Jean Ziegler – In Memoriam. “Where is hope?”
One of his most famous works, “The Swiss, Gold, and the Dead,” is a scathing exposé of Switzerland’s financial and political collusion with Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Jean Ziegler, as a lawyer, demolishes the myth of Swiss wartime neutrality. Among the book’s central arguments is the revelation that the Swiss National Bank laundered gold stolen by the Nazis from the central banks of occupied Europe and from the victims of the Holocaust.
His last book, however, is like a way of ending his life on a positive note of hope. Titled “Where Is Hope?”, it is a call to resistance in the face of contemporary global crises, famines, and inequalities. It is a testament to his ongoing struggle for justice, to liberate the world from the chains and exploitation of an ultra-wealthy corporate elite.
At the age of just 18, Jean left home in Switzerland to go to Paris, where he befriended Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, among others, whose company was undoubtedly crucial to his future career and his understanding of humanity’s existence under the yoke of global capitalist oppression.
In April 1964, at the age of 30, Jean Ziegler was Che Guevara’s driver in Geneva when the latter came to spend ten days in Switzerland for a UN sugar conference. Ziegler had been asked by Havana, where he was known, to drive Che Guevara during his stay in Geneva.
At the end of those ten days, Jean asked Che to accompany him to Cuba. Che gave Jean crucial advice: stay in Geneva, telling him, ” The brain of the monster is here. This is where you must fight “—referring to the capitalist system. Ziegler promised Che he would fight the “capitalist monster,” and he kept that promise throughout his life as a sociologist, lawyer, and anti-capitalist politician.
From 2000 to 2008, under the leadership of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Jean was the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, with a global thematic mandate covering all countries of the world.
One of Jean Ziegler’s most significant achievements during his term from 2000 to 2008 as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food was to establish the right to food as a legally enforceable human right and to clarify its normative content in international law.
John rightly asserted that there was enough food in the world to feed everyone abundantly. It was food speculation and distribution that caused famines and deaths, particularly affecting women and children.
Jean was adamant: any child who dies of hunger is a murdered child .
With Jean Ziegler’s passing, the world has lost a hero, a man who always fought for a world of integrity, honesty, and peace. Jean’s legacy will be marked by his tireless pursuit of justice, equality, and the defense of the rights of the poor in this world.
Featured image: Screenshot. Source: marx21.ch
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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and former senior economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years worldwide. He is the author of *Implosis – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed* and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book *When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis* (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).
Peter is a research associate at the Center for Globalization Research (CRM). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University in Beijing.
Read also: Jean ZIEGLER : “Il faut détruire le capitalisme”
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