world hunger
Democracy Now! Thursday, October 28, 2010
A new report says spending for the 2010 elections will break the previous record for a midterm vote by around $1 billion. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, total spending could reach as much as $4 billion this year. We speak to the president of Common Cause, former Pennsylvania Congressman Bob Edgar. Common Cause is a nonprofit citizen’s lobby promoting an accountable and transparent government. We talk with two people involved with Free Speech for People, a coalition of public interest organizations that formed after the Citizens United ruling. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, joins us to discuss his recent warning that some 500 million small farmers in poor countries are suffering from hunger, partly because foreign countries and corporations have bought up large tracts of land. We’re also joined by Smita Narula, author of a new study suggesting that many of the land deals in Africa and South Asia lack transparency and could threaten local communities with eviction, undermine their livelihoods, and endanger their access to food. Democracy Now! is a daily independent newshour. Democracy Now! is a daily independent newshour.
Email this pageDemocracy Now!: Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009
Leaders from most of the world are gathered in Rome to tackle hunger on a global scale at the UN World Food Summit, but leaders of the world’s richest countries are largely absent. We talk with author Raj Patel about why that is. In the news: University of California regents are meeting Thurs. to vote on a major tuition hike; students and staff, meanwhile, prepare for system-wide strikes that day to protest funding cuts. And a coalition of more than 80 environmental, family farm and consumer advocacy organizations has asked the Senate Finance Committee to reject Pres. Obama’s nominee for the Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Islam Siddiqui is a vice president at CropLife America, a coalition of the major industrial players in the pesticide industry. "Democracy Now!" is a daily independent newshour.
