Ziggy Marley Says His Efforts To Highlight Food Shortage, Climate Change Crisis In Horn Of Africa Being Sabotaged
Rebellion Rises singer Ziggy Marley says his efforts to shed light on the current major humanitarian and food shortage crisis which has left millions of children in East Africa malnourished, and an appeal for help for vulnerable communities in the Horn of Africa, which are being disproportionately affected by climate change, is being sabotaged.
On March 28, the United Nations Environment Programme had revealed that, urgent humanitarian assistance was required in the Horn of Africa, in particular, parts of Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya, which are currently “experiencing the driest conditions and hottest temperatures since satellite record-keeping began”.
The UN specialised agency had also said that as a consequence, as many as 13 million people are currently experiencing acute food and water shortages, with 25 million projected to face a similar fate by mid-2022.
But on Friday, Ziggy said that his posts about the catastrophe were being deleted by Instagram, after he had taken to Meta CEO Mark Zukerberg’s page urging him to “take off his virtual reality and help”. The eight-time Grammy winner said that as a consequence, he had resorted to sharing the affliction of East Africa, on his late father’s official Instagram page.
“I had to post this here because my copy is deleted everytime I try and post it on my page. This is happening after I commented on #markzuckerberg page asking him to take off his vr and help more in the real world. Is my page being retaliated against by the algorithm and those who monitor it? Are we not allowed to call out the billionaires who control these mediums?” Ziggy who is the eldest son of Reggae icon Bob Marley said.
The post which he shared on his father’s Instagram page read:
“From @ziggymarley: You won’t see any extensive or urgent coverage of the above, its not trending on @tiktok or @twitter. It’s not in the @meta. It’s not breaking news on @cnn, @msnbc, @foxnews. I saw it by accident on @abcnews 🙏🏾 and wondered how is this possible in this world in 2022 children die from malnutrition? What are the billionaires doing what are the corporations doing what is Africa doing what can I do @cocacola anybody HELP PLEASE !!”
“Climate change is messing up a lot of things that’s no excuse to let children anywhere on this planet die en masse because they don’t have nourishment. Mucking ridiculous. It should have never even reached this stage, humanity. Where are the pro-life people on this, children are dying and are about to die. END CHILD HUNGER SAVE THE CHILDREN !!!” he noted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CdepPOapPf3/
According to Ziggy, he, along with one of his technical support staff members, had tried over and over to post the statement in futility, after which they decided to share it on The Gong’s page, where they were successful.
“Something isn’t right never happened before but I don’t put anything past those who wish to keep their corporate structures unaccountable to anything but what they want to focus on,” the Tomorrow People artiste remarked.
Arguing that the Motherland needs better leadership, an unrelenting Ziggy said that since the majority of the items used by tech companies are produced using minerals extracted from African countries, then it was “not a far-fetched idea for the giants in the industry do more to stop children dying from malnutrition”.
Ziggy also made appeared to mock those he deemed trifling billionaires, who were making huge expenditures on frivolous things, which could have been better spent helping those genuinely in need.
“I’m just asking for more help in the real world for starving children we’ll get to the vr world soon. enough and we’ll get to mars and outer space soon enough too Mr. billionaires. I think the algorithm is offended 😂 cause I can post the exact same thing on my father’s page but not on mine. hope they don’t go after @bobmarley too, 🔥🔥🔥,” he wrote.
“They trying to teach me a leason 😂😂😂,” he quipped later on on the comments.
Ziggy’s pleas come almost six months after scientists at the Famine System Early Warning Network issued a warning that an unprecedented drought in the Horn of Africa was imminent, if poor seasonal rainfall continued into 2022.
The scientists pinpointed climate change for the current crisis in the Horn of Africa, considered to be a part of the world that is least able to cope.
The African continent contributes only about two to three percent of global emissions which cause global warming and climate change, but according to the UNEP, suffers the heaviest impacts of the climate crisis, including, among other things, increased heatwaves, severe droughts and catastrophic cyclones, such as those which impacted Mozambique and Madagascar in recent years.
In addition, scientists have also projected that things will only get worse for Africa if current trends continue. According to the 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, “key development sectors have already experienced widespread loss and damage attributable to anthropogenic climate change, including biodiversity loss, water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and reduced economic growth.”
Ziggy’s climate change concerns come eight months after Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley scolded world leaders in New York, during the annual gathering of the 193-member United Nations General Assembly about their inertia where the climate change phenomenon was concerned.
“Who will stand up in the name of all those who have died because of the climate crisis, or who will stand up for the Small Island Developing States who need 1.5 degrees to survive?” Mottley had said, later going on to compare and contrast the manner in which the world’s leaders have prioritized the addressing of absurdities and sometimes unessential activities, over basic needs required for human survival.
“If we can find the will to send people to the moon and solve male baldness as I have said over and over, we can solve simple problems like letting our people eat at affordable prices,” Mottley had said, as she reprimanded the world leaders.