Speculation & the Food/Energy Crisis

The Fellowship of Reconciliation joined this week with dozens of other NGOs and faith-based organizations to address the growing international hunger crisis, which is connected to the financial meltdown that is being seen in stock market and other sectors in the United States. Please find below a copy of the press release that was issued this week to address this critical issue.

RAMPANT COMMODITIES SPECULATION ENDANGERING THE WORLD’S POOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:        David Kane
202-832-1780
dkane@maryknoll.org


NEW YORK, September 24, 2008 – Rampant speculation in the commodities futures markets has endangered the lives of millions of the world’s poor by contributing to a doubling or tripling of food prices according to over 60 international social justice organizations.

The organizations today urged the U.S. government to close trading loopholes and enforce speculative position limits in energy and food commodities markets during a press conference and through a letter to the President and Members of Congress.  They were joined in their request by Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez and commodities futures markets analysts Michael Masters and Michael Greenberger.

“The recent radical rise in fuel and food prices has made already difficult situations unbearable for hundreds of millions of people,” said Christina Schiavoni of World Hunger Year.  “For people around the world, this is a matter of life and death. What may appear to be a matter of statistics, boils down to whether families will have enough to eat.”

“Re-regulating the food and energy commodities markets should have a noticeable effect in lowering and stabilizing world food prices,” continued Schiavoni.  “It is an obvious first step towards addressing world hunger. We urge the President and members of the U.S. Congress to do their part in seeing that this gets done.”

The World Food Programme estimates that 100 million people will face starvation as a result of the recent jump in food prices.  Half of all the people in the world subsist on less than $2 a day. In normal times, they are forced to spend half of that amount to feed themselves and their children. Today, the actions of institutional investors have contributed to a doubling or tripling of food prices. As a result, many of the world’s poor can no longer afford the food that they need to survive. The lives of millions of people have been endangered and Wall Street is partially to blame.

Many experts such as Michael Masters and Michael Greenberger have testified at recent Congressional hearings that institutional investors have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the commodities futures markets, driving up food and energy prices to historic levels.  Even though prices have dropped in recent weeks, the regulatory loopholes still remain, ready to introduce extreme market volatility, political instability, and much human suffering. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is responsible for regulating agricultural commodities and enforcing speculative position limits, has opened the door for Wall Street banks to speculate in agricultural futures contracts in essentially unlimited quantities.

This is a global crisis of unprecedented proportions - food is not a speculative investment.  The number of people who are suffering the impacts of this crisis is growing exponentially. Numerous social justice organizations have worked with these people for years to find ways to improve their lives and livelihoods. Sadly, because of skyrocketing food prices, the steady progress they have made is being wiped out.

The following organizations signed the attached letter to the President and Members of Congress:

ActionAid USA
Africa-Europe Faith & Justice Network (AEFJN)
Afrika-Europa Netwerk, Netherlands
Agribusiness Accountability Initiative
Agricultural Missions, Inc.
Bay Area Community Services
Biblical Formation by the Missionaries of Africa in Jerusalem
Caney Fork Headwaters Association
Center of Concern
Claretian Missionaries
Columban Central JPIC coordinator
Columban Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office
Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice
Daughters of the Sacred Heart
Farmworker Association of Florida
Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
Food & Water Watch
Foreign Policy in Focus
Global Exchange
Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
Heifer International
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of the Union of Superiors General of men and women religious congregations (USG/UISG)
Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation Committee, Eastern Province USA of the Claretian Missionaries
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA)
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
National Catholic Rural Life Conference
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility, United Church of Christ
Nicaragua Network
Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project
Office of Peace and Justice, Sisters of Charity of New York
Organic Consumers Association
Partners In Health
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi USA
PaxWorks
Pesticide Action Network North America
Quixote Center
Red África Europa Fe – Justicia (Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network)
Red Ambiental Loretana ‐ Peruvian Amazon
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Rural Advancement Fund
Rural Coalition
Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund
SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today
Sisters of Charity Federation
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Justice and Peace Network
Small Planet Institute
Society of Missionaries of Africa
Southeastern North Carolina Food Systems Program
Staff 8th Day Center for Justice
Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville
The Congregation of Holy Cross
The International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation
The Oakland Institute
The Order of the Servants of the Sick (Camillians)
UNANIMA International
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
Washington Fair Trade Coalition
World Hunger Year