- published: 20 Apr 2013
- views: 6568065
World food prices increased dramatically in 2007 and the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2008 creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nations. Although the media spotlight focused on the riots that ensued in the face of high prices, the ongoing crisis of food insecurity has been years in the making. Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate. After peaking in the second quarter of 2008 prices fell dramatically during the Late-2000s recession but increased during 2009 and 2010, peaking again in early 2011 at a level sightly higher than the level reached in 2008. However a repeat of the crisis of 2008 is not anticipated due to ample stockpiles.
Initial causes of the late-2006 price spikes included droughts in grain-producing nations and rising oil prices.Oil price increases also caused general escalations in the costs of fertilizers, food transportation, and industrial agriculture. Root causes may be the increasing use of biofuels in developed countries (see also food vs fuel), and an increasing demand for a more varied diet across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia.
Olivier De Schutter is a legal academic and human rights expert. A Harvard graduate now resident in Belgium, he was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food by the Human Rights Council in March 2008 and assumed his functions on 1 May 2008. He still teaches international human rights law, European Union law and legal theory at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, as well as at the College of Europe. He is also a visiting professor at Columbia University. Additionally, he is a visiting scholar (2010-2012)at American University Washington College of Law's Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.
The son of a diplomat, his primary and high school education took place in Bombay (now Mumbai), India; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Kigali, Rwanda. He studied law at the Université catholique de Louvain and at Harvard University, before obtaining a Ph.D. from Louvain-la-Neuve. His doctoral thesis was published in French as Fonction de juger et droits fondamentaux. Transformation du contrôle juridictionnel dans les ordres juridiques américain et européens, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1999, 1164 pp. His subsequent publications are in the areas of governance and human rights, with a particular focus on the issue of globalization and human rights and economic and social rights more generally, and on the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. Among his books on human rights are International Human Rights Law. Cases, Materials, Commentary, published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. In his work, he seeks to link the human rights principles of participation, accountability, and non-discrimination, with the idea of learning-based public policies, that are permanently tested and revised in the light of their impact on the poorest and most vulnerable.
You'll never believe what I'm about to tell you, but I swear it's true
Last night I made a deal with the devil
He had me meet him at a quarter to two
He said he heard what I was up to
He said he heard I was his style
He said he's been wantin' to meet me
He said he's been coming around for a while
He told me everyone has been talkin' about all the crazy things I do
He told me everyone has been wantin' to come and have a wild time with you
He said I got a proposition that you might be interested in
So I'ma need all your attention
And this is what he said
Man, you're gonna burn for this one
And you're gonna take a shot or two
But it'll be alright, you're gonna be just fine
Just let me come and walk with you
If you sell your soul for rock n' roll I'm gonna give it all to you
I'm gonna make your dreams come true
So I started thinkin' about all the things he said
And it wasn't much of a decision, here's what was goin' on in my head
I'd go to heaven for the weather
I'd go to hell for the company
And I know it'll be hot down there, but just think of all the friends I'll see
We'll sit around the fuckin' table, talkin' shit and feelin' fine
We'll take shot 'til we're unable to lift our glass another time
Right before I go to bed, I'll grab some girls to clear my head
And think about what the devil fuckin' said
Man, you're gonna burn for this one and you're gonna take a shot or two
But it'll be alright, you're gonna be just fine
Just let me come and walk with you
If you sell your soul for rock n' roll I'm gonna give it all to you
I'm gonna make your dreams come true
I sold my soul for rock n' roll 'cause I just couldn't say no
I sold my soul for rock n' roll, so hell's where I gonna go
I sold my soul for rock n' roll
Man, you're gonna burn for this one and you're gonna take a shot or two
But it'll be alright, you're gonna be just fine
Just let me come and walk with you
If you sell your soul for rock n' roll I'm gonna give it all to you