Food riot

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A contemporary illustration of the Women's March on Versailles, on 5 October 1789. The Women's March was a food riot in the Kingdom of France. A Versailles, a Versailles 5 octobre 1789 - Restoration.jpg
A contemporary illustration of the Women's March on Versailles, on 5 October 1789. The Women's March was a food riot in the Kingdom of France.

A food riot is a riot in protest of a shortage and/or unequal distribution of food. Historical causes have included rises in food prices, harvest failures, inept food storage, transport problems, food speculation, hoarding, poisoning of food, and attacks by pests. [1]

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Studies of food riots have found that they are often preceded by conditions of economic desperation, at which point members of the public may attack shops, farms, homes, or government buildings to attain staple foods such as bread, grain, or salt, as in the 1977 Egyptian bread riots. [2] Historically, food riots are part of a larger social movement, such as the Russian Revolution or the French Revolution. [3] Historically, women have been heavily involved in leading food riots; food riots have thus served as a form of female political action even in societies without women's suffrage or other guaranteed political rights. [4]

Twenty-first century

During 2007–2008, a rise in global food prices led to riots in various countries. A similar crisis recurred in 2010–2011.

Due to a wheat crop failure in the mid-western United States because of drought in 2012, as well as simultaneous dryness during the start of the Russia's wheat season, a deficient monsoon rainfall in India and a drought in Africa's Sahel region, predictions were made for a possible outbreak of protests and riots akin to previous years. Yaneer Bar-Yam, the president of the New England Complex Systems Institute, said that computer modelling suggested an outbreak of instability, while he also blamed the use of corn for ethanol as exacerbating the problem. However, the director of trade and markets and the Food and Agriculture Organization, David Hallam, said that there was no imminent danger of such an outcome, though a worsening change in climate and government policies, such as export bans and panicked-buying, could trigger such a scenario. Oxfam added that a one percent increase in the price of food could lead to 16 million more falling below the poverty line. [5] The International Food Policy Research Institute's Director-General Shenggen Fan suggested a global crisis could "hit us very soon. [Using corn for ethanol] actually pushed global food prices higher and many poor people, particularly women and children, have suffered." [6]

Reports of events leading to the 2007–08 world food price crisis illustrate that it is challenging to find a single causal factor for food riots and highlights the need to multiple pre-emptive strategies to be adopted in different context given that food prices are said to remain volatile [7] in the coming years. International commentators focusing on Africa have associated the riots with poverty and hunger hence the call to explore strategies to boost productivity and lower food prices. [8] Yet on-the-ground reports highlight that the riots were driven by multiple factors coming together such as popular dissatisfaction with socioeconomic and political situation of the country and the availability of social media that helped rioters to mobilize. [9] In this case some have called for broader structural changes to improve employment, equality and address social injustices. [10]

In Venezuela, the steep fall in oil prices hit the economy hard in the 2010s. With a high rate of inflation (set to top 1,600% in 2017), [11] the destruction of Venezuela´s industrial base has led to a famine in many parts of the country. [12] [13] [14]

Protests in South Africa in July 2021 that initially began as a response to the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma quickly escalated into nationwide riots and looting of supermarkets and shopping malls. [15] The expanded scope of the unrest, that had followed a record economic downturn and increasing unemployment from the COVID-19 pandemic, has been described as food riots. [16] [17] [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Venezuela</span>

The economy of Venezuela is based primarily on petroleum. Venezuela is the 25th largest producer of oil in the world and the 8th largest member of OPEC. Venezuela also manufactures and exports heavy industry products such as steel, aluminum, and cement. Other notable manufacturing includes electronics and automobiles as well as beverages and foodstuffs. Agriculture in Venezuela accounts for approximately 4.7% of GDP, 7.3% of the labor force and at least one-fourth of Venezuela's land area. Venezuela exports rice, corn, fish, tropical fruit, coffee, pork and beef. Venezuela has an estimated US$14.3 trillion worth of natural resources and is not self-sufficient in most areas of agriculture. Exports accounted for 16.7% of GDP and petroleum products accounted for about 95% of those exports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Famine</span> Widespread scarcity of food

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every inhabited continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. During the 19th and 20th century, Southeast and South Asia, as well as Eastern and Central Europe, suffered the greatest number of fatalities. Deaths caused by famine declined sharply beginning in the 1970s, with numbers falling further since 2000. Since 2010, Africa has been the most affected continent in the world by famine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hunger</span> Sustained inability to eat sufficient food

In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the field of hunger relief, the term hunger is used in a sense that goes beyond the common desire for food that all humans experience, also known as an appetite. The most extreme form of hunger, when malnutrition is widespread, and when people have started dying of starvation through lack of access to sufficient, nutritious food, leads to a declaration of famine.

