[Vnbiz] Global food riots turn deadly
Vu The Binh
binh at netnam.vn
Sat Apr 12 10:27:12 PDT 2008
OK anh Shane,
It's funny ;-) we already thought about "self-service" economy, which
was here in Vietnam 02 decades ago, when people can plan their own rice,
vegetables and have some pigs, chickens at home. It's enough :-)
However, now many farmers lost their lands as they sold it to the
projects funded by money from the "rich", as you mentioned :-)
Nice sleep and sweet dream,
Binh.
Shane Wall wrote:
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
> Hi anh Hoanh,
> You write about some extremely serious issues that could become "very
> ugly" in many places of the World. While respecting that, I just want to
> try to give everybody a reason to smile. A caution though, I have a very
> "strange" sense of humor:
>
> Ultimately, it looks like the rich, globalizing
> people/nations/companies/?, "won the money", and the peasants on the
> land only had their food to offer to the world. Now it looks like maybe
> the peasants will have to eat their own food instead of selling it to
> the rich, and so that will leave the rich with only their money to eat!!!
>
> My VN family's small land holdings is certainly enough for us to
> survive any crisis for 1-2 years (if we scale back to subsistence
> management), so we won't go hungry. I wonder how long the 'unproductive
> rich' can survive on a diet of metal coins, polyester currency and paper
> share certificates?
>
> Shane
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> Tran Dinh Hoanh wrote:
>> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Dear CACC,
>>
>> Below is an article on the Washington Times (April 10, 2008) about
>> global food riots. VNExpress also has a number of pictures on these
>> riots at
>>
>> http://vnexpress.net/Vietnam/The-gioi/Anh/2008/04/3BA013AC/
>>
>>
>> Vietnam is very lucky that we haven't got any riot yet, and let's hope
>> that we won't. All the economic issues we are facing
>> currently are global in nature: Food shortage due to draught and
>> water shortage, gasoline price increases (due mainly to
>> OPEC), a global recession (due mainly to the US economic sluggishness,
>> but I am not sure whether it has other causes like global economic
>> cycle).
>>
>> Right now inflation is secondary problem. As you see in this article,
>> food security is the primary concern. Then inflation.
>>
>> And of course we have the threat of cholera. I wonder why Vietnam has
>> so many serious health threats in recent years. Are the Ministry of
>> Health and Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development really doing
>> their job?
>>
>> Have a great day!
>>
>> Hoanh
>> _____________
>>
>>
>> http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080410/FOREIGN/401836215/1001
>>
>>
>> Global food riots turn deadly
>>
>> By David R. Sands <mailto:dsands at washingtontimes.com>
>> April 10, 2008
>>
>>
>> <javascript:NewWindow(600,400,'/apps/pbcs.dll/misc?url=/templates/zoom.pbs&Site=WT&Date=20080410&Category=FOREIGN&ArtNo=401836215&Ref=AR&Profile=1001');>
>> DESPERATE TIMES: Men accused of looting near the presidential palace
>> in Port-au-Prince are put in a police vehicle in Haiti yesterday. The
>> rise in global food prices has caused thievery and riots, as well as
>> fatalities.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Anger over spiraling world food prices is becoming increasingly violent.
>>
>>
>> Deadly clashes over higher costs for staple foods have broken out in
>> Egypt, Haiti and several African states, and an international food
>> expert yesterday warned of more clashes with no short-term relief in
>> sight.
>>
>>
>> "World food prices have risen 45 percent in the last nine months and
>> there are serious shortages of rice, wheat and [corn]," Jacques Diouf,
>> head of the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),
>> said at a major conference in New Delhi yesterday.
>>
>>
>> "There is a risk that this unrest will spread in countries where 50 to
>> 60 percent of income goes to food," he said.
>>
>>
>> U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a personal appeal for calm
>> in Haiti yesterday. U.N. peacekeepers were called to protect the
>> residence of President Rene Preval from rioters protesting sharp
>> increases in the prices of food and fuel. At least five people have
>> been reported killed in disturbances since last week after the cost of
>> rice doubled and gas prices rose a third time since February.
>>
>>
>> A supermarket, several gas station marts and a government rice
>> warehouse were looted, the Associated Press reported.
>>
>> *Video:* Haitian leader's pleas fail to stop riots
>> <javascript:void(window.open('http://video.ap.org/vws/search/aspx/ap.aspx?t=s59&p=ENAPworld_ENAPworld&g=0409dv_haiti_protests&f=dctms','_blank','width=788,height=598,status=1,scrollbars=1,resizable=1'));>
>>
>>
>> Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif this week promised concessions to
>> workers in the industrial city of Mahalla al-Kobra after two days of
>> rioting over rising food prices left one protester dead.
