Finance & economics | Turning up the heat

Soaring temperatures and food prices threaten violent unrest

Expect a long, hot, uncomfortable summer

Demonstrators in Kenya running past a burning barricade during a protest over living costs
Image: Getty Images

Protests have a funny way of kicking off when the mercury soars. The summer of 1967 is best known as “the summer of love”. It was a time when hippies flocked to America’s west coast to protest war, take drugs and peace out. But it was also a time when more than 150 race riots struck everywhere from Atlanta to Boston amid brutal temperatures, earning the period another name: “The long, hot summer.”

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Turning up the heat”

From the July 29th 2023 edition

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