Geopolitical rivalry and wars contribute to the death of an additional
one to two million people from hunger each year in the world. Why is
this happening? ---- The problem of hunger in the world returns to the
pages of the press and websites with quite a high degree of regularity.
Let's look at this issue from a longer perspective, because this is the
only way to understand that hunger in our times remains a significant
problem. ---- Time of Speculators ---- If we are to believe the data of
the FAO, or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
since around the 1980s, UN countries have been winning the fight against
hunger. In the mid-1990s, an ambitious goal was even adopted to
eliminate hunger in the world by 2015, although it was already realized
in 2000 that these assumptions were unrealistic. It was therefore
determined that by 2015 the number of hungry people would be reduced by
half.
The situation with feeding the world's population began to deteriorate
immediately after the outbreak of the crisis in 2007/2008. As we
remember, at that time the prices on international financial exchanges
collapsed. A global crisis broke out, which led to a series of changes.
Capital fled from the plummeting financial exchanges and invested in
commodity exchanges, causing a sharp increase in food prices on
international markets. When the situation improved temporarily in 2009,
experts and FAO officials believed that everything had returned to
normal and that the assumed goals of fighting hunger were still
achievable. However, as a result of the drought, Russia announced that
in 2010 it would not export as much food as usual. Food prices soared again.
From that moment on, it became clear that the times of cheap food were
probably gone forever. But even before the outbreak of the COVID-19
pandemic, i.e. before 2020, the FAO optimistically assumed that although
it had not been possible to completely eliminate hunger by 2015, it
could be done by 2030. However, these assumptions had to be revised.
First, the pandemic disrupted supply chains, then high inflation
appeared and prices kept climbing. The percentage of hungry people in
the world was growing. Finally, food price quotations reached another
peak with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
What are the consequences of this? For several years, the percentage of
hungry and malnourished people in the world has increased from 7.1% to
9.1%. It may seem that these 2 percentage points are relatively small.
However, this means that the number of people suffering from lack of
food is almost 200 million more (it increased from 541 million to 733
million people). This is a phenomenon in recent decades, showing that
the situation in this regard has deteriorated significantly compared to
the 1990s or early 2000s. Moreover, in 2023 it was estimated that almost
29% of the world's population - or 2.33 billion people - are moderately
or seriously at risk of food insecurity. The food crisis may therefore
explode with even greater force.
The situation is worsening mainly due to African countries, where hunger
has been growing for over a decade. The FAO states that armed conflicts,
climate variability, economic stagnation and recession are to blame,
especially when combined with factors such as persistent social
inequalities. But Africa has also fallen victim to stock market
fraudsters speculating not only on food, but also on agricultural land.
The land is being appropriated by corporations operating with the
support of aggressive and corrupt governments.
The logic of liberal globalization
For decades, the policy of globalization and international free trade
has been pushed. This policy was supported by the most important
countries of the rich North, as well as such institutions as the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, which Jean Ziegler called the "horsemen of the apocalypse" in his
book "Geopolitics of Hunger" (Polish edition 2013). This policy led to
many countries of the South losing their food sovereignty and having to
start importing significant amounts of food.
The logic of liberal globalization in this respect was as follows. The
countries of the South were told that by opening up to international
markets, they would be able to secure access to cheap food and would
never again be dependent on famines caused by droughts, floods or other
unforeseen factors. They assured that food at affordable prices would
flow across the oceans from countries where it was produced more
efficiently. It would arrive from the EU and the USA, Canada, Australia
or Russia. The global market was therefore supposed to save many
countries from hunger, as well as from hunger riots. For many
governments, this therefore seemed a very attractive proposition. In
addition, it was said that these countries would be able to modernize by
reducing employment in domestic agriculture and employing former farmers
in mines, so that these countries could be robbed of, for example, rare
earth elements.
However, cheap food from overseas did not arrive. Hunger riots were not
prevented. Already in 2011, during the so-called. The Arab Spring saw
many social uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. The rise in
food prices played a significant role. It became an impulse for the
outbreak of social discontent. The rise in the price of cereal grain,
and therefore bread, is still a key reason for social uprisings and mass
migrations.
Geopolitics of hunger
In connection with the increase in the number of armed conflicts, food
is increasingly being talked about as a weapon in international
competition. This is demonstrated by the situation with the export of
Ukrainian grain through the Turkish Straits, the threat to transport in
the Red Sea, the conflict around the Panama Canal - all of this means
that food supply chains are at risk of deliberate disruption.
What is more, for example, the far-right government in Israel is
threatening the Palestinians in Gaza with starvation, i.e. withholding
humanitarian aid, without caring that this is actually a war crime. In
this way, they want to force them to leave Gaza - to carry out ethnic
cleansing.
Food has become a weapon today. Individual countries have "closed
themselves off", are imposing sanctions on each other, and are erecting
customs barriers. An era of deglobalization, protectionism, and national
particularism has come. In this trade war, nationalism has replaced
humanism. The fight against hunger has been pushed into the background.
Grain has become a key strategic product.
This new war, in which food has become a weapon, kills perhaps one to
two million additional people each year, mostly children, but also
women. These are the next victims of the ongoing geopolitical rivalry
for global supremacy that we are witnessing today. Wars over oil and
gas, rare earth metals, uranium, chips, and grain. Wars for power. These
are the victims of criminal governments striving for hegemony.
I took the data from a joint report by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO
entitled "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 -
Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its
forms", Rome 2024. Changes in food prices on world markets can be
tracked based on the FAO Food Price Index:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/FoodPricesIndex/en/
Jaroslaw Urbanski
www.rozbrat.org
https://federacja-anarchistyczna.pl/2025/02/27/zywnosc-jako-bron-w-geopolitycznej-walce/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
one to two million people from hunger each year in the world. Why is
this happening? ---- The problem of hunger in the world returns to the
pages of the press and websites with quite a high degree of regularity.
