UN Reports 1 Billion Of The World’s People Going Hungry

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Copyright: WFP/Rein Skullerud

September 18, 2009

For the first time in history, more than one billion people, or nearly one in every 6 inhabitants of the planet, are going hungry this year, according to a new report from the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP). Chronic poverty, still high food prices and the impact of the world economic crisis have led to a sharp increase in the number of hungry people, now larger than the combined populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The total number of hungry people has shot up by nearly 200 million over the last decade. After a small decline between 2007 and 2008, world hunger rose sharply as the impact of the economic crisis hit, rising from 915 million in 2008 to an estimated 1.02 billion this year. While disasters, such as floods or droughts, cause temporary food shortages, these emergencies accounted for only 8 percent of the world’s hungry population, the WFP said. Nor is the problem caused by a shortage of food production, which at current levels is sufficient to feed the world’s population.

The source of the catastrophe is the capitalist profit system and, in particular, the continued oppression of the poorest countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Sixty-five percent of the world’s hungry people live in just six countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.



The various IMF-dictated “development” programs imposed on these countries have chiefly benefited the banks in London, New York and Tokyo—which have sucked out hundreds of billions in interest payments—as well as the native ruling elites. Falling commodity prices for raw materials have also reduced revenues, while speculation on food has also driven up costs.

...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/sep2009/hngr-s18.shtml

[marmar]

1. Disgraceful.......and largely because of greed and exploitation.

:mad:

[roguevalley]

16. consider what will happen when those people pick up and walk toward

food and water. I shudder to imagine.

[usregimechange]

2. sad

[HamdenRice]

3. WSWS is a $26 million business cult not unlike Rev. Moon's Unification Church

Their main goal is disrupting and discrediting trade unions and progressive/Green/Labour/Democratic organizations.

Do you have a better source? Because what you've posted is nonsensical word salad.

For example, when has the IMF ever dictated "development programs"? The IMF carries out balance of payments loans and in the past dictated "structural adjustment", which usually mean the cancellation of development programs. Perhaps the ignorant WSWS writer doesn't know the difference between the IMF and World Bank? The latter finances "devepment programs," not the IMF.

And if he doesn't know what the IMF does, why should we trust anything else he has to say?

[Orwellian_Ghost]

6. Certainly

WSWS is often sloppy with their language and their ultimate "solutions", such as they are, are rather vague however their analysis is usually quite accurate and they are certainly a more trusted news source that such propaganda outlets as the NY Times. However even the main Paper of Record tells us this same story though as is usual they ignore the context and avoid saying anything that would upset the powers that be since their job is to echo the sentiments of the ruling class. Don't you agree?

------------

More Than 1 Billion Go Hungry, the World Food Program Says

By REUTERS
Published: June 12, 2009

High food prices have pushed another 105 million people into hunger in the first half of 2009, the leader of the United Nations World Food Program said on Friday in Rome. She said the total number of hungry people around the world was now more than one billion. At a meeting of the Group of 8’s development ministers, Josette Sheeran, the food program’s executive director, said the world faced a “human catastrophe.” “This year, we are clocking in, on average, four million new hungry people a week — urgently hungry,” Ms. Sheeran said. The agency needs $6.4 billion this year for food aid, she said, but donors’ contributions have fallen far behind that level. The agency had around $1.5 billion at the end of last week. Ms. Sheeran said it had had to cut food aid rations and shut down some operations in eastern Africa and North Korea because of the credit crunch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/world/13briefs-G8HUNGER.html

Oops have to cut down on food cause global loan sharks have credit crunch. All of this is the natural order of capitalism not some deviance.

----------------------------

1 billion to go hungry world over
AGENCIES 17 September 2009, 12:05am IST

LONDON: Food aid is at a 20-year low despite the number of critically hungry people soaring this year to its highest level ever, the UN relief agency said on Wednesday.

The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year for the first time, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said, adding that it is facing a serious budget shortfall. To date the WFP has confirmed $2.6 billion in funding for its 2009 budget of $6.7 billion. “This comes at a time of great vulnerability for the hungry,” the WFP said.

“Millions have been buffeted by the global financial downturn, their ability to buy food is limited by stubbornly high prices. In addition, unpredictable weather patterns are causing more weather-related hunger,” it said.

