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Food Crisis Is 'Mass Murder': UN Envoy

Official blames multinationals for surging food prices

By Caroline Zimmerman,  Newser User

Posted Apr 20, 2008 4:02 PM CDT
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(Newser) – A UN envoy called the world's food crisis "silent mass murder" today and blamed multinationals for "monopolizing the riches of the Earth," Reuters reports. Jean Ziegler, UN food rapporteur, chalked up surging food prices in poorer nations to biofuels, commodities markets, and EU subsidies—meaning the West is responsible for this "horror."

"Market traders, speculators, and financial bandits have turned wild and constructed a world of inequality and horror," Ziegler told an Austrian daily. "We have to put a stop to this." He also warned that the hungry may one day rebel. "It's just as possible as the French Revolution was," he said.

An Egyptian girl buys government subsidized bread from a bakery in Cairo, Egypt Wednesday, April 16, 2008.
An Egyptian girl buys government subsidized bread from a bakery in Cairo, Egypt Wednesday, April 16, 2008.   (Associated Press)
An unidentified child carrying an empty plate stands outside a house at the Ruga area of Abuja, Nigeria, in this file photo.
An unidentified child carrying an empty plate stands outside a house at the Ruga area of Abuja, Nigeria, in this file photo.   (Associated Press)
A Bosnian Serb man walks through a field of young wheat, south of Sarajevo, on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Due to deep economic crisis and increasing food prices in the country more and more Bosnia-Herzegovina's citizens are returning to traditional production of food.
A Bosnian Serb man walks through a field of young wheat, south of Sarajevo, on Saturday, April 12, 2008. Due to deep economic crisis and increasing food prices in the country more and more Bosnia-Herzegovina's...   (Associated Press)
An Indonesian man sells rice and eggs at his stall next to train tracks at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 15, 2008. Rapidly rising food prices have caused international crisis.
An Indonesian man sells rice and eggs at his stall next to train tracks at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 15, 2008. Rapidly rising food prices have caused international crisis.   (Associated Press)
Workers sweep around sacks of grain at a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Port-au-Prince, Friday, April 11, 2008.
Workers sweep around sacks of grain at a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Port-au-Prince, Friday, April 11, 2008.   (Associated Press)
A vendor sorts potatoes at the Piata Centrala market in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The World Bank this week said that food prices had risen 20 percent in the region.
A vendor sorts potatoes at the Piata Centrala market in Chisinau, Moldova, Wednesday, April 16, 2008. The World Bank this week said that food prices had risen 20 percent in the region.   (Associated Press)
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EU stands up for biofuels
AFP

Ziegler's earlier remarks on the food crisis
Dispatch Online (South Africa)

More criticism of biofuels
AFP

World • Green • Money

 
food • United Nations • hunger • biofuel • starvation • food prices • Jean Ziegler

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