New Food First Book Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice now available

August 21, 2009

Just released—Food First book, Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice

Today there are over a billion hungry people on the planet, more than ever before in history. While the global food crisis dropped out of the news in 2008, it remains a painful reality for the world's poor and underserved. Why, in a time of record harvests, are a record number of people going hungry? And why are a handful of corporations making record profits? In their new book, Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice, authors Eric Holt-Giménez and Raj Patel with Annie Shattuck offer us the real story behind the global food crisis and document the growing trend of grassroots solutions to hunger spreading around the world.

Food Rebellions! contains up to date information about the current political and economic realities of our food systems. Anchored in political economy and an historical perspective, it is a valuable academic resource for understanding the root causes of hunger, growing inequality, the industrial agri-foods complex, and political unrest. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Holt-Giménez and Patel give a detailed historical analysis of the events that led to the global food crisis and document the grassroots initiatives of social movements working to forge food sovereignty around the world. These social movements and this inspiring book compel readers to confront the crucial question: Who is hungry, why, and what can we do about it?

Food Rebellions! has received praise from the highest levels of international governance. Olivier de Shutter, the UN Special Rapporteur charged with defending the human right to food notes, “The 20th century was the century of technological revolutions. This century is that of the knowledge revolution, and Eric Holt-Giménez and Raj Patel are in its vanguard. At long last, a book which confronts the real issues: How do we reform our food systems to avoid environmental disaster? How do we recapture the production and distribution of food from the tyranny of unchecked markets? This book is vital reading for all concerned with the right to food.”

President of the U.N. General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann praised the book saying, “Food Rebellions! provides an analysis that is clear, documented and searing in its challenge to the powers that be. It provides solutions appropriate to our ecological age and to a new era of food democracy and food sovereignty. It reflects the vision of those most affected by the food crisis. I strongly endorse this book and I hope that it gets a wide readership. More importantly though, I hope that it gets the support of the nations of the world suffering from hunger and poverty. It provides insights from those directly suffering from hunger and poverty, who have a right to be heard.”

In a time on our planet when official plans to solve the world food crisis call for more subsidies and greater technical fixes, here is finally a manual for creating sustainable resilient food systems. Food Rebellions! is a trail marker on the journey to end hunger and build food sovereignty.

--To interview the authors, call 510-654-4400 ext 234 or e-mail marbor (at) foodfirst.org

--To order Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice, call 510-654-4400 ext 232 or go to
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/catalog/101/book

--To invite one of the authors to speak at a campus or community event, call 510-654-4400 ext 221.

This book is a joint release with Fahamu Books with funding from Grassroots International.
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