Food prices trigger revolution

(Editor's note: This is the third in a series of five Underreported Stories of 2011*)

By Josh Sternberg
Current.com contributor 

The World Food Bank says food prices in many parts of the world jumped 19 percent from September 2010 to September 2011. The “food prices rising” story was something every media outlet picked up, but a tangential story about the high cost of food’s role as the impetus to the Year of the Uprising is an interesting one that seems to have slipped through the cracks in the United States.

Tunisian food vendor Mohamed Bouazizi started the chain of events that led to the Arab Spring after he lit himself on fire because he didn't have the money to pay the bribes to the police officers who allowed him to sell his food.

The Guardian reported in July that these rising food prices are here to stay and how, ultimately, they affect the poor the most. And while it didn’t mention the increasing food rates as a cause of upheaval, The Australian didn’t pull any punches in this August article:

Rising food prices recently helped to trigger the Arab Spring, just as they played a role in the French Revolution and many others. Revolutionary ideas are all very well, but "a hungry belly has no ears."

Food security, which has always been a source of anxiety for the poor, is becoming a global concern again. The term may be new but the concept is as old as famine. A few staple foods – bread or rice – and cooking oil account for most of the diet of the urban poor and most of their disposable income. This makes minor perturbations in price more critical than in the developed world. In 18th-Century France or 21st-Century Egypt, when food prices rise, people starve.

The Telegraph told us in a May article, “There is a long-established relationship between food prices and the likelihood of revolution.” In fact, The Telegraph made the argument that there’s a “correlation between the prices of food and the Fed’s purchase of U.S. Treasuries” (i.e. its quantitative easing programs), and presented multiple graphs with incredible data-points to corroborate this sentiment.

When food prices rise faster, revolutions become more likely. And in a number of Arab states, food prices are already higher (and more exposed to international commodity price rises) than other states, as [BBC Newsnight’s economics editor Paul Mason] explores.

Time Magazine also noted this as an underreported story of 2011, stating that higher food prices lead to instability.

These increased costs aren't just an exercise in economics, or merely an issue for aid workers: rising commodity prices were one of the main factors contributing to the Middle East uprisings of the Arab Spring. Higher costs, many fear, can only lead to more — and more dangerous — instability.

Story picked up by: The Australian | The Telegraph | Time | Utopianist

Story about rising food costs: CBS | World Bank | BusinessWeek

* Five Underreported Stories of 2011: This time of year, media outlets publish their year-in-review articles and lists, looking back on recent history and reflecting on the major events that shaped the past 365 days. In fact, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted a study of the year’s top stories and the frequency of each reported story. 

However, for a variety of reasons, there are always some stories that slip through the cracks and don’t get as much attention. This is our list, in no particular order, of five stories that went underreported in 2011. 

Monday's story: Number of homeless children highest in American history
Tuesday's story: U.S. military infiltrates social media

Josh Sternberg is a freelance writer, former adjunct professor and recovering communications professional based in Brooklyn. He blogs at The Sternberg Effect. Follow him on Twitter and Tumblr.

(Photo: Getty Images)