Food Bank Nations by Graham Riches

Author:Graham Riches [Riches, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Poverty & Homelessness
ISBN: 9781351729864
Google: l0xWDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-04-19T04:43:19+00:00

‘Uncritical’ solidarity: hidden functions, false promises

Big Food’s corporate capture of food banking coupled with the indifference of austerity minded governments which have lost their moral compass questions the idea of solidarity. This invites consideration of the hidden functions of institutionalized food charity and food safety nets. As Karlos Pérez de Armiño writing about Spanish food banking explains it is rather ‘a way of uncritical solidarity’. It fails to address critical concerns posed by anti-poverty and social justice organizations when ‘no analysis can be found on the causes of hunger or poverty, nor any criticisms of the institutions, their public policies in the framework of the crisis, or the economic system’ (Pérez de Armiño, 2014, p.144). Certainly food banking and its corporate sponsors appear to promise solidarity with the poor. Yet there is little evidence that this translates into advancing social and justice, let alone the right to food.

Will corporate social responsibility lead to solutions to food poverty grounded in human rights and economic and social justice? Is the building and institutionalization of charitable food safety nets, dependent on the surplus food, funding and expertise of the food industry, an effective solution or a distraction from the causes of food poverty and food waste? Is the process of building ‘charitable’ food safety nets taking the politics out of hunger and disarming us all from the urgent challenges and necessity for community and social action? Or is Big Food’s partnership with the food bank nation rather a case of corporate social investment (CSI) leaving the neo-liberal status quo preserved? More likely the answers to these questions uncover the false promises of solidarity.

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