Mark Johnson was interviewed by Bill Moyers for the 12/05/2008 program and I highly recommend watching the interview.

Playing for Change is also a member of Product Red which is a business initiative to raise awareness and money to support the work of The Global Fund. The Global Fund is fighting AIDS, tuberculosis, and HIV around the world. Buying products that are marked as Product Red contributes to the Global Fund. You can find out more about Product Red here.

So if you are inspired, step up and step out. There is a world of people working for good waiting to grasp your hand.

First, I have removed one of the articles because apparently the site "went away" since the beginning of the term." The article I removed was "the End of the Age of Oil."

There is also material which is preparatory for the simulation.
You should read the "Cabinet Responsibilities and Scope" pdf file and the "Country Profiles". The "Cabinet and Advisor resources" will be pertinent when you get a cabinet position, so you do not need to read all of those.

You should do journal entries for the first two articles. You do not need to do them for the Cabinet Responsibilities, or Country Profiles (however, you might find it useful to make some personal notes from those 2 pdf documents.

I hope this clarifies things. Sorry for any confusion.

1. Obstructing voter registration drives;


2. Demanding "perfect matches" between voter registration name and other official documents (for example, I may be S Rowan Wolf on my voter registration and S. Rowan Wolf on my driver's license and that would make me ineligible to vote)


3. Purging legitimate voters from the roles;


4. Requiring unnecessary voter identification;


5. Rejecting "spoiled" ballots;


6. Challenging provisional ballots.

But we can fight back!

One of the most important tools is information on how to fight having your vote stolen. To that end, Kennedy and Palast have written the Steal Back Your Vote comic book (which you can view here). Share this information with as many folks as you can. If you can donate even a few bucks to the Steal Back Your Vote effort then donate at the Steal Back Your Vote site, and you can get free online copies of both the SBYV comic book and the Rolling Stone article. (Yes, I threw a donation in the kitty to make these resources available through my site).

Voters roles are being purged, votes redirected, voters being challenged, as you read this. The most likely to have their vote not count are low income and voters of color (big surprise). It is critical that we all be informed and alert to disenfranchisement and stolen elections. As we have heard, the U.S. is purportedly the "city on the hill" for the rest of the world. If we allow elections to be manipulated and stolen here, what message does that send?

Go straight to ST 101.

Wednesday, October 15 at 11 a.m.
Location: Sylvania Campus, PAC Auditorium
Tim Wise: Beyond Diversity

Beyond "Diversity": Challenging Racism in an Age of Backlash
Book signing to follow.
Contact: Multicultural Center at 503.977.4112

Thursday, October 16 at 11 a.m.
White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality
Location: Cascade Campus, MAHB 104 with overflow seating in CA TH 122
Wise offers a highly personal examination of the ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans, overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves, and society. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable yet scholarly, analytical, and accessible.
Contact: Kendi Esary at 503.978.5781

Saturday, October 18 at 9 a.m.
Location: Rock Creek Campus, Building 3, Forum
"Profiles in Distortion: Misusing Data to Justify Racism and Privilege"
Tim Wise, writer and activist
Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S., having given lectures in 48 different states, and on over 400 college campuses. He has trained a multitude of teachers, corporate employees and law enforcement officers in methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.
Contact: Brenda Maldonado at 503-614-7279.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), Group of Eight (G8), and other economic institutions of predatory capitalism are intrinsic to the continuation of exploitation of third-world countries, without them, neo-colonialism could not exist. When we study countries who have been afflicted by colonialism, we see an immense pattern of underdevelopment created by resource and industry hungry capitalists, and this economic underdevelopment trend carries over into the neo-colonialist tradition. Economic dominance, an inherent trait within neo-colonialism, follows the fundamental economic imperialism within capitalism at the expense of underdeveloped nations. Forced dependency on US and first-world goods is the only logical way to continue the first-world status, by destroying the infrastructure of these countries. MNC's (Multi-National Corporations) play an enormously important role in neo-colonialism, by being the major financier and profiteer.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/colonialism
http://www.whirledbank.org/development/sap.html
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/accounts/2004/02/25/privatizat.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_adjustment#Conditions
http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/water/southafrica.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_theory
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/xx/mexico03.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_zone
http://www.isec.org.uk/articles/pressure.html

"They're taking no chances with this year's harvest on the farms in Supamburri. Alongside the heavy machinery, there's a new feature: shotguns. The message is clear: Hand off my rice." ITV News Correspondent, Inigo Gilmore ("Rising Food Prices"). This is the heart of Thailand's rice-growing region, and there's great anticipation around this season's harvest. With many countries facing shortages, rice has never been more prized, so prized, in fact, that for the first time this area has seen significant and organized thefts of the crop. For this reason local farmers are keeping a close watch on this harvest.