The Washington Consensus is a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered to constitute the "standard" reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and United States Department of the Treasury. The term was first used in 1989 by English economist John Williamson. The prescriptions encompassed free-market promoting policies such as trade liberalization, privatization and finance liberalization. They also entailed fiscal and monetary policies intended to minimize fiscal deficits and minimize inflation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caracazo</span> 1989 civil unrest in Venezuela

The Caracazo is the name given to the wave of protests, riots and looting that started on 27 February 1989 in the Venezuelan city of Guarenas, spreading to Caracas and surrounding towns following austerity measures from President Carlos Andrés Pérez. The weeklong clashes resulted in the deaths of hundreds, thousands by some accounts, mostly at the hands of security forces and the military. The riots and the protests began mainly in response to the government's economic reforms and the resulting increase in the price of gasoline and transportation

The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agricultural products. Healthy grain supply and trade is important to many societies, providing a caloric base for most food systems as well as important role in animal feed for animal agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern bread riots</span> Civil unrest during the American Civil War

The Southern bread riots were events of civil unrest in the Confederacy during the American Civil War, perpetrated mostly by women in March and April 1863. During these riots, which occurred in cities throughout the Southern United States, hungry women and men invaded and looted various shops and stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food vs. fuel</span> Debate concerning diversion of food supply for biofuels production

Food versus fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production to the detriment of the food supply. The biofuel and food price debate involves wide-ranging views and is a long-standing, controversial one in the literature. There is disagreement about the significance of the issue, what is causing it, and what can or should be done to remedy the situation. This complexity and uncertainty are due to the large number of impacts and feedback loops that can positively or negatively affect the price system. Moreover, the relative strengths of these positive and negative impacts vary in the short and long terms, and involve delayed effects. The academic side of the debate is also blurred by the use of different economic models and competing forms of statistical analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007–2008 world food price crisis</span> World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008

World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the first and second quarter of 2008, creating a global crisis and causing political and economic instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Although the media spotlight focused on the riots that ensued in the face of high prices, the ongoing crisis of food insecurity had been years in the making. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate. After peaking in the second quarter of 2008, prices fell dramatically during the late-2000s recession but increased during late 2009 and 2010, reaching new heights in 2011 and 2012 at a level slightly higher than the level reached in 2008. Over the next years, prices fell, reaching a low in March 2016 with the deflated Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index close to pre-crisis level of 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 Egyptian bread riots</span> Widespread civil unrest over food subsidies

The Egyptian "bread riots" of 1977 were a spontaneous uprising against the increase in commodities' prices on the 18th and 19th of January after the Egyptian government cut subsidies for basic foodstuff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Hunger Index</span> Tool that measures and tracks hunger

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool that attempts to measure and track hunger globally as well as by region and by country, prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. The GHI is calculated annually, and its results appear in a report issued in October each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010–2012 world food price crisis</span>

Following the 2007–2008 world food price crisis and a short lull in high prices during 2009, food prices around the world again started to rise in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunisian bread riots</span>

The Tunisian bread riots were a series of violent demonstrations in Tunisia that occurred from December 1983 to January 1984, triggered by a rise in the price of bread due to an IMF-imposed austerity program. President Habib Bourguiba declared a state of emergency and the riots were put down by force. Over 100 rioters died. The regime was weakened by the upheavals and the aftermath of food riots. Three years later General Zine El Abidine Ben Ali seized power in a coup.

Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food distribution. Fluctuation in food prices is determined by a number of compounding factors. Geopolitical events, global demand, exchange rates, government policy, diseases and crop yield, energy costs, availability of natural resources for agriculture, food speculation, changes in the use of soil and weather events directly affect food prices. To a certain extent, adverse price trends can be counteracted by food politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crisis in Venezuela</span> Socioeconomic and political crisis in Venezuela in the 21st century

