The excellent Avi Lewis, whose documentary with Naomi Klein -- The Take -- is well worth watching, has turned his attention to the struggles around rice in Haiti. Here, in seventeen minutes, is one of the best treatments of the recent food riots in Haiti, and their long history.

Update Find out more at the Haiti Action Committee

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Posted on 17 July, 2008 - 15:42

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more apocalyptic, the food crisis looks like it's getting a helping hand from another horseman: pestilence. ... read more »

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Posted on 21 April, 2008 - 03:53

I just recorded a radio segment for The World with the splendid Lisa Mullins. I was there to talk about food riots. Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly coherent and, despite the skilled editing of the folk there, I worry that my butchery of the argument I was trying to make cannot be fixed.

I was trying to talk about Egypt, Haiti and Senegal, three places from which reporters were sending news. So here's my attempt at restitution - a short guide on how to think about the food riots. ... read more »

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Posted on 10 April, 2008 - 17:44

The price of rice recently increased by 30% in a single day. But not everywhere. Places affected were in South East Asia, places like the Philippines and Indonesia, home to a new and desperate phenomenon rice suicides.

East Asia hasn't, however, been affected. In China, the prices are barely up at all, and they're lower than last year. This compares to a 200% increase in the Philippines over the same period. South Korea is opening its grain reserves to keep prices down. Japan isn't suffering at all, by the sound of things. ... read more »

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Posted on 5 April, 2008 - 23:20

Food First, the Institute at which I'm a Fellow in Oakland, California, has come out with some fine material over the past week. First, they've put out a fantastic take-down of biofuels (more properly agrofuels), in a report with the perfect title: When Renewable Isn't Sustainable.

They've also got this handy list of food riots, to which we can add the travails in Argentina (thanks to Mary Robertson for sending news about this). I'll be writing about the other omission from this list in the next post: rice riots. ... read more »

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Posted on 5 April, 2008 - 22:49