Getting Angry about World Hunger

Jeremy Irons makes a great appeal in this video for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.) campaign called 1billionhungry.

With the G8 and G20 meetings coming up in Huntsville, Ontario, the attending nations need to understand that there is outrage in their own nations that 1 billion people are hungry in this world.  And here is why:

• According to the U.N. F.A.O., there were approximately 923 million undernourished and starving people in the world in 2007
• this was an increase of over 80 million since 1992. 
• As of last fall, this number had jumped to over 1 billion or 15 percent of the worlds population. 
• One sixth of the world's population is malnourished and surviving on less than $1.25 (U.S.D.) a day. 
• It is estimated that the number of undernourished people in the world will reach 3 billion by 2050, assuming that contributing factors do not worsen

According to Oxfam International, this unprecedented crisis can be contributed to many factors which include:

• climbing food and oil prices
• the recent global economic crisis
• increased demand in India and China,
• climate change and the resulting crop failures
• the co-opting of crops for biofuel production
• the increasing dominance of large agriculture companies
• and gross mismanagement of agricultural and food policies.

Sadly, for many people in the west, there is very little empathy or concern for what they see as a far away problem.  Even the fact that there are far to many hungry children and families within their own borders is of no matter.  However, this is an issue that affects us all very deeply and could have some very serious effects as we move into the future.  For example, there has been a serious decline in global food reserves, down to only a 90 day supply of staples such as wheat, as well as unprecedented hoarding on a global scale.  When these factors are combined with the massive crop failures of late and the world wide financial crisis, there has been a flurry of price speculation which has resulted in a tripling in the cost of the world's basic foods such as rice, maize and wheat.

We need to get angry because one of the greatest obstacles to finding effective solutions and carrying them out is the general apathy of Western nations to the plight of those in countries so far away.  There is a sense among many that it is a problem affecting a far away land, unrelated and unconnected to our own.  We need to let our leaders, the multinationals, and the speculators know that enough is enough, we're not going to accept any more of their self-serving crap.  They need to known that we see right through their empty rhetoric and that we are not going to accept it any more.  Its time to take action against those who would benefit from the mass suffering of others. 


Click here to sign the U.N. F.A.O. petition to let your anger and your outrage be heard.

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• Farmers, Aid Groups Call Attention To Drought, Food Shortages In West Africa (medicalnewstoday.com)
• Paul Schickler: Even Those with Full Plates Need Food Security (huffingtonpost.com)
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• High food costs force Indians to do more with less (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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• Food Security and Climate Change (slideshare.net)

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Bank Taxes and Sinking Ships

IN THE NEWS TODAY and yesterday, there has been a great deal of debate over the best way to insulate society and its banks from a another financial meltdown.  Many in the European Union in conjunction with Obama and the International Monetary Fund are pushing a Global Bank Tax, which Canada opposes as "unfair" since the Canadian banks remained relatively unscathed in the last crisis thanks to the tightly regulated banking system.  Instead they are pushing a system of "contingent embedded capital" reserves to prop up the banks in next market collapse.  However, the details are not of any concern to me here, but have a look at the links below for more details. The important thing for me is the absurdity of the entire financial system.  To me, it seems like our governments are busy fixing the water damaged furniture on a sinking ship.

There are a number of things that I find disturbing about the whole debate, but mainly its the idea that our society seems willing to continue allowing a bunch of lawless sociopaths to gamble with their futures.  These market implosions occur far to regularly, though in varying degrees, and seem to be occurring more quickly as time progresses.  Each one causes innocent and hard working people to loose their jobs, their savings and their security which in the long run can lead to increasing crime, broken homes and broken people. 

As a democratic society, we entrust our governments with the sacred duty of protecting us against chaos, yet our entire system is propped up by a fundamentally chaotic institution that frequently implodes, devastating our communities and destroying lives.  Instead of imagining ways to protect the banks and investment houses from themselves, maybe we should be considering a new, less chaotic system.  One that does not reward psychopathy and one that will truly serve the interests of the people.  

We are at the mercy of a financial system that is so obviously broken, and has been since its inception.  Would you buy a house that is expected to spontaneously explode every few years?  For most us, the answer would be no, but this is exactly what we are doing in our financial current system.  Though not the first free market failure, the Great Depression should have been brutal enough to warn us that the system was fatally flawed, but instead, we have suffered from repeated recessions and serious downturns since.  Each time, there was a plethora of devastated families, communities and even nations.

So, instead of debating which method is best to protect the banks and investment houses from themselves, why don't we look at building a new stable system that does not implode at regular intervals.  Why don't we stop the leaks instead of glossing over the water damage?  

Related articles from the SilentRebellion

• What The #!%*? The global bank tax explained (nationalpost.com)
• FAQ on Canada's bank tax alternative (cbc.ca)
• Canadian Leaders Fighting Global Bank Tax (nytimes.com)
• Why PM fights for banks (theglobeandmail.com)

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• Agenda: Bank Tax Can't Replace Regulation (online.wsj.com)
• Risk Inverse: The Third World Is Now a Better Bet (time.com)