An ongoing socioeconomic and political crisis began in Venezuela during the presidency of Hugo Chávez and has worsened during the presidency of his successor Nicolás Maduro. It has been marked by hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality rates, resulting in massive emigration from the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food security during the COVID-19 pandemic</span> Famines related to the pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity intensified in many places. In the second quarter of 2020, there were multiple warnings of famine later in the year. In an early report, the Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Oxfam-International talks about "economic devastation" while the lead-author of the UNU-WIDER report compared COVID-19 to a "poverty tsunami". Others talk about "complete destitution", "unprecedented crisis", "natural disaster", "threat of catastrophic global famine". The decision of the WHO on 11 March 2020, to qualify COVID as a pandemic, that is "an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people" also contributed to building this global-scale disaster narrative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable Development Goal 2</span> Global goal to end hunger by 2030

Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to achieve "zero hunger". It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The official wording is: "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture". SDG 2 highlights the "complex inter-linkages between food security, nutrition, rural transformation and sustainable agriculture". According to the United Nations, there are around 690 million people who are hungry, which accounts for slightly less than 10 percent of the world population. One in every nine people goes to bed hungry each night, including 20 million people currently at risk of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 South African unrest</span> Riots after Jacob Zumas imprisonment, 9 to 18 July 2021

The 2021 South African unrest, also known as the July 2021 riots, the Zuma unrest or Zuma riots, was a wave of civil unrest that occurred in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces from 9 to 18 July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma for contempt of court. Resulting protests against the incarceration triggered wider rioting and looting, much of it said to be undertaken by people not in support of Zuma and fuelled by job layoffs and economic inequality worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic policies. The unrest began in the province of KwaZulu-Natal on the evening of 9 July, and spread to the province of Gauteng on the evening of 11 July, and was the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid.

During 2022 and 2023 there were food crises in several regions as indicated by rising food prices. In 2022, the world experienced significant food price inflation along with major food shortages in several regions. Sub-Saharan Africa, Iran, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq were most affected. Prices of wheat, maize, oil seeds, bread, pasta, flour, cooking oil, sugar, egg, chickpea and meat increased. Many factors have contributed to the ongoing world food crisis. These include supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021–2023 global energy crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and floods and heatwaves during 2021. Droughts were also a factor; in early 2022, some areas of Spain and Portugal lost 60-80% of their crops due to widespread drought.

References

  1. Patel, Raj; Philip McMichael (2009). "A Political Economy of the Food Riot". Review (Fernand Braudel Center). 32 (1): 9–35. JSTOR   40647787.
  2. "Egypt battle toll: 43 dead". The Age. 21 January 1977. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  3. Walton, John K.; Seddon, David (2008). Free markets and food riots: The politics of global adjustment. Cambridge MA: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-0-631-18245-0.
  4. Thompson, E.P. (1993). Customs in Common: Studies in Traditional Political Culture. New York: The New Press. pp. 233–234.
  5. Robert Kennedy. "Food riots predicted over US crop failure - Features". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
  6. Ann, Luzi (14 August 2012). "Global Food Crisis May Hit Us 'Very Soon,' IFPRI's Fan Says". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  7. UNNews Centre. "Global food prices expected to remain volatile in coming years, warns UN official". UN News Centre. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  8. UN. "The Secretary General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis". UN. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  9. Sneyd, Lauren; Alexander Legwegoh; Evan DG Fraser (2013). "Food riots: Media perspectives on the causes of food protest in Africa". Food Security. 5 (4): 485–497. doi:10.1007/s12571-013-0272-x. S2CID   17327299.
  10. Demeke, M.; et al. "Country responses to the food security crisis: Nature and preliminary implications of the policies pursued" (PDF). FAO, Rome (Italy). Policy Assistance and Resources Mobilisation Div.
  11. Talley, Ian (2016-07-18). "Venezuela's Inflation Is Set to Top 1,600% Next Year". WSJ.com. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  12. "'We are like a bomb': Food riots show Venezuela crisis has gone beyond politics". TheGuardian.com . 20 May 2016.
  13. "'We want food!' Looting and riots rock Venezuela daily". Reuters. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  14. Casey, Nicholas (19 June 2016). "Venezuelans Ransack Stores as Hunger Grips the Nation". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  15. "Deaths climb to 72 in South Africa riots after Zuma jailed". CNBC. 2021-07-13. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  16. Majavu, Anna (2021-07-14). "South Africa: Food Riots Show the Need for a Basic Income Grant". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  17. WASP National Committee (2021-07-15). "Food Riots: Build organised and disciplined working class struggle against the criminal capitalist class". socialist.org.za. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
  18. New Frame (2021-07-15). "Durban food riots turn the wheel of history". newframe.com. Retrieved 2021-07-19.

Further reading