Famine Affluence and Morality - Essay Sample

Introduction

In his book Famine Affluence and Morality, Peter Singer addresses why every citizen should contribute a percentage of their income to sustain the poor, refugees, and other vulnerable cases. For years, various communities have been hunger-stricken with nothing to fend for themselves. Most of such communities are uneducated and survive on menial jobs. As a result, they struggle to fend for themselves. Such marginalized groups exist in the underdeveloped regions of various countries. Refugees also fall under the vulnerable groups. Most of these people are the victim of political disputes and instabilities that leave them homeless and penniless. Therefore, in agreement with Singer, there is a need to help out these people in fending for themselves.

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Thesis: Survival for marginalized communities is hard. Therefore, the government should mobilize its people in donating a percentage of their income for the needy every month.

Examples of Countries With Charity and Reliefs Plans

Peter Singer compares the support offered by several countries to explain why it is essential to provide help to the needy. Singer points out that several families are being wiped out due to lack of Medicare, food, and shelter in the East of Bengal. Suffering and death have become the norm of the day, and no efforts are made to avoid it. Significant factors contributing to the deaths and suffering include cyclones, civil wars, and persistent poverty. Over nine million have fallen victims of these conditions. Wealthier nations should take full responsibility to help such people in their country and around the globe.

One relevant example is Britain, which has been ranked highest in its assistance to vulnerable populations. The country has contributed over 14,750,000 Euros to charity. The country has contributed an approximated amount of no-recoverable funds amounting to 275,000, 000 Euros through the Anglo-French Concorde Project. In a few years to come, it is expected that the country will have spent over 440,000,000 Euros on relief for refugees. By being among the wealthiest countries in the world, it has a high value of the nine million refugees by prioritizing their needs. Australia also values human life and hopes to help the Bengal people as much as it can. Currently, the total amount contributed by the country to relief is 65,000,000 Euros. In a single year, the nine million refugees can be funded by 464,000 000 Euros. The Indians estimated that they needed a total of 300,000,000 to help with the refugees in Bangal, even though the amount was not received.

The situation of Bengal in 1971 represents many other cases where refugees are starved to death with no Medicare as a result of political instability. The issue of immigrants who flee their countries for safety has been affecting nations like Afghanistan, Syria, India, and South Sudan, among others, for a long time. Several humanitarian programs have emerged to defend the issue by providing relief food, vaccination, or Medicare to such communities. Such global organizations include the World Health Organization, USAID, and the United Nations, among others. Wealthy individuals finance non-profit organizations, rich countries, and other well-wishers. However, according to Singer, these contributions are not enough. That when the working citizen comes in to help. Help from income can be channeled to governments if they create programs. However, every citizen needs to be assured that their funds will be used appropriately by avoiding money laundering.