Chris Blattman

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BBC radio calms the food riots?

The storm of articles on the food price crisis has turned to a mere drizzle. But a bag of rice in Liberia is still $35, versus $20 a year or two ago.

The impact on poverty is obvious, and a more sinister political impact is feared. Riots erupted in a few urban centers across West Africa early this year, the bulk linked to the rising price of food. Liberia’s own political instability was catalyzed three decades ago by a steep increase in the (state-controlled) cost of rice.

What I have now heard twice in Liberia, however, is that we should not expect a repeat performance. “At first people were very angry” said one grassroots trainer and organizer, “but since then we have heard on the radio how the price of rice is high everywhere. What can our government do? What use would be rioting?”

Could this food price crisis be different that the previous ones? Agricultural markets have been (more or less) freed, and few African states manipulate the price of foodstuffs–at least not so grossly, ineptly, and corruptly as they did in earlier decades. Hunger surely remains a motive for unrest, but in the absence of political incompetence, and in the presence of a shared sense of crisis, perhaps less so than before.

3 Responses

  1. Just got an email from World Vision on the food crisis in East Africa, which, along with the BBC, keeps me up to date on what's happening on the continent.

    There's a related article in the Economist this week about how investors, economies & currencies are pacified by knowing that everyone else is experiencing the bad news they are. It must feel less unjust.

    Then there's the question: What can individuals do to calm the food riots?
    http://www.onlinefundraisingblog.com/2008/08/the-long-and-short-run-of-it/

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