Haiti imports 90 percent of its food. So you can imagine, if the food prices have gone up three times over the last three years, that's going to be a country that will be very affected, "Anybody who's a wage-earner and basically has the money to buy food is suddenly finding that they can no longer put two meals on the table for their family and they have to claw it back to one." Komi Kharas, Brooking Institution ("As Food Prices").

World rice consumption has increased 40 percent in the past 30 years. Annual world production had reached a record 420 million metric tons. But global supplies have fallen to their lowest level since 1983-84 (Brinkerman). Around the world, the cost of food is going up, 83 percent in the last three years, and the rise in prices is threatening to plunge more than 100 million people deeper into poverty and hunger. This food shortage is affecting the entire world but is felt the strongest in the poorest of nations even reaching into the middle class. Reasons for this epidemic are vast; some even out of human control, but there are steps we can take to once again feed the hungry.

"What started with a shortage in Thailand and a typhoon in Bangladesh is now putting tremendous pressure on domestically produced rice," Rich Lenardson, manager of Sun Food Service Brokerage in Portland, OR. "I've sold rice since 1978 and I've never seen the kind of price increases we've seen in the past month or so here" (Brinkerman).

The high cost of fuel for transporting food, bad weather in key agricultural areas of the world, the increased food demand from developed nations and market speculations are also contributing to the high prices. "It's a complex converging of events. It's a mixture of issues ranging from bad weather -- climate change plays a role. In Australia, for instance, there's a multi-year drought that has really eaten into the global food supply," Anthony Faiola, The Washington Post ("Supply").

Several reasons are cited for the problem, high energy prices, which boost cost of food transport, climate change, which causes bad harvests in areas from Africa to Australia, and increased consumption by newly prosperous China and India, which are producing less food as farmers move to the cities. Among the numerous factors contributing to the problem are record oil prices that have driven up the cost of transporting food and increased demand.

Another factor, particularly in the U.S. and the European Union, is the diversion of crops such as corn to produce ethanol and other biofuels. In the meantime, the high prices also make it harder on aid agencies to help out; all being tied to the controversy over ethanol, the diversion of corn into a biofuel, rather than for food is an ongoing debate in this country. America produces approximately 40 percent of the world's corn and we're diverting 30 percent of our production into corn-based ethanol currently. "We've got our foot on the accelerator to produce more corn-based ethanol and to accelerate this sort of connection between food and fuel." Raymond Offenheiser, Oxfam America ("As Food Prices"). These new demands from the biofuel industry are taking up more and more of the U.S. corn production, affecting wheat prices, because farmers are inclined to plant less wheat and more corn.

A statement released by, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown's office said that delegates planned to work with the G8 and European Union to form a global strategy that would increase support to the world's poorest countries and attempt to tackle the price problem. It was also agreed that governmental approaches to biofuels should be assessed. "Prices have surged alongside rising energy and production costs, the effects of climate change, and a squeeze on land for production. Prices have spiked as African and Asian countries rushed to secure rice stocks amid fears of social unrest." Gilmore.

In India, a country where millions live a hand-to-mouth existence, concerns about securing those domestic stocks prompted the government to ban rice exports. India is traditionally one of the largest exporters of rice in the world, and this new ban is causing alarm. The Indian government hopes it will stabilize the price of rice there, but the fear is it may push up prices elsewhere. Signs show that is already happening, India's ban follows an export ban by another major exporter, Vietnam, and all this is putting pressure on Thailand, the world's only remaining major exporter.

China has almost doubled its consumption of meat, fish and dairy products since 1990. This takes a lot of grain off global markets since, for example, it takes seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat. This increased demand in China reached a tipping point over the past few years, with China disappearing as one of the largest grain exporters in the world into an importer of grain virtually overnight. Demand in China and India has been increasing now for a decade or more. And globally, the system was able to cope with that demand, up until just a few years ago.

