It's real. Whether we have leaders who consciously wanted it to happen or it's simply a byproduct of greed, waste, and shortsightedness. Of course, it didn't have to be this way and we could be utilizing our resources much better than disposable ipods and disposable clothes and trillions on weapons and war. But it is.
This system is insane and it's starting to show. I've been following this stuff and trying to raise awareness for years, but it's starting to feel so real now. The only solution I see is what we've been calling for all along: mass awakening and cooperation. We need communities and leaders who at the very least understand and are honest about the completely misguided and self-destructive values/economy of the dominant culture.
Food riots 'an apocalyptic warning'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/14/2215...
Basic access to food is slipping out of reach for many people in developing countries.
The cost of the rice has risen by more than three-quarters in two months and the price of wheat has more than doubled in the same time.
The desperation in dozens of countries has turned deadly of late. In the past week alone there have been violent, food-related riots in Haiti, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cameroon.
Amid mounting food crisis, governments fear revolution of the hungry
World Socialist Web Site
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/food-a15...
Last week’s meetings in Washington of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Group of Seven were convened in the shadow of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. While Wall Street’s turmoil and the deepening credit crunch dominated discussions, leaders of the global financial institutions were forced to take note of the growing global food emergency, warning of the threat of widespread hunger and already emerging political instability.
The seven major capitalist powers in the G-7—the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada—made virtually no mention of the global food crisis, referring in only one brief reference to the risk of “high oil and commodity prices.†Instead, they focused on the stability of the financial markets, promising measures to shore up investor confidence.
Bill Moyers on the food crisis and hunger in America
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04112008/watch.h...
Lot's of mainstream