be shown at the Western New Mexico University Miller Library Media Services Classroom #3 from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, Oct. 15.
The program will feature Dr. Werner Kiene, a noted expert on international food policy and activities. The Austrian native, who is the World Food Program’s representative to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, contends that the “politics of hunger” could be called the “politics of neglect”. Ray Suarez, a senior correspondent for the Jim Lehrer NewsHour is scheduled to host the program.
In addition, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former U.S. Ambassador to the Untied Nations, Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Venaman will make brief comments. A documentary film produced by Asterisk Films, Food-Reinventing the World, and a short film by the World Food Program will be aired in the second hour.
The 2004 Teleconference, which will reach 1,000 sites worldwide, will be aired with simultaneous transmissions in Spanish and French. The annual event will originate from the television studios of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is sponsored by the U.S. National Committee for World Food Day, a coalition of some 450 private volunteer
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organizations.
Millions go hungry in a world that produces enough food to feed every single person. All aspects of the systemic food failure will be up for discussion, including the activities of the major international players. At issue will be such questions as:
*In the wake of rapid globalization, a handful of international corporations drive the world’s food industry. What problems and solutions do they represent?
*How might the World Trade Organization, the World Bank or the UN food agencies help the food system make certain that the world’s bounty is distributed more equitable?
*What role do developing-country governments play in the shortcomings of the world food system?
*What contributions and opportunities can civil society organizations do to improve the system?
*Finally, the World Food Day conference will put on the table alternative approaches to meeting the hunger crisis.
For more information, please contact: Dr. Emma Bailey, Asst. Professor
of Sociology Western New Mexico University 505-538-6824.
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