Let's look at this issue from a longer perspective, because this is the
only way to understand that hunger in our times remains a significant
problem. ---- Time of Speculators ---- If we are to believe the data of
the FAO, or the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
since around the 1980s, UN countries have been winning the fight against
hunger. In the mid-1990s, an ambitious goal was even adopted to
eliminate hunger in the world by 2015, although it was already realized
in 2000 that these assumptions were unrealistic. It was therefore
determined that by 2015 the number of hungry people would be reduced by
half.
The situation with feeding the world's population began to deteriorate
immediately after the outbreak of the crisis in 2007/2008. As we
remember, at that time the prices on international financial exchanges
collapsed. A global crisis broke out, which led to a series of changes.
Capital fled from the plummeting financial exchanges and invested in
commodity exchanges, causing a sharp increase in food prices on
international markets. When the situation improved temporarily in 2009,
experts and FAO officials believed that everything had returned to
normal and that the assumed goals of fighting hunger were still
achievable. However, as a result of the drought, Russia announced that
in 2010 it would not export as much food as usual. Food prices soared again.
From that moment on, it became clear that the times of cheap food were
probably gone forever. But even before the outbreak of the COVID-19
pandemic, i.e. before 2020, the FAO optimistically assumed that although
it had not been possible to completely eliminate hunger by 2015, it
could be done by 2030. However, these assumptions had to be revised.
First, the pandemic disrupted supply chains, then high inflation
appeared and prices kept climbing. The percentage of hungry people in
the world was growing. Finally, food price quotations reached another
peak with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022.
What are the consequences of this? For several years, the percentage of
hungry and malnourished people in the world has increased from 7.1% to
9.1%. It may seem that these 2 percentage points are relatively small.
However, this means that the number of people suffering from lack of
food is almost 200 million more (it increased from 541 million to 733
million people). This is a phenomenon in recent decades, showing that
the situation in this regard has deteriorated significantly compared to
the 1990s or early 2000s. Moreover, in 2023 it was estimated that almost
29% of the world's population - or 2.33 billion people - are moderately
or seriously at risk of food insecurity. The food crisis may therefore
explode with even greater force.
The situation is worsening mainly due to African countries, where hunger
has been growing for over a decade. The FAO states that armed conflicts,
climate variability, economic stagnation and recession are to blame,
especially when combined with factors such as persistent social
inequalities. But Africa has also fallen victim to stock market
fraudsters speculating not only on food, but also on agricultural land.
The land is being appropriated by corporations operating with the
support of aggressive and corrupt governments.
The logic of liberal globalization
For decades, the policy of globalization and international free trade
has been pushed. This policy was supported by the most important
countries of the rich North, as well as such institutions as the World
Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund, which Jean Ziegler called the "horsemen of the apocalypse" in his
book "Geopolitics of Hunger" (Polish edition 2013). This policy led to
many countries of the South losing their food sovereignty and having to
start importing significant amounts of food.
The logic of liberal globalization in this respect was as follows. The
countries of the South were told that by opening up to international
markets, they would be able to secure access to cheap food and would
never again be dependent on famines caused by droughts, floods or other
unforeseen factors. They assured that food at affordable prices would
flow across the oceans from countries where it was produced more
efficiently. It would arrive from the EU and the USA, Canada, Australia
or Russia. The global market was therefore supposed to save many
countries from hunger, as well as from hunger riots. For many
governments, this therefore seemed a very attractive proposition. In
addition, it was said that these countries would be able to modernize by
reducing employment in domestic agriculture and employing former farmers
in mines, so that these countries could be robbed of, for example, rare
earth elements.
However, cheap food from overseas did not arrive. Hunger riots were not
prevented. Already in 2011, during the so-called. The Arab Spring saw
many social uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East. The rise in
food prices played a significant role. It became an impulse for the
outbreak of social discontent. The rise in the price of cereal grain,
and therefore bread, is still a key reason for social uprisings and mass
migrations.
Geopolitics of hunger
In connection with the increase in the number of armed conflicts, food
is increasingly being talked about as a weapon in international
competition. This is demonstrated by the situation with the export of
Ukrainian grain through the Turkish Straits, the threat to transport in
the Red Sea, the conflict around the Panama Canal - all of this means
that food supply chains are at risk of deliberate disruption.
What is more, for example, the far-right government in Israel is
threatening the Palestinians in Gaza with starvation, i.e. withholding
humanitarian aid, without caring that this is actually a war crime. In
this way, they want to force them to leave Gaza - to carry out ethnic
cleansing.
Food has become a weapon today. Individual countries have "closed
themselves off", are imposing sanctions on each other, and are erecting
customs barriers. An era of deglobalization, protectionism, and national
particularism has come. In this trade war, nationalism has replaced
humanism. The fight against hunger has been pushed into the background.
Grain has become a key strategic product.
This new war, in which food has become a weapon, kills perhaps one to
two million additional people each year, mostly children, but also
women. These are the next victims of the ongoing geopolitical rivalry
for global supremacy that we are witnessing today. Wars over oil and
gas, rare earth metals, uranium, chips, and grain. Wars for power. These
are the victims of criminal governments striving for hegemony.
I took the data from a joint report by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, WHO
entitled "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 -
Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its
forms", Rome 2024. Changes in food prices on world markets can be
tracked based on the FAO Food Price Index:
https://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/FoodPricesIndex/en/
Jaroslaw Urbanski
www.rozbrat.org
https://federacja-anarchistyczna.pl/2025/02/27/zywnosc-jako-bron-w-geopolitycznej-walce/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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