Raj Patel: Food Crises Pummel the Poor, Austerity Multiplies Pain

[marmar]

via CommonDreams:



Published on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by The Guardian/UK
Food Crises Pummel the Poor, Austerity Multiplies Pain

by Raj Patel


Anyone in Britain alarmed by rising inflation should look to an Indian villager for understanding about the latest worry in the global economy. Last year a village schoolteacher wrote a cracking song – featured in this year's Indian Oscar entry for best foreign film, Peepli Live – that distils the world's macroeconomic worries: "Friend, my husband earns good money but inflation, that witch, eats it all away. / Every month petrol leaps, diesel is on a roll, sugar forever soars, rice flies out of reach too. Inflation, that witch, eats it all away."

The poor spend a greater proportion of their income on food and fuel, and so, when the prices of both start to rise, poorer households suffer more. Petrol, diesel, sugar and cereal prices are all up. Poor women, invariably responsible for household food purchases, are hurt far more than men – which is why they've protested in India, where food inflation soared to 19.8% just last month.

In the UK, today's inflation figures of just 3.7% caused alarm – containing much higher rises in food and fuel costs and disproportionately hitting poorer families there as elsewhere. Of course, it's not just Britain or the subcontinent where staples are becoming more expensive. The UN announced that its global food price index is now higher than it has ever been. Already this year, protesters have taken to the streets in India, Jordan and Algeria.

Whence the price rises? One of the reasons for food and fuel inflation lies in bullish views of the economy. The price of oil is nudging $100 a barrel again. Not only does this bump the price of fossil fuels directly, but it hits food too. When the price of oil is high, it becomes economically attractive to divert crops from use in food to use in biofuels. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/19

[Laelth]

1. Excellent essay. Recommended. n/t

-Laelth