Food Wars
Place of publication: London and New York
Publisher: Verso
Date of publication: 2009
Walden Bello's book The Food Wars is not a meaty book in terms of length, but it covers an issue all of us are and should be concerned with: food. Bello is certainly qualified to discuss this topic. He has a background in sociology and is currently a professor of that discipline at the University of the Philippines. With a Harvard education to his credit, as well as authorship of several other well-received books and scholarly essays, Bello knows what he is talking about. In addition, he is deeply passionate about his topic, and this comes through clearly on these pages. He discusses questions that affect all of us deeply regarding food issues, particularly in terms of the political and economic aspects of it and how these issues affect all of us globally.
His introduction gives a general overview of what is to come in the book, and it provides sufficient background information for readers who may not have the historical or contextual knowledge to understand the gravity of the situation he plans to investigate and analyze. For example he begins by explaining what happened during a two-year period to change the global food commodities industry in a short time. "From 2006 to 2008," Bello writes, "the prices of basic commodities spiraled, making essential foodstuffs unaffordable for vast numbers of people. International agencies were caught flat-footed, and the World Food Program warned that its rapidly diminishing stocks might not be able to deal with the emergency" (1). This opening statement has a dramatic effect that sounds almost as if one were reading a science fiction novel, and that may have been Bello's intended effect. For readers of all levels -- academics, students, and anyone with an interest in serious issues facing our world today -- this is an engaging and intriguing introduction into an ongoing crisis that Bello feels we should all understand and become actively involved in. It may be considered controversial by some, but no one who reads it will walk away without having some grave concerns about our global future. Much of his information in these introductory pages is drawn on the work of Oxford economist Paul Collier, whose theories he explains and dissects with patience and analytical acuity.
When not explaining theory, Bello uses stark, simple factual information to bring home his point. Describing the food crisis and its effects may have been sufficient, but Bello goes on to describe the number of countries -- at least thirty, in his estimate -- that were affected in extreme ways by the lack: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Somalia, Uzbekistan, and Yemen (2). These are names we have all heard in the news in recent years, so the points he makes hit home. According to the author, the bulk of the suffering occurred in Haiti, where 80% of the people suffered, trying to survive on "less than two dollars a day" (3). In fact, this was where the term "Clorox hunger" got its start. This was how people described the intensity of their hunger; it burned through their intestinal walls as though liquid bleach or some other caustic element had been poured down their throats (3).
A variety of causes were said to have caused this dire situation. For example, in poorer countries, lack of knowledge, equipment, and financial means meant that they were unable to develop their agrarian industries to feed their inhabitants. In other countries, such as China and India, the author explains, the members of the middle class increased at exponential rates, and their eating habits did as well. As a result, there were insufficient food supplies to meet these demands (4). Climate change, of course, was another important factor, as the effects of global warming became known to people all over the planet. However, according to the author, the single most pivotal factor in causing what he refers to as the "food wars" was something called "structural "adjustment," and that is the main premise of the volume. This was a program, which was put in place by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund starting at the beginning of the 1980s, affected more than ninety countries, many of which had weak or unstable economies to begin with (6). Describing the "orthodox account" and the less-than-orthodox account, Bello exposes the raw truths that led to the hunger of millions of people, economic hardship, and crushing blows to countries most in need of support and assistance to take care of their inhabitants' most basic needs.
The essence of Bello's
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