July 25, 2011
Hungry people will do anything for food, which means that those who have control over food can use it as leverage.
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| Dees Illustration |
There is also some established precedent for taking account of family planning performance in appraisal of assistance requirements by AID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and consultative groups. Since population growth is a major determinant of increases in food demand, allocation of scarce PL 480 resources should take account of what steps a country is taking in population control as well as food production. In these sensitive relations, however, it is important in style as well as substance to avoid the appearance of coercion.So, food was to be used as just another method of imperial colonization to force countries to conform their policies to those desired by the controllers. Notably, this tactic only works as a blunt weapon on territories enduring a severe economic collapse and with little resources for food production. Today, however, it appears that the entire globe is receiving an arsenal of food bombs as there appears to be a multifaceted attack on people’s access to food. In other words, what has been an admitted tactic for nearly 40 years of controlling food aid for regional population reduction has now grown more complex and expansive. Because of massive corporate consolidation of agriculture, centrally coordinated global regulations, a devalued commodity-dollar and unrestrained commodity speculation, chemical and genetic modification, and real or manipulated food shortages; there is indeed a war being waged -- with food as the primary weapon. Understand, this is a not purely a war on food, but rather a war on the general population. Therefore, it is crucial to understand these tactics in order to defend against them.
Here are six ways food is being used to wage war against the population:
1. Food inflation: Crippling food inflation is now affecting every corner of the world with the poorest feeling the worst pangs. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) food price index increased by 3 points to 234 points in June – a 39% increase on the year. These increases are causing mass starvation and rioting in many poor regions of the world, but they are also beginning to punish the middle-class in the Industrialized nations. The price of food is inflating primarily because of a devalued commodity-dollar from excessive money printing and Wall Street commodity speculation. Perhaps it's more appropriate to call it commodity manipulation, not speculation. As William Engdahl recently pointed out: "The ability to manipulate the price of essential foods worldwide at will -- almost irrespective of today’s physical supply and demand for grains -- is quite recent....Up until the grain crisis of the mid-1970s there was no single 'world price' for grain, the benchmark for the price of all foods and food products."
What fuels commodity speculation is not just the obvious decline of the dollar and a flight to something tangible, but also genuine supply concerns based on a variety of factors that cause crop shortages like extreme weather or disease. Regardless of real or manipulated food shortages, food prices will continue to rise because of increased demand and an incrementally weaker dollar. Luckily, there are many ways to protect yourself from food inflation and the food war in general.
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