An earlier report said that most of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are facing extreme or high risk of food shortages, according to a ranking of 148 nations. The US is least at risk followed by France, Canada, Germany and the Czech Republic, according to the Food Security Risk Index, calculated from dozens of variables that determine a country’s capacity to feed its people.

Food stress jumped toward the top of the global agenda after soaring commodity prices in 2007 and 2008 sparked riots in 30 countries, including many tottering on the brink of severe shortages or widespread hunger.

The World Bank estimates that food inflation during that period pushed an additional 100 million people into deep poverty, on top of a billion that were already scraping by on less than $1 a day. The three most populous countries in South Asia also face food precariousness: Pakistan, ranked 11th, is at “extreme risk,” while Bangladesh and India are both at “high risk”, ranked 20th and 25th respectively.

...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/uk/1-billion-to-go-hungry-world-over/articleshow/5020227.cms

Next time do your own homework. Your attacks on WSWS already have a thread and it collapsed under the weight of even mild scrutiny.

If you are a defender of the IMF/World Bank programs no more need be said. It is clear you are in support of big business and against the people if that is the case no matter how much jargon you throw into the soup.


The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are the biggest pillars of neocolonialism. The World Bank and IMF impose poverty on developing countries through "structural adjustment" programs which cut social spending in the name of paying back foreign debts. The goal and idea of these parasitic institutions is to repress "third world" peoples, control the resources of their land and continue the legacy of colonialism through economic control.

[HamdenRice]

12. Thanks for the better sources. But why would you cite to a $26 million anti-union disinfo site

in the first place?

They are not "sloppy". The deliberately lie in every single article they write in line with certain Stalinist theories of "propaganda," which seem now to be in line with their anti-union neo-conservative ideology. Let's not forget that most neo-conservatives, like the recently deceased Irving Kristol, also started out as Trots.

I also note that you have not addressed the difference between the World Bank and the IMF.

I'm still waiting for a cite that shows that the IMF forces "development programs" on countries, because, as Joe Stiglitz's "Globalization and Its Discontents" points out, the IMF is responsible for canceling development programs. Stiglitz should know because he was chief economist of the World Bank. You seem to be following in the footsteps of the WSWS writer in not knowing what the difference is between the two.

As for the thread that you say "collapsed," are you talking about this one, which definitively exposed the fact that the owner of WSWS is a corporate executive who runs a $26 million non-union printing company, and who took the printing presses from his cult-like political party and privatized them for his own gain -- that thread?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6560399&mesg_id=6561071

It doesn't seem to me that it collapsed, but that it proved beyond a doubt that WSWS is a scam run by an anti-union corporate owner who runs a cult.

[leftstreet]

8. Hey Link Police! Will you accept the same story from Reuters? CNN?

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLF132356
World food aid at 20-year low, 1 billion hungry-WFP
Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:30am EDT

LONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Food aid is at a 20-year low despite the number of critically hungry people soaring this year to its highest level ever, the United Nations relief agency said on Wednesday.

The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year for the first time, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said, adding that it is facing a serious budget shortfall

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/16/un.food.aid/
updated 5:13 p.m. EDT, Wed September 16, 2009

UN World Food Program issues urgent appeal for aid

CNN) -- The United Nations' World Food Program appealed Wednesday for $3 billion in donations, blaming the world economic crisis for a surge in demand and a drop in donations.

"We now, for the first time in history, have over 1 billion people who are going hungry," spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said.

The program, which is voluntarily funded and receives the bulk of its donations from governments and large organizations, said its level of food aid is at a 20-year low. It said it has received just $2.7 billion of the $6.7 billion it will need to feed 108 million people around the world this year.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[maryf]

10. Thanks for these...nt

[leftstreet]

14. You're welcome n/t

[SpiralHawk]

4. Coming soon to a Republicon Homeland near you

"Pull yourselves up by your own breadcrusts. Smirk."

- Republicon Homelanders Against America & Hungry People

[blindpig]

5. k&r, n/t

[FarCenter]

7. Most of these are peasants living in areas where the population has outstripped farm production

They are not participants in the money economy, and they have no money with which to buy food at any price.

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[maryf]

11. Thanks, K&Rnt

[G_j]

13. K&R

:cry:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

15. Bump

[maryf]

17. morning kick, nt.