Kuthula Matshazi
IN SEVERAL conversations with colleagues about the possible scenarios after the Presidential election results are announced in Zimbabwe, I have asked one question that has not been adequately answered or completely avoided.
The question is how would a new reformist government reconcile the preservation of the current popular and people-based land reform on the one hand and pressures from markets and political hegemons on the other to reverse the land reform and engage in a new round of pro-capital “transparent land reforms”?
Some of those I talk to respond by saying that what they need is a change of government and then they will deal with the matter later on, while others say that there is no way there can be a reversal of the land reforms. If that happens, then people would wedge a war. More...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
The will of the people must be heard
Even a standard silly person could understand that President Mbeki was talking about the electoral process not the socio-economic situation. There is an electoral process that is still ongoing and to declare a crisis before that process is exhausted is nonsense. If at all there is a crisis, its the law, which allows for all these processes to happen. And ironically, all those who declare "crisis" are the very same people who use legal processes as their arguments. YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO. Either choose law or chaos!!!
But we know that they know what President Mbeki meant, its just that they choose to numb their common sense just for political ends.
The crooked thinking will be reflected in the crooked outcomes in our efforts to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe. We bark wrong trees and engage in wild chases.
You harvest what you sow!
Let's get more reasonable and focus on real issues.
ANC Today says...
Speaking to journalists at the United Nations on Wednesday, President Mbeki said his comments had been made in response to a specific question about whether there was a crisis in the electoral process. "The story that I said there is no crisis, I do not have the slightest clue of where it comes from. The question was about the elections - it was not about the socio-economic conditions in Zimbabwe or anything like that," he said. More...
But we know that they know what President Mbeki meant, its just that they choose to numb their common sense just for political ends.
The crooked thinking will be reflected in the crooked outcomes in our efforts to resolve the situation in Zimbabwe. We bark wrong trees and engage in wild chases.
You harvest what you sow!
Let's get more reasonable and focus on real issues.
ANC Today says...
Speaking to journalists at the United Nations on Wednesday, President Mbeki said his comments had been made in response to a specific question about whether there was a crisis in the electoral process. "The story that I said there is no crisis, I do not have the slightest clue of where it comes from. The question was about the elections - it was not about the socio-economic conditions in Zimbabwe or anything like that," he said. More...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
How Hunger Could Topple Regimes
The idea of the starving masses driven by their desperation to take to the streets and overthrow the ancien regime has seemed impossibly quaint since capitalism triumphed so decisively in the Cold War. Since then, the spectacle of hunger sparking revolutionary violence has been the stuff of Broadway musicals rather than the real world of politics.
And yet, the headlines of the past month suggest that skyrocketing food prices are threatening the stability of a growing number of governments around the world. Ironically, it may be the very success of capitalism in transforming regions previously restrained by various forms of socialism that has helped create the new crisis. More...
Source: TIME
And yet, the headlines of the past month suggest that skyrocketing food prices are threatening the stability of a growing number of governments around the world. Ironically, it may be the very success of capitalism in transforming regions previously restrained by various forms of socialism that has helped create the new crisis. More...
Source: TIME
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Zimbabwe needs $1B a year bailout
April 04, 2008 Reuters
LONDON
Zimbabwe needs more than $1 billion a year in reconstruction aid and Britain is working with the United States, European Union, World Bank and IMF on a recovery plan, a British government source said yesterday.
Once prosperous Zimbabwe has suffered economic collapse under President Robert Mugabe, who faces the biggest crisis of his 28-year rule after a strong showing by the opposition in last Saturday's election.
Former colonial ruler Britain has said it is ready to help Zimbabwe if it judges the country has returned to democracy. More...
Related Document: MDC Transitional Plan
Source: Global Analysis
LONDON
Zimbabwe needs more than $1 billion a year in reconstruction aid and Britain is working with the United States, European Union, World Bank and IMF on a recovery plan, a British government source said yesterday.
Once prosperous Zimbabwe has suffered economic collapse under President Robert Mugabe, who faces the biggest crisis of his 28-year rule after a strong showing by the opposition in last Saturday's election.
Former colonial ruler Britain has said it is ready to help Zimbabwe if it judges the country has returned to democracy. More...
Related Document: MDC Transitional Plan
Source: Global Analysis
Bush ethanol plan threatens to starve 3 billion plus people worldwide
WORTH REPEATING
Reflections of President Fidel Castro
March 29 2007, Granma International
MORE THAN three billion people in the world are being condemned to premature death from hunger and thirst.
This is not an exaggeration; this is rather a conservative figure. I have meditated for quite a long time on that after the meeting held by (United States) President George W. Bush with US automakers (carmakers). The sinister idea of turning foodstuffs into fuel was definitely established as the economic strategy of the US foreign policy on Monday, March 26. A wire service issued by the AP, a US information agency with worldwide coverage, literally reads: WASHINGTON (AP), March 26 — President Bush touted the benefits of "flexible fuel" vehicles running on ethanol and bio-diesel in the Monday, meeting with automakers to boost support for his energy plans. Bush said a commitment by the leaders of the domestic auto industry to double their production of flex-fuel vehicles could help motorists shift away from gasoline (petrol) and reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil. More...
