Iori Komei
04-14-2008, 08:47 PM
Haiti is in flames as food riots have turned into a violent challenge to the vulnerable government; Egypt's authoritarian regime faces a mounting political threat over its inability to maintain a steady supply of heavily subsidized bread to its impoverished citizens; Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Indonesia are among the countries that have recently seen violent food riots or demonstrations. World Bank president Robert Zoellick noted last week that world food prices had risen 80% over the past three years, and warned that at least 33 countries face social unrest as a result.
When all that stands between hungry people and a warehouse full of rice and beans is a couple of padlocks and a riot policeman (who may be the neighbor of those who're trying to get past him, and whose own family may be hungry too), the invisible barricade of private-property laws can be easily ignored.
The social theories of Karl Marx were long ago discarded as of little value, even to revolutionaries [by many]. But he did warn that capitalism had a tendency to generate its own crises.
The reason officials such as Zoellick are sounding the alarm may be that the food crisis, and its attendant political risks, are not likely to be resolved or contained by the laissez-faire operation of capitalism's market forces. Government intervention on behalf of the poor - so out of fashion during globalization's roaring '90s and the current decade - may be about to make a comeback.
LINK:
news.Yahoo.com (http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080414/wl_time/howhungercouldtoppleregimes)
Just something to add to the article, Haiti's Prime Minister was forced to resign a few days ago do to the current food crisis.
What we're seeing now has been something that has been predicted for years and is only going to get worse as Global Climate Change increases.
I would hope that the new governments that form would be more Social democratic or socialist in nature, I expect both of those, however it probably wont be the case everywhere.
What we're seeing now boys and girls is the very reason (unregulated) capitalism is bad.
When all that stands between hungry people and a warehouse full of rice and beans is a couple of padlocks and a riot policeman (who may be the neighbor of those who're trying to get past him, and whose own family may be hungry too), the invisible barricade of private-property laws can be easily ignored.
The social theories of Karl Marx were long ago discarded as of little value, even to revolutionaries [by many]. But he did warn that capitalism had a tendency to generate its own crises.
The reason officials such as Zoellick are sounding the alarm may be that the food crisis, and its attendant political risks, are not likely to be resolved or contained by the laissez-faire operation of capitalism's market forces. Government intervention on behalf of the poor - so out of fashion during globalization's roaring '90s and the current decade - may be about to make a comeback.
LINK:
news.Yahoo.com (http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080414/wl_time/howhungercouldtoppleregimes)
Just something to add to the article, Haiti's Prime Minister was forced to resign a few days ago do to the current food crisis.
What we're seeing now has been something that has been predicted for years and is only going to get worse as Global Climate Change increases.
I would hope that the new governments that form would be more Social democratic or socialist in nature, I expect both of those, however it probably wont be the case everywhere.
What we're seeing now boys and girls is the very reason (unregulated) capitalism is bad.