An additional 100 million people, previously not requiring food assistance, are now not able to buy food, said World Food Program, WFP, executive director Josette Sheeran. "This is the new face of hunger -- the millions of people who were not in the urgent hunger category six months ago but now are" ("Global Food"). The U.N.'s World Food Program says the problem is getting worse. Food prices are going through the roof right now, which means that every day that passes we can buy less food than the day before. The U.N.'s World Food Programme was forced to tack an additional $755 million to this year's budget of $2.9 billion to account for rising prices. Oxfam America reprehensive, Raymond Offenheiser, "I think the entire humanitarian community is very concerned about the amount of money that's going to be available for food assistance over the coming year" ("As Food Prices").

The prices of rice, maize and wheat have hit record highs and have doubled in the past year. "Foods price escalation has been especially evident in recent weeks. In Asia, the price of rice has more than doubled in less than two months, from $460 a ton at the beginning of March to more than $1,000 currently," Sheeran told the BBC ("Global Food").

The cost of staples last year rose significantly. Rice was up 16 percent; wheat rose by 77 percent. This year, the spike is even more dramatic. Since January, rice prices have soared 141 percent; one variety of wheat went up 25 percent in a single day ("As Food Prices").

Due to desert conditions and dry hot weather, Mauritania, a small country in northwest Africa, is forced to import approximately 70 percent of its food supply. This is a country that's clearly dependent on the global marketplace for its food. But in a situation like they have now, where food prices have surged to, in some cases record levels, in a very short period of time, you see a situation growing where these people are simply unable to pay for their food. The food is in the markets; they just can't afford it. People who live on less than a dollar a day have to pay 70 to 80% of their income just for food. "There was a family at a marketplace in the capital of Mauritania where they were selling their last goat. They had five goats last year, but because prices have soared as they have, these people have been forced to either sell their goats or to eat them. So what they're doing at the moment is trying to hang on to what little they have. They're skipping meals. They're eating less food. They're eating poor quality food. They used to have rice puddings, for instance, that had rich milk, as well as cooking oil and sugar, and they've dwindled that down to recipes including only rice and water," Faiola ("Supply"). Presently, situation like this are quickly becoming the norm in many countries.

And as prices started to go up, many consumers decided they would be better off to buy now because prices might keep going up in the future, creating a lot of panic buying. The countries that were previously willing to sell stopped selling, reinforcing the bubble in markets. Human resources director for Sysco Food Services of Portland, Oregon, Don Haverkamp, feels, "Consumers in some instances appear to be reacting to fear of shortages by binge buying and hoarding," A sign informs customers of a purchase limit on bags of rice at a Costco:

~Due to increased demand, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history. Please see a supervisor to find your limit~

Analysts trace the trouble back to India, which slapped impositions on exports last year to protect domestic supplies. The ripple effect of that decision finally started to be felt in U.S. stores. "A 50-pound bag of jasmine rice that sold retail for $22 or $23 jumped to $39, $50," says Celia Chan, president of United Pacific Co. Inc., a Beaverton, Oregon wholesaler. "Some U.S. farmers, seeing the chance to increase their own profits, are now trying to capitalize by raising the prices," she said, adding, "It's really hard on the restaurant business now" (Brinkerman).

Even though the evidence is undeniable, some experts feel that the situation is causing undue panic. "I don't know why people keep asking the same question. There is plenty of rice for consumers," David Cola, USA Rice Federation, Washington D.C. "The U.S. produces 1.5 percent to 2 percent of the world's supply, and U.S. farmers grow nearly 90 percent of the rice Americans consume each year." However, Mr. Cola is failing to acknowledge the impact outside of the United States. Regardless of one's view of the situation, at the end of the day, this is not a problem of a global food shortage. This is really a problem of distribution. This is a problem of people who don't have enough money to buy food

One might ask how this could have happened. If you can draw a line from a wheat, corn or soybean farm in the American Midwest all the way to Mauritania in West Africa, one might ask: wasn't globalization supposed to make food cheaper for poor people? For the last 15 years or so, there has been this assumption that countries like Mauritania could effectively abandon their government-fixed price systems that they had and give up this idea of having to stockpile food for a rainy day, the idea being that the global marketplace would, of course, provide. As a result, when a market increases in demand, for instance, when we see rising demand from China or India, the prices are not adjusting the way they should be, because there's an inhibitor in the market. With the situation where the United State, Europe, and Japan are protecting their famers by offering government subsidies, these subsidies allow these farmers to sell their crops for less. Smaller countries that do not offer subsidies are unable to compete in the market and soon abandon their food farms to grow cash crops. As a result, less food is grown and sold while demand is getting larger every decade.

