Thursday, April 10, 2008
In PJ Media, "Sandmonkey" describes recent riots in Egypt:
The following day, yesterday, around 2,000 demonstrators demonstrated peacefully in front of the police station, demanding the release of their detained co-workers, relatives, and friends. The Egyptian police responded by shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at the demonstrators, and attacking them physically. When word of this reached the demonstrators' family members and friends, they responded by taking to the streets and attacking the security forces wherever they could find them. The people threw rocks at the security forces, destroyed their cars, and tore down the pictures of Mubarak all over the city. The security forces continued shooting and arresting people, all the while sending plain-clothed police thugs to destroy stores and ransack schools. This was done in order to make it look like as if the people were destroying everything in their path and had to be cracked down on and stopped. The death toll rose to 5 the second night (including a 12 year-old and a 15 year-old), while the arrest total rose to 195. Countless people were injured.
Egyptian police wrecking a truck
The news of what took place in Mahalla is now spreading all over Egypt, with the pictures of their stand against state forces circulating across the internet. There is a sense of dread among those who are following the news. They fear what will happen to those who dare revolt against the government and wonder whether or not the spirit of their revolt will survive the crackdown. There are also those who fear that the severity of the clampdown will frighten the people into complicity and discourage them from revolting again.
While you can find news about what's happening in Egypt, most media sources blame it on 'food riots' - and most media sources have no pictures of Egyptian police wrecking trucks.
Food riots seem to be happening around the world on a near-daily basis lately. Foreign Policy reports:
In this video, Haitian Prime Minister Alexis blamed "drug dealers" for manipulating the protests. He also says that "when they blame the UN for the high cost of living, the Haitian government does not pay the UN's budget." Apparently Haitians have been unhappy about the UN occupation of their country for some time.
An increase in the price of rice is causing unrest in Asia. In their 'food riot watch'.** Foreign policy notes that other riots worldwide have been sparked by shortages of palm oil.
The Chinese are buying up large supplies of palm oil. It's also being used as a biofuel.
Is the current demand for biofuels the source of the crisis? According to the "Socialist Worker", the problem is caused by a combination of "neo-liberalism", the falling dollar and ethanol-based speculation.
However, the Economic Times of India believes that we can have both food and fuel, if we improve agricultural productivity.
Although some of the same environmentalists who raised fears about global warming also strongly oppose genetically modified foods, these so-called frankenfoods could be part of the solution.
As we see in Egypt and in Haiti, the problems are more complicated than a food shortage. It's not clear what's causing the food shortages and higher prices, but the fact that food riots are occurring on a near-daily basis worldwide definitely deserves more attention than it's been getting.
** link thanks to Double Plus Ungood