The great Irish potato famine

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My old boss at UNICEF, the great Jim Grant, often referred to the Irish potato famine as an example of a man-made disaster within a natural one.

"Ireland lost more than a quarter of its population to starvation, disease and emigration, while its English overlords hemmed, hawed and, in at least one prominent case, cited God's will as justification."

Was it "God's will" that the storehouses were overflowing with potatoes, guarded by English troops, while the Irish starved to death?

It's not hard to connect the dots between that 19th century crime and today's structural injustices on a global scale.

See NY Times article about an exciting exhibit of the work of Irish artist Daniel Macdonald -- “In the Lion’s Den: Daniel Macdonald, Ireland and Empire,” an exhibition at Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/arts/design/the-artist-who-dared-to-paint-irelands-great-famine.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0

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