Reflections of President Fidel Castro
March 29 2007, Granma International
MORE THAN three billion people in the world are being condemned to premature death from hunger and thirst.
This is not an exaggeration; this is rather a conservative figure. I have meditated for quite a long time on that after the meeting held by (United States) President George W. Bush with US automakers (carmakers). The sinister idea of turning foodstuffs into fuel was definitely established as the economic strategy of the US foreign policy on Monday, March 26. A wire service issued by the AP, a US information agency with worldwide coverage, literally reads: WASHINGTON (AP), March 26 — President Bush touted the benefits of "flexible fuel" vehicles running on ethanol and bio-diesel in the Monday, meeting with automakers to boost support for his energy plans. Bush said a commitment by the leaders of the domestic auto industry to double their production of flex-fuel vehicles could help motorists shift away from gasoline (petrol) and reduce the nation’s reliance on imported oil. More...
IMF head gives food price warning
Story from BBC NEWS
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict.
There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt.
Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis. More...
Related Article: Riots, instability spread as food prices skyrocket
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict.
There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt.
Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis. More...
Related Article: Riots, instability spread as food prices skyrocket
Why costs are climbing
As food prices surge, starvation looms for millions. Experts call for emergency action but admit there's no quick fix
ERIC REGULY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
April 12, 2008 at 12:13 AM EDT
ROME — Fatal food riots in Haiti. Violent food-price protests in Egypt and Ivory Coast. Rice so valuable it is transported in armoured convoys. Soldiers guarding fields and warehouses. Export bans to keep local populations from starving.
A swelling global population, soaring energy prices, the clamouring for meat from the rising Asian middle class, competition from biofuels and hot money pouring into the commodity markets are all factors that make this crisis unique and potentially calamitous. Even with concerted global action, such as rushing more land into cultivation, it will take years to fix the problem. More...
ERIC REGULY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
April 12, 2008 at 12:13 AM EDT
ROME — Fatal food riots in Haiti. Violent food-price protests in Egypt and Ivory Coast. Rice so valuable it is transported in armoured convoys. Soldiers guarding fields and warehouses. Export bans to keep local populations from starving.
A swelling global population, soaring energy prices, the clamouring for meat from the rising Asian middle class, competition from biofuels and hot money pouring into the commodity markets are all factors that make this crisis unique and potentially calamitous. Even with concerted global action, such as rushing more land into cultivation, it will take years to fix the problem. More...
The coming hunger
Riots over rising grain prices are ripping through the developing world and the United Nations warns there's worse to come. Was Malthus right? Are we getting too numerous to feed ourselves?
Apr 12, 2008 04:30 AM, The Toronto Star
Lynda Hurst Feature Writer
The warning bells are ringing, furiously. This week, food riots paralyzed Haiti, with angry marchers outside the president's palace shouting "We are hungry!" Five people were killed in the chaos.
In Egypt, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed this week in two days of violence over food shortages. Last month, a two-week protest at government-subsidized bakeries ended with the deaths of 10 Egyptians in clashes with police.
Rice is the staple food of 4 billion people. But the prices for it, along with corn, wheat and other basics, has surged by 40 per cent to 80 per cent in the last three years and caused panicked uprisings in some of the poorest countries on Earth, from Cameroon to Bolivia. More...
Apr 12, 2008 04:30 AM, The Toronto Star
Lynda Hurst Feature Writer
The warning bells are ringing, furiously. This week, food riots paralyzed Haiti, with angry marchers outside the president's palace shouting "We are hungry!" Five people were killed in the chaos.
In Egypt, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed this week in two days of violence over food shortages. Last month, a two-week protest at government-subsidized bakeries ended with the deaths of 10 Egyptians in clashes with police.
Rice is the staple food of 4 billion people. But the prices for it, along with corn, wheat and other basics, has surged by 40 per cent to 80 per cent in the last three years and caused panicked uprisings in some of the poorest countries on Earth, from Cameroon to Bolivia. More...
Haitian PM dismissed in wake of riots over food prices
JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press
April 12, 2008 at 9:56 PM EDT, Globe and Mail
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian lawmakers on Saturday dismissed the country's prime minister, hoping to defuse widespread anger of rising food prices that led to days of deadly protests and looting.
The prime minister's ouster reflects frustration over soaring food prices in a nation where most people live on less than $2 a day and chronic hunger had become unbearable in recent months. More...
Associated Press
April 12, 2008 at 9:56 PM EDT, Globe and Mail
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian lawmakers on Saturday dismissed the country's prime minister, hoping to defuse widespread anger of rising food prices that led to days of deadly protests and looting.
The prime minister's ouster reflects frustration over soaring food prices in a nation where most people live on less than $2 a day and chronic hunger had become unbearable in recent months. More...
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