By Mara Maftei and Lisa Debruyn, Year 12
Jean Ziegler, the influential Swiss intellectual, political writer, and adviser to the United Nations Human Rights committee came to visit LBG last Tuesday. Ziegler is known for his many provocative and opinionated works such as “Betting on Famine, why the world still goes hungry,” and notably, his newest book: “Le Capitalisme expliqué à ma petite fille.” He strongly advocates against the global capitalist system and highlights its negative effects on the environment, poorer countries and the independence of individuals. He is well known for his quote: “A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child.”
A class of year 12 french B students embarked on the challenges of reading his anti-capitalism book, both stirred by his controversial arguments and slightly perplexed by the French language encompassing it all. The class further prepared a few questions to ask Ziegler during their scheduled debate.
Examples of some of the questions Ziegler was invited to respond to were “Do you believe that capitalism can be made more socialist, like in the Nordic countries ?” and “In your book, you did not state what would replace capitalism if it were to be abolished.” To many people, his answers to these questions are considered radical and shocking. Ziegler believes that capitalism cannot be refined and worked upon to be less harmful to the environment and less fortunate countries. He believes that capitalism must be abolished completely so that a new, more humane world can be born. However, it is impossible to predict what will come after capitalism if destroyed. At the end of the debate, Ziegler stated a beautiful and fitting metaphor: “like footprints in the snow, you create the path as you go.”
