Riots and Uprising | Who or what to blame

What do you do if you are depressed because of a severe economic condition, i.e. unemployment and extremely low salary but rising cost of daily necessities. You could only afford a small shelter, maybe for you and your family, because the rest must be spent on food. Everyday you have to endure seeing your unhappy-and-often hungry child because there is no means to an end. You are convinced that it's not your fault that things turn out this way, but because of how the country is run. Well, it's a no-brainer these days. Just like what happened in more than half a dozen countries in the past few months, riot and uprising is the popular resolution.

Protesters clash at Tahrir square in Cairo

Riots however, inevitably bring a negative impact to a country. According to reports, the event in Egypt since the past week and a half costs more than $3-billion to their economy. Not to mention a tarnished image with political instability - which would deter investors, multinational companies, and tourists. It would take years to recover and bring back the international confidence. I believe that the rioters realize these, but continue anyway because for them, doing nothing might be good for the short term, but for a bleak future.

I find it hilarious that in the aftermath of the egyptian uprising, the President actually sent out a message to inform the people that he will not run for the presidency election in September. Really? In September? In other words, after many have died and the majority are against him, he still wants to be the President until the end of his term. It's like you are caught stealing $2-million, but said to the police that you wish to keep $1-million. It's a joke because when you are caught, there is no negotiation of how much you can keep, you go to jail.

I''m caught stealing, can I keep half of them?

It should be noted however, some Egyptians don't believe that it is the president's fault that the country fared poorly. Which is why there is a significant "pro" group. The main reason for the uprising is the high unemployment rate and rising food cost. Is it really leadership that causes these problems? People can blame it on the policy made, but if the world economy is suffering, there is nothing much that can be done but hope that people would go through it until it naturally recovers. 

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stipulates that the world market prices for rice, wheat, barley, sugar and meat will continue to rise from the currently all-time high. The main reason for this is the recent weather disasters that have harmed agriculture. The flood and tornado in Australia affected the world price for corn, fruits, and vegetables. In Russia, heat and drought destroyed about one third of its wheat crop which causes price to increase by 50%. Obviously this is not felt by the affluent folks, but for many, it's a matter of survival.

Floods in Australia that causes world food price to increase

The root of the problem is therefore, weather disasters that cause food shortage, which in turn causes riots and uprising. How then, do we solve this root? The key is to possibly stop weather disasters, which means less polution and global warming. Not so easy. The other is to increase food supply by making farmers more productive, but again a major challenge because of less available land, water and other resources. Perhaps a significant investment is now required to combat these challenges.

Revolutionary farming is needed to increase productivity

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