World Bank President, Robert Zoellick: "It's getting more and more difficult every day. In many developing countries, the poor spend up to 75 percent of their income on food. When prices of basic foods rise, it hits hard. Food riots have already occurred in several nations this month. At least seven people have died in violence in Haiti, where more than half the population lives on a dollar a day or less. The price of rice there has doubled since December." ("As Food Prices"). This situation is very serious, in Egypt; rioters burned a market and neighboring school. In Thailand, a country that exports 90 percent of the world's rice, farmers now carry guns to protect their crop.

World Food Program managers call this crisis a silent tsunami that threatens to plunge more than 100 million people world wide into hunger. "It's probably the toughest challenge that we are facing as and aid organization in our history," said Bettina Luescher, a New York spokeswoman for the 45-year-old agency. The WFP bought rice in Bangkok for $460 per metric ton on March 3. Five weeks later the price hit $780 (Brinkerman).

But one of the things that has happened here is that the market for food has become connected with the market for energy, because you need fertilizer to grow your crops -- most of the fertilizer is produced from natural gas. Energy is needed to transport and distribute food, the shocks that we are now seeing and the pressures in the energy market are inevitably spilling over into pressures in the food markets. As some governments are limiting their exports to protect their own populations, we have got to reinvigorate investment in agriculture and the agricultural sector in many of these countries in order to get a sustainable, a long-term solution. One of the things we may need to rethink is, how do we want to structure food? Do we want to link this market so closely to another very vulnerable market, which is energy? Or do we want to develop different forms of agriculture, which are less energy intensive?

This is not Greek tragedy where fate is decided by the gods and humans can do nothing about it. No, we have the ability to influence our futures; we can fix this problem and need to act quickly.

Works Cited

"As Food Prices Soar, U.N. Calls for International Help." The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. WOPB, Portland. 23 April. 2008.

Brinkerman, Jonathan. "A World of Factors Boosts Rice Prices." The Oregonian 4 (2008): A1and A4.

"Global Food Prices Dubbed a 'Silent Tsunami'." The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. WOPB, Portland. 23 April. 2008.

"Rising Food Prices Felt Around the World." The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. WOPB, Portland. 11 April. 2008.

"Supply, Price of Food Increases Hardship for World's Poor." The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. PBS. WOPB, Portland. 29 April. 2008.

1. Approaches to address issues you identified.

2. Problems those solutions might cause.

3. What are you building towards? What barriers stand in the way? How do you address them?

4. Who is left out? How do you address the situations of vulnerable and marginalized populations?

5. What about those in rural areas? In other parts of the world?

Oil Shockwave Simulation Report

I'm on my way to school and as I'm walking out my building I take notice of the group of janitors that regularly clean my apartment complex. There are four total standing outside the building smoking a cigarette. One person is a black male; another is a black female, one that would seem to be at first glance, a lesbian, and lastly an older white female. It's just a short walk to where the PCC shuttle meets, but on my way there I pass a main bus stop, where it is brought to my attention again that the majority of the people waiting for the bus are the minorities. When I finally get to the shuttle stop I board the next arriving shuttle to find my bus driver is a Native American male. Eventually, I get to school, sit down and listen to my white female professor lecture the class. At 3:50 pm class gets out and by this time I'm starved, so the cafeteria is my next stop and here I observe the different cafeteria workers and once again Hispanics and Asian Americans are taking the lead role. It would be easy to tell ourselves that everyone picks the job they want or maybe even going as far to think, " at least that person has a job,".

