International Day of Action! Localize the
Movement for Global Justice! september 26, 2000
Background
Large-scale protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO)
in Seattle in November of 1999, and against the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, DC on April 16,
2000 brought to light the suffering that these three institutions
have caused in developing nations. US activists made it clear that
we will not sit by silently as these powerful, US-dominated finance
institutions, along with US-based corporations, trample the basic
human rights of our brothers and sisters in the Global South.
On September 26, the World Bank and the IMF will meet in
Prague, Czech Republic, and thousands of protestors will gather
in the streets to shed light on the damage these institutions are
inflicting on developing nations. Activists in the US, and around
the globe, will demonstrate in their own countries in solidarity
with the protestors in Prague. Here in the US, activists will Localize
the Movement for Global Justice by doing actions around local
targets and issues that are related to the abuses perpetrated
by the World Bank and the IMF in developing nations.
The last decade in the US has seen exciting growth in activism
around issues like welfare reform, access to health care and essential
medicines, the right to organize, and privatization. At the same
time, the rights of working people and the poor in the US have come
under siege; being in large part sacrificed to economic policies
that put profits before people.
Workers and the poor in developing countries face a similar fate
thanks to the influence of the World Bank and the IMF. Encouraging
privatization of government services, requiring the weakening of
labor laws, and imposing user-fees on health care and education,
the World Bank and the IMF policies leave the poor behind in developing
nations as well.
The World Bank and the IMF, along with the WTO and harmful trade
agreements like NAFTA, promote a form of globalization that gives
corporations increasing control over the lives of ordinary citizens,
both in the developing world and in the US. As family-supporting
jobs in manufacturing disappear, wages stagnate, the right to organize
is eroded in the US, and workers in developing countries face incredibly
high rates of unemployment and increasingly abusive working conditions,
it has become obvious that corporate globalization isnāt working
for all of us.
In fact, in developing countries, Structural Adjustment Programs
(SAPs) imposed by the World Bank and IMF have been disastrous to
the health of the citizens of these nations. One study found that
72% of countries that participated in IMF programs between 1978
and 1995 saw an increase in unemployment.
The World Bank and the IMF continue to demand that poor countries
make payments on their substantial foreign debts rather than forgive
the debts so Governments can devote resources to meeting essential
social need. The World Bank and the IMF have offered paltry debt
relief that keeps poor countries dependent on the International
financial institutions - and deprived of funds to provide primary
schooling, clean water and other crucial services.
The type of "free trade" policies promoted by the World
Bank and the IMF have also been disastrous for communities in the
US. The IMF and the World Bank promote a global race to the bottom
that drives down wages and costs jobs. The same economic theory
that shapes World Bank and IMF policy also guides the attacks on
the right to organize and on basic government services like Social
Security, health care and education in the US.
The ones truly benefiting from corporate globalization are clearly
the big corporations themselves. Exploiting the desperation of workers
in developing countries, US-based multinational corporations have
abandoned workers here, shifting operations to the developing world
where they pay starvation wages and expose workers to hazardous
working conditions - all the while reaping unprecedented profits.
For more information on the abuses of the World Bank and the IMF
and related issues, visit the following websites:
Jobs with Justice www.jwj.org
50 Years Is Enough Network www.50years.org
Center for Economic Policy and Research www.cepr.net
Essential Action www.essential.org
Global Exchange www.globalexchange.org
AFSCME www.afscme.org
AFL-CIO www.aflcio.org
Bank Information Center www.bicusa.org
Mobilization for Global Justice www.a16.org
Friends of the Earth www.foe.org
Rainforest Action Network www.ran.org
Jubilee 2000 UK www.jubilee2000uk.org
Witness for Peace www.witnessforpeace.org
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