Fifth person dies in Haitian food price protests

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Fifth person dies in Haitian food price protests
Published on Tuesday, April 8, 2008

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters): A man was killed by gunfire as demonstrators took to the streets in the southern Haitian city of Les Cayes on Monday, raising the death toll to five in protests against rising food prices, officials and radio reports said.

Protesters also marched outside the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation of nearly 9 million people, expressing anger at the higher cost of food.

Four people were killed and 20 others were hurt in a riot in Les Cayes last week. UN vehicles were burned, peacekeepers were attacked and a food warehouse was looted by angry mobs on Thursday and Friday.

In response to the unrest, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis announced a multimillion-dollar investment program aimed at lowering the cost of living.



Read more: http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-7061--2-2--.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Well, that's five fewer mouths to feed, people.......

Baby steps - baby steps........

:argh:

[Hannah Bell]

3. Since americans consume 1/4 of global production

maybe you might want to cheer deaths here, rather than the deaths of poor haitians. just a thought.

[gear_head]

4. 1/4 of what?

certainly not 1/4 of global food

[Hannah Bell]

6. In fact, calorie-wise:

"Haiti ranks along with Afghanistan and Somalia as one of the three countries of the world with the worst daily caloric deficit per inhabitant (460 kcal/day). Some 2.4 million Haitians cannot afford the minimum 2,240 daily calories recommended by the World Health Organization"

That's 1780 kcal/d, v. 3624 in the US, = 1844 more = double the caloric consumption.



"In rural India, the average calorie intake per capita per day fell from 2,266 Kcal in 1972-73 to 2,183 in 1993-94, and further to 2,149 in 1999-2000, against a norm of 2400 Kcal. Further, among the lowest 30 per cent of rural households in respect of consumer expenditure, the per capita calorie intake fell from 1,830 Kcal in 1989 to 1,600 Kcal in 1998.

The pattern is very different in other countries. In the mid 1990s, according to FAO food balance sheets, the total calorie intake per person per day was 3,624 Kcal in the U.S., 2,766 in Japan and 2,898 in China. The contribution of calories from cereal intake ranged from 851 Kcal in the U.S. to 1,646 Kcal in Japan with China in between (1,186 Kcal)."

http://www.hinduonnet.com/br/2005/07/26/stories/2005072600191700.htm

[Judi Lynn]

5. Here's some stats compiled by Paul Ehrlich. This would look similar to your comment.

I'm sure if I had the time to look around longer, I could find the exact one which would be helpful, but this one looks close enough to get the general idea across!

Any idiot can see there's been a hideous absorption with materialism which has nearly destroyed not only the rest of the world, but cheapened, deteriorated, deadened the quality of life of people here. Excess has never been a friend of mankind's.

On edit, adding the link I forgot:

Consumption
by the United States

http://www.mindfully.org/Sustainability/Americans-Consume-24percent.htm

(Sorry, brain not functioning too well late at night.)

[raccoon]

7. Thanks for the link. When DU'ers talk about overpopulation, I point out that

overconsumption by Americans and people from other industrialized countries is a large part of the problem.

[kestrel91316]

8. You're a relative newbie, so I will forgive you for your ovbious sarcasm impairment.

You might want to note the smilie throwing the computer in my post.

[PaulaFarrell]

2. looks like more to come....

"Fear of rice riots as surge in demand hits nations across the Far East"

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article3701347.ece

"Food prices rise beyond means of poorest in Africa"

It has been called a “perfect storm” - a combination of apparently unrelated events that have come together to trigger soaring food prices. Millions of people, particularly in developing countries, are affected by rises that have caused riots and many deaths.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article3701346.ece