The most obvious of the inequalities women face are the lower wages due to gender, and sexual harassment. From my first hand experience I can attest to both of these issues. Most surveys reveal that of all the employed women as many as one half experience sexual harassment (Anderson and Taylor, 2008; 503). Sexual harassment is divided into two different groups, one called Quid Pro Quo which means the exchange of sexual favors in order to get a high grade or better position. The second being a hostile working environment this meant any unwanted sexual attention that persisted into a routine at work. Most of the time women are hesitant to report incidences because they feel they won't be taken seriously, especially women of color. Often time there is also a language barrier that makes it more difficult for women to stake their problem. Typically you find more sexual harassment cases in work environments where there is a high male to female ratio. Sexual harassment can be interpreted several different ways. One, is males once more trying to stake their dominance in a place they once dominated, men may or may not be aware of this. Secondly, men might try to make women feel comfortable in the work environment by showing them affection or attention. This gets misinterpreted as unwanted sexual attention. Thirdly, it is a subconscious response to unfair treatment in the work place. Whatever the reason is, women of all color should not be subject to these situations.

All around the world, in countries such as India and China, women are put in far worse conditions. For example, women in India are often forced to have children by their dominating husband and then left with no resources to care for them. A usual employee at a sweat shop is a woman of color. In some parts of Africa women's unemployment rates are as high as 26% , even worse a majority of Africa's countries can not provide statistics about women's employment, because frequently the work women to do isn't recognized by official statistics (Anderson and Taylor, 2008; 492). In these third world countries unemployment is high and there are few jobs women can take. Most of these jobs are provided by corporations who know they can get away with giving ridiculous wages.

What are the causes behind women having lower wages than men? It isn't uncommon for women to have a more difficult time in being taken seriously. Between each sex there are stereotypes. An example being, men are leaders, hunters, and providers; women are nurturing, emotional, and housekeepers. With this being the grounds for first assumptions made about someone based on their sex you can see why women might have a harder time advancing or even getting the opportunity to prove their individual strengths.

In closing I would like to propose a thought about increasing minimum wage for all women. For America this would put most families closer to earning the national cost of living, but would that help our economy. We are the consumerism nation. Would earning more money just send Americans on a shopping spree only to further our nation's consumption rate? What abut raising wages for women in countries where they are subject to pennies a day? Higher wages might mean for them an education for their kids, food on the table every day, or medicine. So, whose wages should we be fighting for? Just a thought.

Bibliography
1. Anderson and Taylor. 2008. General Sociology: Social Change and the Social Institutions. Thomson Wadsworth, Inc.:Ohio

UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis

Multinationals Make Billions In Profit Out of Growing Global Food Crisis

Food price rises are "mass murder": U.N. envoy

Major Arctic sea ice melt is expected this summer

No let up in India farm suicides

Oxygen-poor ocean zones are growing

From the very beginning of America it was a grand dream to live in the land of opportunity. 400 years ago people came to escape from oppression. As the years passed, more and more people came from far and wide looking for that "American Dream." It was thought by some that in America the streets were paved with gold. Anybody, no matter their race, age, or sex, could come to America and find work, become successful, buy a home, and save for retirement. What happened to that dream? What happened to America?

There was a time when a man could walk into a company, get an apprenticeship and work his way up to the top. Corporations held strong to company loyalty and rewarded their employees with secure pensions. The middle class became strong and America was prospering; change was soon to come. Corporations now hold no value in their employees. Men and women are quickly losing their jobs to cheaper labor overseas. Unable to find jobs of equal value many Americans are taking jobs beneath their previous earning ability, now having to get by with the two-income household that is so common today.

Forty years ago a family could get by easily on one income. They could buy a home and build a savings. They could send their kids to college and take a vacation every year. Today may appear to be much like yesteryear, however there is a big change. Now, these families must rely on two incomes; now, these families don't have a savings account; now, these families will send their kids to college on loans and create even more debt just to maintain the same lifestyle of a generation ago.

Minimum wage jobs have become impossible to get by on. Rent goes up, gas goes up, food goes up but minimum wage stays the same. The opportunity for advancement in a minimum wage job is little to none. A hard working, non-college educated, American in 1940 could easily find a low skill job and make it on minimum wage. Jobs were abundant after the war. One could work as a receptionist; in manufacturing; at a call center "help desk"; or even as a Midwestern farmer. Now, thanks to globalization and invention, the receptionist is no longer needed, we have automated machines to answer the phones; manufacturing jobs are still abundant, in China; the call center has been moved to India, and if you want to farm you better buy a ticket to Equator.