>>
>>
>> The clashes were described as the most serious anti-government
>> demonstrations since 1977 riots erupted over soaring bread prices.
>>
>> The FAO has reported popular unrest over rising food prices in Burkina
>> Faso, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique,
>> Bolivia and Uzbekistan, among other countries.
>>
>>
>> The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, moved to head off
>> protests after global prices doubled in a year. Financial giant Credit
>> Suisse yesterday reported that higher rice prices would cut the
>> country's gross domestic product this year by at least 1 percent.
>>
>>
>> The government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo tightened controls
>> of domestic rice sales and strengthened security at government
>> storehouses to prevent hoarding. Anyone convicted of "stealing rice
>> from the people" will be thrown in jail, she warned.
>>
>>
>> U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney yesterday said the Bush administration
>> would offset any rice shortfall with cuts from other exporters.
>>
>>
>> World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said earlier this month that
>> nearly three dozen countries face social unrest because of surging
>> food and fuel prices. For the countries most at risk, "there is no
>> margin for survival," he said.
>>
>>
>> Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program,
>> was in Washington last month making an urgent appeal for funds to
>> compensate for rising prices.
>>
>>
>> "We're asking for the world to really think through how we meet the
>> emergency needs of the hungry," Ms. Sheeran told The Washington Times.
>>
>>
>> Even the most repressive regimes are not immune to popular unrest. The
>> spark for rioting against the military junta in Burma last year was a
>> rise in food and fuel prices after the government abruptly removed
>> subsidies.
>>
>>
>> International agricultural analysts have seen the crisis building for
>> months, spurred by an unusual combination of forces that John Holmes,
>> the chief U.N. humanitarian official, this week called a "perfect
>> storm" of trends fueling demand, cutting supply and producing higher
>> global grocery bills.
>>
>>
>> Among them: higher fuel prices that make transporting food more
>> expensive and encourage farmers to shift from crop production to
>> biofuels; rising food demand as China, India and other Asian countries
>> grow wealthier; drought in major producers such as Australia; and
>> speculation on major commodities markets that staple prices will stay
>> high.
>>
>>
>> Mr. Holmes predicted at a conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
>> that the situation will spill into the political arena.
>>
>>
>> "The security implications [of the food crisis] should not be
>> underestimated, as food riots are already being reported across the
>> globe," he said. "Current food prices are likely to increase sharply
>> both the incidence and depth of food insecurity."
>>
>>
>> Ms. Sheeran told The Times that her agency was $500 million short for
>> the current fiscal year in meeting needs to relieve the global food
>> and fuel crises.
>>
>>
>> "We don't have the buffering space" to cover such sharp increases in
>> the cost of basic staples, she said.
>>
>>
>> Analysts say the price increases are across the board, not focused on
>> one crop or market as in past commodity patterns.
>>
>>
>> A survey released by the Washington-based International Food Policy
>> Research Institute found that the price of staple food has risen by 80
>> percent since 2005, including a 40 percent surge last year alone. The
>> real price of rice is at a 19-year high and the price of wheat on
>> world markets is at a 28-year high.
>>
>>
>> "The realities of demography, changing diets, energy prices and
>> biofuels, and climate change suggest that high — and volatile — food
>> prices will be with us for years to come," said study author Joachim
>> von Braun.
>>
>>
>> It is not just the poor who have taken to the streets over rising food
>> prices.
>>
>>
>> Workers at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Jordan staged a one-day
>> strike Monday to demand higher pay to cover rising food and gas
>> prices. The action closed 177 schools for Palestinian refugees.
>>
>>
>> The U.N. staffers say they are prepared to walk off the job again next
>> week if they do not get a pay raise.
>>
>>
>> *Surging prices have led to food riots and protests around the globe.*
>>
>>
>> EGYPT — Violent protests this week over soaring food prices left one
>> dead and 15 injured.
>>
>>
>> HAITI — Five people were killed and about 20 injured in a week of
>> protests, including an attack on U.N. peacekeepers.
>>
>>
>> CAMEROON — Violent food riots in February claimed 40 lives, and
>> protests continue this month.
>>
>>
>> BURKINA FASO — A general strike is called this week over rising food
>> prices, after protests earlier this year led to hundreds of arrests.
>>
>>
>> PHILIPPINES — The government beefs up security at rice warehouses to
>> prevent theft and hoarding.
>>
>>
>> JORDAN — U.N. aid workers stage a one-day strike for more pay to cover
>> food and fuel price increases.
>>
>>
>> BURMA — Cuts in fuel and food subsidies sparked massive
>> anti-government protests last summer.
>>
>>
>> • /This article is based in part on wire service reports./
>>
>>
>> --
>> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
>> Washington DC
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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