The world food crisis and the capitalist market

By Alex Lantier

Part One: (June 7, 2008 WSWS)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/food-j07.shtml

“As the June 3-5 Conference on World Food Security of the United
Nations? Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began in Rome, FAO
Director Jacques Diouf said of the explosion of food prices: ?It is
touching every country in the world. We have not only seen riots and
people dying, but also a government toppled [in Haiti], and we know that
many countries…could tilt to one way or the other depending on the
discontent or satisfaction of their population.?

Part 2 (June 09, 2008 WSWS)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/food-j09.shtml

“The central problem underlying the current food crisis is not a
physical lack of food, but rather its unaffordability for masses of
people due to rapidly increasing prices. Among the immediate factors
driving the rapid worsening of the food crisis, a major role is played
by the explosion of speculative investment in basic commodities such as
oil and grain, itself bound up with the difficulties facing US and world
financial markets and the decline in the US dollar. Rampant speculation
by hedge funds and other big market players has increased costs,
encouraging private firms to further bid up prices in a competitive
drive to amass as much profit as possible.”

Part III: (June 10, 2008 WSWS)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/food-j10.shtml

“The current food crisis reflects not only financial events of recent
years, but longer-term policies of world imperialism. Instead of
allowing for a planned improvement of infrastructure and farming
techniques, globalization on a capitalist basis has resulted in a
restriction in many parts of the world of farm production. This has been
carried out in order to lessen competition and prevent market gluts from
harming the profit interests of the major powers.”