The World Food Crisis

The Nation
By John Nichols, April 24, 2008
The only surprising thing about the global food crisis to Jim Goodman is the notion that anyone finds it surprising. “So,” says the Wisconsin dairy farmer, “they finally figured out, after all these years of pushing globalization and genetically modified [GM] seeds, that instead of feeding the world we’ve [...]

Celebrate, Don’t Mourn, Collapse of WTO Talks

Common Dreams
by Robert Weissman
Predictably, the cheerleaders for corporate globalization are bemoaning the collapse of World Trade Organization negotiations.
“This is a very painful failure and a real setback for the global economy when we really needed some good news,” said Peter Mandelson, the European Union’s trade commissioner.

The end of the world as we know it

Red Pepper

As fuel prices rocket, a new world energy order is emerging. It will bring with it a fierce international competition for dwindling stocks of oil, natural gas, coal and uranium, and also an epochal shift in power and wealth from energy-deficit states such as the US, Japan and the newly-industrialising China to energy-surplus states [...]

Stuffed and Starved: As Food Riots Break Out Across the Globe, Raj Patel Details “The Hidden Battle for the World Food System”

Democracy Now
Global food prices have risen dramatically, adding a new level of danger to the crisis of world hunger. In Africa, food riots have swept across the continent, with recent protests in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Senegal. In most of West Africa, the price of food has risen by 50 [...]

World Social Forum

Another Africa is not just possible, it has already begun – InterPress News Service
“Another Africa is not just possible, it has already begun. Africans have [...]

Peru moves to end Amazon protests

BBC
Peru has declared a state of emergency in jungle areas where indigenous groups are blocking oil and gas installations in protest at a new land sale law. The measure allows the authorities to send in troops and bans public gatherings for 30 days. Some 65 Amazon tribes say the law will make it easier for [...]

Global Poverty: More Big Business Is Not the Solution

Common Dreams
“Instead of holding these companies to account for their actions,” says John Hilary, executive director of War on Want, a UK-based anti-poverty group. “Gordon Brown has allowed them to portray themselves as allies in the fight against poverty. The prime minister should be working to address the poverty and human rights problems caused by [...]

Multinationals make billions in profit out of growing global food crisis

Multinationals make billions in profit out of growing global food crisis – The Independent
Speculators blamed for driving up price of basic foods as 100 million face severe hunger. Monsanto reported net income for the three months up to the end of February this year had more than doubled. Cargill’s net earnings soared by 86 per [...]

Globalization is good for you

Globalisation is good for you – Red Pepper
Many socialists look to the state as the decisive instrument of social change. Nigel Harris argues that, on the contrary, nation states, with their priorities and resources focused on maintaining power through military might, hold back the reduction of poverty. He insists that globalisation, despite all of [...]