Food Riots: Poverty, Power and Protest¹

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomenon of food riots. It argues that the riots may have been triggered by spikes in food prices in 2007–8, but there were many other factors that underpinned them. Demonstrators challenged injustice, inequality and political repression. Food riots were part of an important groundswell of mobilization that brought together a wide range of political coalitions for change and the promotion of human dignity.

The Pentecostal Ethic and the Spirit of Development

“…Prices of essential goods skyrocketed, incomes dwindled, jobs disappeared, services were cut and many people struggled to make ends meet (Ferguson 2006, Walton andRaggin 1990). The worsening conditions brought about by these austerity measures led to protests and 'IMF food riots' in many African countries (Bush 2010: 122, Logie and Woodroffe 1993: 43, Riddell 1992: 59, Simutanyi 1996: 827, Walton and Seddon 1994. It was at this time and in this context that the phenomenal growth of both NGOs and Pentecostal churches came about.…”

Import vulnerability in the Middle East: effects of the Arab spring on Egyptian wheat trade

“…3 The Arab spring in Egypt Bush (2010) stressed that the political movement united a number of previously divided forces, which jointly and publicly expressed their critique of the president, widespread corruption in the government and brutality of security forces. Between 2010 and 2012, the currency exchange rate gradually decreased (OANDA 2015), domestic food prices were additionally driven up and food price inflation accelerated.…”

Accumulating through food crisis? Farmers, commodity traders and the distributional politics of financialization

“…-Chicago Board of Trade official in conversation with agribusiness executives (cited in Lappé, 1981) From 2007 to 2008, food prices surged. In response, people in over 25 countries demonstrated, rallied and rioted to express their discontent not only with the higher costs of living, but also injustice and inequality more broadly (Bush 2010). There was another bout of rapid food price inflation in 2010-11 which provoked a second round of civil unrest, as most clearly manifest in the Arab Spring (Bush and Martiniello 2017).…”