Famine, Affluence, and Morality

The crisis in Bangladesh that spurred Peter Singer to write “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” had two sources. First, in November 1970, a tropical cyclone hit the area. This has come to be called both the “1970 Bhola cyclone” and the “Great Cyclone of 1970.” As of this writing, it remains the “deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded,” killing between 300,000 and 500,000 people (“1970 Bhola Cyclone,” Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Bhola_cyclone). In addition to directly killing people, the storm caused flooding that devastated crops. People were left homeless and starving.

The second source of the crisis was political. The country known today as Bangladesh was then a part of Pakistan. Called East Pakistan, it was separate from West Pakistan (what we know as Pakistan today). This political division had existed since the 1947 partition of India after Great Britain ended its colonial reign over that country. There had long been tension between the two regions of Pakistan, based largely on ethnic and linguistic differences. The 1970 cyclone heightened the problem: Residents of East Pakistan saw the government’s response as inadequate. Some advocated independence; in March 1971, the newly formed Bangladesh declared independence. The backlash from the government of Pakistan was severe, leading to civil war and genocide.