Jean Ziegler has died: Swiss globalization critic was 92

During his time in Paris, he was significantly shaped by the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, according to his own accounts. A meeting with Che Guevara in 1964 was also decisive for him, as he often recounted. Ziegler drove the Cuban guerrilla leader around during a UN sugar conference in Geneva. He had wanted to join him in the struggle. But Guevara advised him to stay in Geneva and fight "the brain of the monster."

Critic of His Own Homeland

From 1967 to 1983 and from 1987 to 1999, Ziegler served in the Swiss National Council for the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland. The sociologist and author critical of globalization sat in the Swiss National Council for the Social Democrats for 27 years. During this time, he established himself as a combative parliamentarian who did not shy away from sharp polemics. He had to pay hundreds of thousands of francs in damages for defamation to people he had attacked.

In 1990, he portrayed his homeland as a financial hub for international crime ("Die Schweiz wäscht weißer"). In "Die Schweiz, das Gold und die Toten," published in 1997, he denounced the entanglement of Swiss financial institutions with the Nazis and the handling of assets of Holocaust victims in Swiss accounts. Both books earned him an international reputation as a sharp critic of his own country.

The Fight Against Hunger as a Lifelong Mission

From 2000 to 2008, he served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. As a UN adviser, he denounced the production of biofuels in Third World countries, which came at the expense of food cultivation. He called for the right of stay for hunger refugees in wealthy countries and a code of conduct for transnational corporations. He was also involved in a UN task force for humanitarian aid in Iraq. Through numerous books and international appearances, Ziegler made the fight against hunger and poverty his life's work.

Into old age, he denounced hunger, social inequality, and the consequences of global capitalism, calling for an "uprising of conscience" against injustice. He also applauded Venezuela's populist president, Hugo Chávez, and never spoke ill of Cuba. In 1989, Ziegler advised Libya's dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, which he described as a mistake in his later years.

A Controversial Legacy

To mark his 90th birthday in April 2024, Ziegler described himself as "privileged among the privileged." After all, he had been born in a "corrupt, but free country," he told "Schweizer Illustrierte." Most recently, he lived in Russin near Geneva.

With Jean Ziegler, Switzerland loses a political figure who polarized for decades and significantly shaped the debate on global justice, financial power, and the right to food. In the international development and human rights scene, he was perceived both as an uncomfortable admonisher and as a controversial publicist.