The "Immediate" Triage Category

For those who may have been skeptical of my "triage" approach to the global food crisis (justifying the World Bank taking their first actions in Haiti and suggesting that Israel could do something of the same in Egypt), the Al Jazeera English report of yesterday's address by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon concluded with a summary of where this crisis is now leading to public violence:

Food security has become a major concern in recent weeks as supplies of basic commodities dwindled in the face of soaring demand, triggering riots and outbreaks of violence in Haiti, Africa and the Far East.

Increases in the price of rice, wheat, corn, cooking oil, milk and other foodstuff have sparked violent protests in at least 37 countries including Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

I have net yet seen a list of the 37 countries cited in this report. However, this morning on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman provided her own variation on this story:

In Bangladesh at least 15,000 garment factory workers went on strike earlier today to call for higher wages to cover the soaring price of food. In South Africa, the country’s main union has kicked off a series of protests over increasing food prices. In recent weeks food riots have also erupted in Haiti, Niger, Senegal, Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Protests have flared in Morocco, Mauritania, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mexico and Yemen.

So, while there may be some argument over specific numbers, it is clear that there are many places that require immediate attention if we are to avoid disastrous consequences. The numbers are large enough that we have to hope that the World Bank has the resources to deal rapidly with those responses that need to follow their first response in Haiti, and it is clear that the World Bank cannot carry all of this burden. Some may have thought that the final paragraph of yesterday's post, calling for an active response from Israel that could be directed at jeopardized nations with large Muslim populations, was an exercise in irony. It was nothing of the sort. For all the talk about the close relationship between Israel and the United States, this is a chance for Israel to follow our lead while, at the same time, demonstrating that it can summon its resources for the needs of a general global good. As a result, if an organization like Hamas still seriously wants to question the right of Israel to exist, then Israel, by its very deeds, can provide them with an indisputably substantive answer!