Thomas Gallagher points out in Paddys Lament, that during the first winter of famine, 1846-47, as perhaps 400,000 Irish peasants starved, landlords exported 17 million pounds sterling worth of grain, cattle, pigs, flour, eggs, and poultry -- food that could have prevented those deaths. Throughout the famine, as Gallagher notes, there was an abundance of food produced in Ireland, yet the landlords exported it to markets abroad. (I sense a connection between the behavior of the haves then and the haves now.)
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 15:25:27 +0000