In 1940 most jobs offered the possibility to buy a house, not anymore; even if you
have a better than minimum wage job, good luck. My husband, John, works at a union job. When he started his job in 1989 he was paid five times the minimum wage. Today that same job only pays maybe three times today's minimum wage. Had we not already done so fifteen years ago, the dream of buying a home would be lost to us today. Since 1993, when we bought our home, John's pay has risen only a few dollars an hour, yet the value of our home has tripled. With the cost of living in America, today we would not be able to afford the house we presently live in.

For those not fortunate enough to go to college or to get a union job, the chances of them buying a home are slim to none. Yet, our parents from just one a generation before us can't understand why we struggle, why we have debt. They seem to be in the mind set that if we all worked harder and saved more then we would all have the opportunity to be homeowners. This older generation may live in the home they paid $45,000 for and have mortgage payments lower than some of today's car payments.

Those who determine the wages of "the little people" don't have any idea what it would be like to live on minimum wage in America. In 1973 CEO's of large corporations earned 35 times as much than the average worker, today CEO's earn 200 times as much (McKibben, p.103). The wage gap is getting so large it is literally eliminating the middle class all together.

Modernization Theory sees people as poor because they have poor work habits, engage in poor time management, are not willing to defer gratification, and do no save or take advantage of educational opportunities. It is the thought of Modernization Theory that people and countries are poor because they have poor attitudes and poor institutions (Anderson/Tayor, p.252). This thought process serves as a great injustice to all the hard working people in the world.

As described above, wages in America are becoming impossible to get by on. Even the very hardest of workers struggle. Opportunities for betterment are not available to all people. As these people continue to struggle opportunities for their children to go to college and break the cycle are even less. Globally many people work long hard hours for little pay, immensely less than that of America's minimum wage. These people are not poor because they do not work hard. They are not poor because they can't "save" their pay. They are poor because they are exploited by the corporations that use the labor force of poorer counties in order to create a larger bottom line for themselves.

Of course we cannot over look the wage gap between men and women. For centuries men have been the predominant work force and women were considered the homemakers. Now that families need two incomes to survive women have entered the work force. Men are usually in charge and feel women are of less value and in turn pay them less than they pay men for the same job. This happens for many reasons. One might be that when a woman is hired it is thought that she is not looking for a true career. It is thought that she is only working for spending money, or she will soon get pregnant and will leave the job. Male employers sometimes feel that even if a woman were to return to work after pregnancy she is still not a serious employee because of the time she missed and is now behind in skills, or she will not be reliable when she may have to take time off if her child gets sick.

I once held job for a wholesale travel agency. It was forbidden for anybody to talk about wages. This company did not have a starting wage and then incremental raises, they would randomly choose your pay according to your experience (or so they said). Of course everybody broke the rules and spoke of their wage differences. One man who was recently hired had no travel experience or computer skills, yet he earned more than all the women there, even the women who have been working for this company for many years. When this injustice was brought forward, the management concluded that since he was a man, and needed to support his family, he needed to earn more. This was such an outdated way of thinking. Many of the women working for this company were single moms who needed to support their families. Yet the stereotypes continue.

It is difficult to see how things became so askew. It is sad to see it spreading beyond America and around the entire globe. With globalization as it is today the rich will keep getting richer and the poor will keep getting poorer. It almost appears as a circle of life. We lived the good life for a while; we lived the American dream, now we are circling back to medieval times, back to the times of oppression with the separation of royalty and peasants. With all the years of civilization and invention, we have only managed to create this divide on a much larger, worldwide scale than it was those 400 years ago.

Works Cited

McKibben, Bill, Deep Economy. New York: Times Books, 2007.

Andersen, Margaret, and Howard Taylor. General Sociology: Social Change and Social Institutions. Portland: PCC P, 2008.

Food price rises are "mass murder": U.N. envoy. Reuters. 4/20/2008.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Global food price rises are leading to "silent mass murder" and commodities markets have brought "horror" to the world, the United Nations' food envoy told an Austrian newspaper on Sunday.

Ziegler said he was bound to highlight the "madness" of people who think that hunger is down to fate.

"Hunger has not been down to fate for a long time -- just as (Karl) Marx thought. It is rather that a murder is behind every victim. This is silent mass murder," he said in an interview.

Ziegler blamed globalization for "monopolizing the riches of the earth" and said multinationals were responsible for a type of "structural violence".

"And we have a herd of market traders, speculators and financial bandits