The International Food Security Treaty Campaign

SOCIAL ACTION AT CBB:
THE INTERNATIONAL FOOD SECURITY TREATY (IFST)

Zadok Sacks, CBB member and son of Carolyn and Morton Sacks, is currently coordinating the branch of the IFST campaign at the University of California San Francisco where he is studying medicine.

Interview by Michael Wasserman, Social Action Trustee

What drew you to this project in particular - was there a personal experience?
In the past three years, I’ve spent a total of nine months living and working on public health projects in Mexico and India. We see images of people suffering on TV and in the media all the time, but especially in an idyllic setting like Santa Barbara, we’re comfortably removed from the reality behind those images. After you work with people who are suffering the effects of dire poverty and malnutrition on a daily basis, you can never see the world in quite the same way. I plan to work with disadvantaged populations during my medical career, both at home and abroad, and I know that if people don’t have access to proper nutrition, then any efforts to improve their health are bound to be unsuccessful. So the goals of the Food Security Treaty are very much in line with my goals as a future physician. What may be less apparent is that the Treaty is in all of our best interests; even aside from our moral obligation to help our fellow human beings, ensuring that all people have access to food will slow overpopulation, prevent political and economic instability, and help to extinguish terrorism. When I first heard John Teton speak about the Treaty, it struck me that this campaign represents a unique opportunity to make a profound difference in the world, and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.

Why wouldn’t such an undertaking be overwhelming?
If I were to restrict my definition of success to our group achieving the ultimate goal of our campaign, which is nothing less than guaranteed access to a minimum standard of nutrition for all people on Earth, then it would be easy to feel overwhelmed, particularly since the commitment shown by our government and the international community to upholding human rights has been inconsistent, at best. In an undertaking of this magnitude, persistence and patience are definitely key, as is an awareness
that there are many small battles that make up our larger struggle. If we can focus on taking one step at a time -- say, convincing our local representative to work for the Treaty in Congress, or generating support for the Treaty in the American Jewish community -- we can continually take pride and satisfaction in having progressed towards our goal.

How do you know if you have made progress or helped others in your efforts?
Again, I think it’s important to be able to take satisfaction in small victories,
without losing sight of the big picture. Raising awareness about global hunger in our community, among the citizens and leaders of our nation, and in the global community are all necessary steps towards our ultimate goal, but each of those is also a great victory in itself. Once we know what’s going on in the world, we can no longer plead ignorance, and it becomes our moral responsibility to act. So, although our efforts may only help keep people from starving years down the road, we are contributing to a process that can change the world, and are encouraging others to do the same. In my mind, that’s progress.

Could you manage your efforts in this project together with family and work commitments?
Right now, I’m a first-year medical student up in San Francisco; between class, study time, and my other extracurricular involvements, free time is pretty scarce, and it will only continue to get more scarce as I progress through school and start my career and a family. At times like these, it’s important to prioritize and to manage my time well; it’s not always easy to make time to work on the Treaty, and there are weeks where I’m not able to do very much. However, in the course of my studies, I’m constantly reminded of how vital proper nutrition is to overall health, and I never need to look far for motivation to work on the Treaty when I do have free time. I’m happy to say that over 25 of my classmates share my dedication to the project, and with so many others working alongside me, my workload is very manageable. The great thing about this project is that there are countless ways to get involved; whether someone wants to donate hours or just a few minutes a week to this effort, their participation
is both welcome and needed.

What drew you to Social Action work in general? You must have other interests that get pushed aside. I was fortunate enough to be brought up in a family where helping others is an integral part of life, but my real involvement in social action work began during my sophomore year in college, when the Social Action Coordinator at Stanford Hillel approached me and asked me to help her start a free camp for kids who have a parent with cancer. As I spent that year working with her and three other students to make the camp a reality, I gained an appreciation for how central the idea of tikkun olam, or saving the world, is to Judaism; although the camp itself was secular and open to children of all backgrounds, our efforts were founded in a fundamentally Jewish perspective on the world. I had always had an inclination towards helping others and a deep connection to Judaism, but it was only during that year that I realized that they really come from the same place. Although I did sacrifice a number of other aspects of college life that year, I count that experience as one of the most rewarding and formative of my life; my involvement with the camp showed me that, with dedication and persistence, a small group of people can make a significant difference in the world. The feeling you get from being part of a project like that, or like the Treaty campaign, is unbeatable; to paraphrase the historian Howard Zinn, there’s a lot of fun and fulfillment to be found in working with other good people towards a common goal.

From the CBB Bulletin, February 2005