Conditions “Worse” Than Arab Spring Coming to a City Near You, Warns UN Food Head Amid Worsening Inflation
The food security issues that the world currently faces are “worse” than what was seen during the Arab Spring uprising more than a decade ago, says David Beasley, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program.
Speaking at the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Beasley explained that things were already getting bad even before the Ukraine crisis, but that the situation has since escalated to become the “worst humanitarian crisis since World War II.”
“Just when you think the world food crisis couldn’t get any worse well over a year ago, you had Ethiopia and Afghanistan, and then the breadbasket of the world [Ukraine] – just got the longest breadlines of the world – and so now because of this crisis, we’re taking food from the hungry to give to the starving,” Beasley told the audience.
“What happens when you take a nation [Ukraine] that normally feeds 400 million people and sideline that … it’s devastating to global food security.”
A Food and Agriculture Organization chart shows that global food prices at the peak of the 2011 Arab Spring incident were much lower than they currently are. The situation right now, says Beasley, is “actually worse” than what they were then, and is only getting increasingly worse with each passing day.
In Sri Lanka, for instance, protests have erupted over food and fuel shortages, which threaten to bankrupt the country. A similar breakdown of the social and economic order is also being seen in Indonesia, Peru and Pakistan, which Beasley says is “only a sign of things to come.”
“(There are) 49 million people in 43 countries … and those are the countries that we need to be extremely concerned about because that will result in famine, destabilization, and mass migration – if we don’t get ahead of this,” Beasley warned.
A video clip from Beasley’s Twitter account can be viewed below:
Kicking off #WEF22 in #Davos. With a devastating global hunger crisis at our doorstep, it is all hands on deck to pull millions back from the brink of famine. We need EVERYONE’s help to save lives today: from world leaders to the private sector and billionaires!! pic.twitter.com/oAH1LApFSX
— David Beasley (@WFPChief) May 23, 2022
