[mgj-discuss] Report Says WB/IMF Policies Provoke World Wide Protest (Duh)

[brant mgj]

UK: Report Says World Bank, IMF Policies Provoke
Worldwide Protests

By Jim Lobe
OneWorld US
April 22, 2002
 
 
At least 23 countries in Asia, Africa, and the
Americas experienced protests or civil unrest last
year as a result of their governments' pursuit of
policies backed by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank, according to a report
released this weekend. 

Led by Argentina, where IMF-decreed austerity brought
down an elected president last December, some 76
people were killed around the world in 77 episodes of
unrest generated by IMF-backed policies, says the
report from the London-based World Development
Movement (WDM).

At least 30 people were killed in Argentina as a
result of anti-government protests which ousted
President Fernando de la Rua last December and two of
his successors in January. Despite the toll, the IMF
continues to demand sharp cuts in the new government's
budget as the price for fresh loans - a major subject
of this week's annual Bank-IMF Spring meetings in
Washington where the new report was released.

"By undermining democracy and rolling back the state,
developing country governments may be left powerless
to act in the interests of their citizens," according
to the report, 'States of Unrest II.' "Demonstrations,
protests and strikes are a legitimate way for many
people to let both their governments and the
international community know that policies are not
working - in some cases it is the only option left,"
the report states. 

The first edition of the WDM report, released at the
World Bank-IMF annual meetings in Prague in September
2000, showed that the mostly young, largely Western
demonstrators who protested there were part of a much
larger global movement that is demanding that the two
Bretton Woods agencies abandon their "Structural
Adjustment Programs" (SAPS) which critics say have
actually deepened poverty and widened the gap between
rich and poor. 

It detailed 50 separate anti-IMF protests in 13
countries in the 10 months running up to the Prague
meeting. A total of 10 people lost their lives and 300
more were injured in those demonstrations. 

These policies can wreak havoc on national economies,
and hit the poorest members of the population
particularly hard. Government budget cuts, for
example, have frequently fallen most heavily on
social-service programs, although civil servants have
also taken a share of the impact. In addition,
privatization can result in massive layoffs and higher
prices for basic services and utilities. 

But poor governments are obliged to implement them
anyway, because they are unlikely to be able to borrow
money from private institutions unless the IMF and the
Bank have given them a "Seal of Good Housekeeping." 

Of the 23 countries covered in the new report, nearly
three-quarters are implementing IMF-backed
privatization programs, and over half of these have
experienced demonstrations against the moves. 

Roughly half of the 23 countries have experienced
protests by civil service and other public-sector
workers, including teachers, doctors, and police
officers; while a third of the countries have seen
demonstrations against the rising prices of basic
goods and services resulting from the removal of
public subsidies. 

A third of the countries underwent protests that were
explicitly directed against the Bank and the IMF,
which often work in tandem in poor countries. 

I
n addition to Argentina, the most serious
protests--sometimes resulting in violent
confrontations with police or the army--occurred in
Ecuador, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, and Papua New
Guinea. 

But the report also documents protests and strikes in
a number of other countries, including Angola, Brazil,
Colombia, El Salvador,Ghana, India, Mexico, Morocco,
Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, South
Korea, Turkey, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

"Millions of desperately poor people around the world
have been brave enough to protest against IMF
policies: doctors, farmers, priests, teachers, trade
unionists, and indigenous people," said the report's
author, Mark Ellis-Jones.

"They have seen the IMF continue to undermine their
national governments by forcing countries into a free
market, one-size-fits-all blueprint of economic
development," he added. "At a time when links are
being made between poverty, disempowerment and
terrorism this erosion of the democratic contract is
downright dangerous." 

 


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