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more than half and the richest 10% accounted world domination, a ‘decentered and deterri-
for 85%. Meanwhile, the bottom half of the torializing apparatus of rule’ (Hardt and
world adult population owned barely 1% of Negri, 2000: xii), a world market that
global wealth (Davies et al., 2006). includes less than one-fifth of the world pop-
The global movement of capital in the ulation, an exclusive club that defines mem-
post-Cold War era has been a very selective bership as privilege.
process, creating islands of integrated com- Access to food is still regarded by many as
munities and territories, while leaving many a privilege rather than as a basic human right,
others marginalized (Bauman, 1998; Conway and hunger and malnutrition prevail. Ill effects
and Heynen, 2006; Ghosh and Guven, 2006; of malnutrition hurt even larger numbers of
Kennedy and Danks, 2001; Perrons, 2004). people, mainly children, women and the
The boundaries of development and under- elderly. Far from disappearing, hunger and
development, inclusion and exclusion are malnutrition are on the increase, even in
no longer necessarily formed along the advanced industrialized countries like Canada
north-south axis, but at the community level with a relatively effective social safety net
(spatially as well as socially) all around the (Riches, 1997). The National Population
globe (Amin, 2006; Frieden, 2006; Geyer, Health Survey (NPHS) released by Statistics
2006). Conditions of membership in the Canada indicates that about 15% of Canadians
global economy, foreign aid, free trade were considered to be living in a ‘food-inse-
partnerships, preferential status by interna- cure’ household at some point during 2000/01
tional agencies and investment opportunities (Statistics Canada, 2005). These figures show
are tied to membership status. Nations, a significant jump over the figures from the
ethnic groups, regions and cities compete for previous survey which claimed that 10.2% of
global membership status. Being the ‘other’ Canadian population was food insecure. The
in this process has become an increasingly Canadian Association of Food Banks (CAFB,
heavy burden. 2006) reported that 753,458 people used a
In 1996, at the World Food Summit (WFS) food bank in a typical month in 2006.
in Rome, World leaders admitted that The United States Department of Agriculture
approximately 800 million people around the (USDA) reported that about 12.6 million
world did not have enough to feed them- American families worried that they couldn’t
selves and their families (Koc and MacRae, afford to buy food (Nord et al., 2006). People
2001). A commitment was made to reduce living on low incomes, recipients of social
the number of hungry people by half by 2015 assistance, the elderly, single mothers,
at the WFS, but this commitment was later children of lone parents and Aboriginal
considered to be unattainable. At the follow- people, as well as ethnic minorities face a
up conference in Rome that met in June 2002, much higher risk of food insecurity than the
the Food and Agricultural Organization of the general population.
United Nations (FAO) changed its projection Many observers argue that food insecurity
to reduce hunger to 440 million by 2030, still has little to do with lack of food (Lappé and
above the original 2015 target. Lappé, 2002). FAO (2002) sources indicate
In the emerging new-world order in the that on a global scale 17% more calories are
early twenty-first century, there appears to be produced per person today than three
an abandonment of the commitment to co- decades ago, despite a 70% population
operation, universalism and developmental- increase. This amount is estimated to offer an
ism, key characteristics that made modernity average of 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per
appealing to wider masses. The ‘empire’, as person per day. In fact, a significant propor-
Hardt and Negri (2000) attempt to describe tion of agricultural produce is being used
it, is not a republic built upon the ideals of as animal feed or industrial products such
liberté, égalité, fraternité, but a project of as gasoline, biodiesel, lubricants and other