[Translated from April 2, 2008 broadcast by Gegenstandpunkt Marburg]

Hunger riots in Haiti, protests in Egypt, flour and bread rationing in Pakistan, a corn shortage making tortillas exorbitant in Mexico, rice shortages in Thailand and the USA, etc....

by DOUG SAUNDERS - The Globe & Mail

"Last week, I saw a man sitting next to his poppy crop and crying,"..."He told me that he'd been paid in advance for his poppy, and how can he possibly pay it back now that it's been eradicated? He told me, 'I have no choice, but I have a 14-year-old daughter who I have to give to a smuggler as payment' "...[K]illing a poor farmer's crop can have nasty consequences.

By Monte Paulsen - May 1, 2008

Provincial spending on housing and health care has exploded during [British Columbia] Premier Gordon Campbell's second term, and a pair of recent reports suggest that a large part of this ongoing spending may be a direct result of the BC Liberals' 2002 cuts to welfare spending..."We are paying more,"..."But we're paying in different ways. We're paying more through health care...[T]hrough the justice system. We're paying more through all the demands on community services."

by Linda McQuaig - May 06, 2008

...[D]uring [the 1950's, '60's, and '70's] the share of income received by the richest 1 per cent actually declined...The rich didn't like this, and have been waging a kind of class war ever since, convincing governments to impose "neo-conservative" policies like lower minimum wages, tighter monetary policy, less social insurance protection, open markets and shifting the tax burden from capital to labour...The results have been grim for many Canadians, but spectacular for the rich, particularly the very rich.

Recently while traveling in Nebraska I stopped at the Shoemaker Truck Stop along I-80. It was a classic truck stop and it was obvious to see it’s been around for many moons. The trucker was still revered in this vintage haunt. The walls were covered with pictures depicting the golden age of trucking, farming, Ole Route 66, and other forgotten or ignored aspects of humble USA history. Curios of a wide variety filled the shelves, all depicting Americana from the early years to the present. From trucking to farming this place had history and memories for all to see.

Today over 27 million children and adults are in slavery or bonded labor around the world—more than any other period in human history. As one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world, slavery remains largely hidden from the public eye and thrives on the rising global demand for inexpensive, unskilled labor and commercial sex.

Reuters

CARACAS: Soaring food prices are a "massacre" of the world's poor and are creating a global nutritional crisis, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that capitalism is in decline.

Darrell Mickasko burned to death in a Vancouver alley.
At least 56 homeless British Columbians died during 2006 and 2007, according to provincial statistics obtained by The Tyee. B.C.'s homeless died at a rate that's at least 19 per cent higher than the general population, according to the office of the chief coroner.

by Frances Bula - April 23, 2008

[British Columbia's] welfare system makes people homeless, sometimes forces women to turn to prostitution and relies on food banks and charities to help provide the basics to its clients, according to an unprecedented in-depth study of welfare recipients.

by Daphne Bramham - April 19, 2008

Not since the Great Depression have so many Canadians been homeless or at risk of losing the roofs over their heads. But what makes the homeless crisis different from the 1930s is that this is not the result of a natural disaster. It's the result of a perfect storm of failed government policies...Canada has become the only developed country in the world that has neither a national housing plan or a national mental health strategy.

Anger over rising prices has been building for many months with basic food stuffs increasingly out of reach for the poor. Tires were set ablaze in the streets and thrown together to form barricades that paralyzed traffic for days.

What was once thought to be an Asia issue, rice shortage, has hit California, New York and New England as shopper’s line up at markets to buy rice. Some stores are considering rationing the commodity as panicked shoppers buys hundreds of pounds of rice at a time. Some call it sticker shock since the looming rice shortage has increased the price of this once cheap food stuff.

Ah yes, nothing like traveling through the heartland of the good ole USA to stimulate me and my stories. Remember when Obama made a statement about people being bitter and all? Well he only touched the tip of the proverbial ice berg with that statement eh. Bitter is an understatement fore the real phrase should be “pissed off” and pissed off big time and not just in Pennsylvania.

Several groups in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside have filed a formal complaint with the United Nations in the lead up to the 2010 Olypics.

"The complaint sets out eight grounds of particular concern about the residents of the Downtown Eastside rooming houses and SROs, alleging that Canada has breached their requirements under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to ensure that everyone has adequate housing."

Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger, Chris Mallinos. The Ottawa Citizen.
Ottawa, Ont.: Apr 6, 2008. pg. A.8

Lured to Kuwait with the promise of work, truck drivers from developing countries say they have been trapped by companies that seized their passports and forced them to join deadly convoys into Iraq to supply U.S. troops.