Book Reviews : Human Rights: David Owen. Jonathan Cape, £2.50
| Date | 01 October 1978 |
| Author | Geoffrey Edwards |
| Published date | 01 October 1978 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787800600210 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
502
harvest
losses
can
be
cut,
an
LDC
does
not
need
to
jeopardise
its
finances
and
its
independence
through
costly
imports
of
what
it
might
even
be
able
to
export!
Stockbuilding
may
depress
prices
(p.97);
but
if
fellahin
control
their
stocks
at
farm-,
and
village-level,
their
grain
will
be
their
condition
of
security
and
health,
and
they
will
take
care
of
it.
The
book
is,
however,
a
good
introduction.
Its
chief
use
is
to
illus-
trate
several
failures
in
the
Arab
world
from
the
position
of
shared
re-
sponsibility.
Marei
stresses
that
the
food
crisis
is
to
be
seen
in
relation
to
the
plans
for
a
New
International
Economic
Order.
Such
terms
as
price
elasticity,
increasing
costs,
linkage,
and
skewness
are
well
defined,
so
that
the
non-economist
can
get
hold
of
the
point
each
time.
There
is
an
ex-
cellent
quotation
from
the
Shah
(p.30)
and
Malthus
is
given
gratifying
respect
for
his
economic
insight
into
the
need
for
developing
agriculture.
(pp.41 ff).
Comparison
between
Marei
and
Hatem*
(1977)
is
inevitable.
Marei
writes
for
a
more
serious
audience
with
an
interest
in
critical
theory.
But,
like
Hatem,
Marei
is
not
sufficiently
selective.
He
suggests
that
only
modern
technology
can
irrigate
land
successfully.
(p.57)
He
does
not
concentrate
on
the
population
problem
of
Egypt
or
other
Arab
countries,
but
India.
Although
his
concern
to
develop
animal
husbandry
includes
development
of
blood-and-bone
fertilizer
(p.75),
he
does
not
emphasize
the
desirability
of
this
marvellous
resource
in
the
long-term
future
of
those
Arab
coun-
tries
with
many
head
of
livestock.
Yet
this
point,
like
the
need
to
keep
an
overpopulated
country
largely
working
with
muscle
power,
is
central
to
stable
development.
One
asks
whether
reclamation
of
desert
need
be
so
costly.
(p.89)
Cannot
muscle
power
be
improved
by
extra
rations,
to
be
made
contingent
on
improved
performance?
Cannot
the
offer
of
a
secure
title
to
land
and
a
self-built
house
be
added?
There
are
Pharaonic
and
more
recent
precedents.
Cannot
treated
sewage
be
used
to
build
up
humus?
These
points
are
quite
as
important
as
Marei’s
concern
to
use
Egyptian
sheep
more
efficiently,
not
only
for
milk
and
meat
but
for
wool
also.
Marei
seems
to
be
occasionally
selective
in
the
pejorative
sense.
He
refers
to
the
disappearance
of
silt
in
Egypt
(p.50)
but
not
to
the
reason
for
this,
the
Aswan
High
Dam.
He
refers
to
the
massive
water
resources
of
the
Arab
world
(p.72),
but
not
to
the
massive
problem
of
water-borne
disease
in
Egypt,
to
go
no
farther.
With
such
qualifications,
one
can
recommend
the
sections
on
Egypt
and
Sudan,
and
endorse
Marei’s
hope
(and
Hatem’s)
that
technology
and
knowledge
may
be
shared
by
the
two
countries
in
an
endeavour
to
make
regional
co-operation
the
custom.
Presumably,
the
future
of the
Near
East
must
include
in
such
co-operation
the
reliance
on
Israel’s
advances
in
so
many
fields
where
her
Arab
neighbours
can
profitably
learn
from
her.
The
Marei
Plan
(an
Arab
Marshall
Plan)
seems
to
be
now
more
advanced
in
fact
than
would
appear
from
the
text,
and
one
would
have
welcomed
more
of
the
fine
details.
It
is
an
impressive
proposal
which
will
work
if
the
Arab
world
can
be
united
in
its
present
cogitations
on
oil
wealth
and
the
challenge
of
oil
depletion.
Certainly,
the
Marei
Plan
sets
out
sound
ideas
on
the
N.E.O.,
which
is
something
we
all
need.
*
Land
of
the
Arabs,
by
M.
Abdel-Kader
Hatem,
Longman
1977.
—Michael
Brett-Crowther.
Human
Rights:
David
Owen.
Jonathan
Cape,
£2.50.
It
is
not
unknown
for
the
speeches
of
a
Foreign
Secretary
to
be
col-
lected
and
published.
It
is
somewhat
rare,
however,
for
a
Foreign
Secretary
to
try
to
work
his
speeches
into
a
coherent
piece
and
to
publish
them
within
18
months
of
achieving
office.
That
they
are
not
always
particularly
well
organised
is
of
less
importance
than
that
they
were
put
together
at
all,
especially
in
view
of
the
number
of
issues,
negotiations,
travelling,
etc.,
in
which
Dr.
Owen
has
been
involved.
Inevitably
questions
arise
as
to
why
he
published
and
to
whom
the
book
is
addressed.
Equally
in-
evitable,
perhaps,
is
the
inability
to
avoid
some
cynicism.
There
is,
after
all,
little
that
is
new;
the
speeches
from
which
the
book
is
largely
culled
have
already
been
made.
Nor
is
there
any
great
profundity;
Dr.
Owen
is
not,
for
example,
a
Tony
Crosland,
attempting
to
break
new
ground
in
socialist
thinking.
Often
in
the
place
of
analysis
there
are
brief
potted
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