ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses the politics of subsistence protest in low- and middle-income countries. It considers the moral underpinnings of food riots and their politics, pointing to another, more profound reason for paying attention to the voices of those who suffer chronic subsistence stress and hunger. The book describes a case study of India which provides an example of a vertical relationship in transition, when the waning powers of Communist Party Marxist (CPM) that had ruled the state of West Bengal for decades. It was the political moment for a series of intense protests by farmers and people on low incomes around the management of food subsidy system, a structure infused with CPM politics across the state. The book then examines how garments workers' protests in Dhaka were linked into the problem of inflation, which had seen their real wages shrink during the 2000s.
