We Are Hungry - A Summary Report of Food Riots and More in 2008

“We are Hungry!”

A Summary Report of Food Riots, GovernmentResponses, and States of Democracy in 2008

Mindi Schneider

December, 2008Contact Information:

Mindi SchneiderDevelopment SociologyCornell UniversityIthaca, NY 14853mindi.l.schneider@gmail.com

Photo credits and locations:Figure 1:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDZej7GJjpjM&refer=home Figure 2:http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/416328ARIANA CUBILLOS/AP PHOTOFigure 3:http://www.treehugger.com/food%20protest%20mexico.jpg Figure 4:http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/12/17/business/18ethanol-600.jpg, New York Times

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Contents

Introduction 3

Part I. 2008 Food Riot Information Resources

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Government Responses to the 2008 Food Riots 42.

Analysis of the 2008 Food Riots 43.

Mapping the 2008 Food Riots 44.

General Sources of Information on the 2008 Food Riots 4

Part II. A Geography of 2008 Food Riots by Region1. Africa

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Burkina Faso………. 8Cameroon…………. 9Côte d'Ivoire………. 11Egypt………………. 13Guinea……………... 15Madagascar………… 17Mauritania…………. 18Morocco…………… 19Mozambique………. 20Senegal……………. 21Somalia…………… 23Tunisia……………. 25Zimbabwe………… 26

2. Asia

28Bangladesh……….. 28India………………. 30Indonesia…………. 32Philippines………... 34

3. The Americas and the Caribbean

36Argentina………… 36El Salvador………. 38Haiti……………… 39Mexico…………… 41Nicaragua………... 44Peru………………. 46

4. Middle East

48Jordan……………. 48Yemen …………… 50

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Introduction

rising food prices, falling grain reserves, commodity speculation, crop failure, biofuels, dirtcookies, corporate profit, rising fuel prices, erratic weather, market deregulation, starvation,disaster capitalism, subsidies, bread queues, export restrictions, hunger, rising meat and dairyconsumption, food riots…The so-called “world food crisis” that coalesced across the globe in 2007 and early 2008 whenthe price of rice, corn, wheat, soybeans, cooking oils, and food more generally skyrocketedillustrates many of the crises and contradictions of the contemporary global food economy. Thefood riots that erupted on virtually every continent demonstrate both the global integration of food and agricultural systems, and the severity of the problems inherent within them. Triggerssuch as commodity speculation, grain hoarding, the diversion of food crops for use as fuel crops,the growth of industrial methods of livestock production and meat consumption, and falling grainreserves contributed to the rapid increase of food prices. The world’s poor suffered the greatestblow as food prices rose to unattainable levels, rations decreased or disappeared, and as a result,hungry people took to the streets in protest.The catastrophe of high food prices earlier this year was no doubt a food crisis in and of itself.But it is a mistake to tie the idea of the food crisis only to the events and circumstances of a fewmonths. Indeed it is the contemporary global food economy that is itself in crisis. While theprice of foodstuffs has decreased, the food crisis is far from over. Already, agribusiness firmsare profiting from the crisis (for example see GRAIN’s excellent report, “Making a Killing fromHunger”), and proposals for deeper market liberalization and “Green Revolution” technologiesare being touted as the silver bullets for addressing food security as a narrowly defined concept.At the same time, calls for food sovereignty, market regulation, and sustainable or agroecologicalmethods of farming are gaining attention and momentum through organizations such as La ViaCampesina and the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty.This report is a summary of news reports and analyses of the food riots that erupted across theglobe in 2008. It outlines state responses to the food riots, and sketches the state of democracy incountries where riots occurred. The first section provides references and links to general articlesand sources of information that I found useful when compiling the report. It is by no meanscomprehensive, but outlines some of the major sources of information available on the topic.The second section is an attempt at mapping the food riots across world regions. For eachcountry, information is provided on the demands of protesters, measures taken by governmentsin response, and the state of democracy. I used country profiles from the U.S. State Departmentand the BBC to convey the most basic aspects of state governments, but supplemented theseperspectives with those of citizens and protesters whenever possible. Research for this reportwas conducted from May to September of 2008.