Posted by msrb on June 9, 2008
Could Fuel Strikes Break Out Across the U.S.?
Tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers strike to protest fuel prices.
[ June 10, 2008] Global update Fuel protests in Hong Kong and India (Video report)
As fishermen’s strike throughout Spain protesting fuel costs entered its second week, tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers began an indefinite strike to protest fuel price rises, blocking roads at the main border crossing with neighboring France.
Spanish truck drivers bring traffic to standstill near Barcelona at the start of an indefinite strike to protest against rising fuel prices. Photograph: Xavier Bertral/EPA. Image may be subject to copyright. See MSRB Fair Use Notice.
Meanwhile, “snail protests” were staged by truck drivers held up traffic around Madrid and Barcelona. “We are the ones who move the goods that this country needs to keep working. If we stop because we haven’t got the money to buy fuel then the country will stop,” Julio Villascusa, president of the transport association federation Fenadismer, said.
Truck drivers’ strike, if it continues for more than a week, could potentially bring spain to a standstill.
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Posted in Energy, environment, government, money, politics | Tagged: biofuel, fossil fuel, fuel, fuel prices, fuel shortages, fuels crops, Hong Kong, India, NO fossil fuel principle, protest, rising fuel costs, spain, spanish truck drivers, strike, Truck drivers, trucks | Leave a Comment »
Posted by msrb on June 2, 2008
Food Riots Break Out in Bangladesh Again
Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers protesting over low wages and soaring food prices clashed with the police on Sunday during fresh protests over low wages and soaring food prices.
“They smashed dozens of vehicles, attacked nearby factories and pelted stones and bricks at our officers. Police fired shotguns to disperse the unruly workers,” police chief said.
Four protestors, including two with bullet wounds, were admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital A nurse said.
Bangladesh’s garment industry employls about 2.5 million workers, or 40 percent of the industrial workforce, and accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s export earnings. The average garment worker earn a basic minimum wage of about 25 dollars a month.
Bangladeshi households spend nearly 70 percent of their income on food. Prices for rice, the country’s staple food have doubled in the past 12 months mainly because of floods last summer and a major cyclone that caused severe damage to the crops in November.
Unions have demanded a major increase in salaries, saying the existing basic payment fixed in late 2006 has become redundant due to rocketing prices of food and other commodities over the past year.
In April, at least 20,000 protesting garment workers clashed with police and 50 were injured.
Bangladeshi demonstrators protesting against rising food and fuel prices on the outskirts of Dhaka in April, 2008. Police clashed with thousands of garment workers in southwest Bangladesh Sunday during fresh protests over low wages and soaring food prices. (Image may be subject to copyright. see MSRB Fair Use Notice.
Food Riot in Kenya
About a thousand Kenyan demonstrators protesting against rising food prices were assaulted by the riot police who fired teargas to disperse them on Saturday.
Widespread food shortages have led to skyrocketing food prices amid political corruption. Annual inflation rose by an average 24.2 percent in April and May.
“The government must subsidize the cost of food, it is not fair for the poor to be suffering with high food prices yet the government has not increased salaries,” said one of the organizers.
Disputed presidential election has also triggered violent clashes across Kenya killing 1,600 people and displacing about one half of a million people since December 2007.
Food and fuel riots, protests and strikes have erupted this year throughout the “third world” countries in Africa Asia and the Americas including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cameroon, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Pakistan, Philippines Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen (other countries may have been omitted inadvertently).
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Posted in Africa, against nature, agriculture, Americas, asia, basic needs, biocapacity, China, collapse, ecosystems, Energy, environment, Food, Global Warming, government, money, politics, staple diet, war | Tagged: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bonn, Buffett the Poor, Cameroon, demonstrations, Egypt, El Salvador, Emerging Food Crisis, Fao, food riots, food shortages, Fueling Food Shortages, garment workers, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Oil Chaos, Pakistan, Philippines Senegal, Poverty Index, protests, Singapore, Somalia, strikes, UN, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen | 6 Comments »
Posted by msrb on April 9, 2008
“We are hungry!”
Food riots have broken out in Port Au Prince, Haiti, due to soaring food prices. The violent clashes that have paralyzed the city left 5 people dead.
In El Salvador, sky-high food prices, especially corn, the staple diet of South America, led to protests. Women took to the streets banging their pots and pans, shouting “we are hungry!” Video report
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Poverty, Hunger, Disease
Image based on CIA world map showing percentage of population living below their national poverty line. Right click on the image, then click on View Image to see original. (Image Credit: user:Sbw01f via Wikimedia; GNU Free Documentation License)
Country In Focus
India: A soul-sick nation with a diseased psyche that spends billions of dollars on its military and nuclear armament, instead of her people!
Democracy and Freedom [sic.] Indian Style: Women washing clothes in a filthy ditch alongside a main road in Mumbai, India. This file is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Brazil License Este arquivo está licenciado sob a Licença Creative Commons Atribuição licença 2.5 Brasil. This photograph was produced by Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency. Their site states: O conteúdo deste site é publicado sob a licença Creative Commons Atribuição 2.5 Brasil (Content of this site is published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil)
Posted in Egypt, El Salvador, food prices, Haiti, Port Au Prince, we are hungry! | Tagged: Africa, corn, ethanol, food riots, hunger, India, poverty | 7 Comments »
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