Report on the 3rd 50 Years Is Enough Conference(1998)

Sado-Monetarism: The Other Capital Punishment
The IMF and World Bank in the Global Economic Order

It's hard to believe, but our third national conference, "Sado-Monetarism: The Other Capital Punishment - the IMF and World Bank in the Global Economic Order", wrapped up over a week ago. Since then, the joint annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, other parallel events, and the continued fight to educate Congress on the necessity of not giving the IMF more money have kept us more than a little busy.

We do want to report, however, on what a great success the conference was. We are very pleased to be able to say that the Sado-Monetarism conference was our most successful yet, in terms of sheer attendance as well as in the range of subjects covered and the interests and passions stirred up among participants. Between the conference, the truly spirited demonstration outside the IMF and other notable landmarks in downtown Washington, and the networking that went on among the hundreds of people gathered, the 50 Years Is Enough Network has gotten a huge shot of energy. And the timing couldn't be better, given the global economic crisis -- global economic justice activists will need to be vigilant in the months to come to take advantage of new opportunities and to guard against letting the world fall deeper into the abyss of inequality and poverty.

The conference took place at the American University in Washington, D.C. from Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4. We were very pleased to be sharing the space and some of our sessions with the first national conference of the Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign. Jubilee 2000 is a global movement for the cancellation of poor countries' crushing debt burdens by the year 2000. We cosponsored and jointly coordinated the Sunday rally and march with Jubilee 2000/USA, more about this in a moment.

The pre-festivities got underway on Sunday, September 27 when we organized a "Very Special Welcome" to guests at the "President's Dinner" hosted by WB President James Wolfensohn at the Meridian International House. About 18 people showed up and really surprised the invitees who wondered how we found out - it's a secret. On Friday, October 2, at noon we held a press conference at the National Press Club in downtown Washington. The speakers included U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders (Independent of Vermont), Walden Bello (Focus on the Global South, Bangkok), Brent Blackwelder (Friends of the Earth-U.S.), Robin Round (Halifax Initiative, Canada), and Patrick Bond (Campaign Against Neo-Liberalism in South Africa), and was moderated by yours truly. Media covering the event included CNN, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC), Die Zeit (Germany), Bloomberg Financial News, Pacifica Radio, Inter Press Service, and Le Matin (Algeria). CNN did separate interviews with Bello and Round at the conclusion of the press conference. Bello, Round, and Bond continued on to the studios of Pacifica Radio to record a segment for "Democracy Now." Earlier on Friday morning Brent Blackwelder and I had been guests on "Democracy Now."

The conference began Friday evening with a plenary featuring Doug Henwood (Left Business Observer) explaining the concept of "sado-monetarism," Walden Bello ( Focus on the Global South) analyzing the causes of the East Asia crisis, elmira Nazombe (Center for Women's Global Leadership ) exposing the reliance of the global economy on the exploitation of women's labor, Amy Goodman, host of Pacifica Network's "Democracy Now," on the predations of corporate capital in Nigeria, and Dennis Brutus, South African poet and anti-apartheid campaigner, on the continuing crisis in his home country. Brutus, a longtime 50 Years Is Enough activist, was shifted to the opening plenary from a later one to in a sense fill in for Archbishop Ndungane of Cape Town, who was unable to come because of the flare-up of tensions in Lesotho (which had been invaded by the South African army about a week before).

We won't go into similar detail on the other three plenaries, or on the 53 workshops, for obvious reasons. A few highlights will have to suffice. Later plenary speakers included Kofi Klu of Jubilee 2000 Afrika, who spoke about the illegitimacy of the crushing debts preventing any advancement in Africa; Lori Wallach of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, who updated us on the nefarious activities of the World Trade Organization and promoters of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and similar measures; Oronto Douglas, who outlined the history of corporate exploitation and terror in Nigeria; Susan George, who spoke about the movement against the MAI in Europe; Gustavo Castro Soto, who talked about resistance to international neo- liberalism in Chiapas, Mexico; Charlie Hinton, a Bay Area 50 Years activist who reflected on imperatives for U.S. economic justice advocates; Cheri Honkala, a leading welfare rights activist who brought the talk of global economics back to the streets and the homeless of U.S. cities; and Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange, who closed the conference with reasons for hope and signs of progress in the struggle.

The workshops included, among many others, sessions on the MAI, youth activism, the Tobin Tax, the East Asian financial crisis, the Russian financial crisis, an interactive simulation of Korea's financial crisis, export credit agencies, questioning standard economic indicators such as GDP, World Bank contributions to climate change, community-based monitoring of WB projects in Indonesia, China's Three Gorges Dam, the mis-named Africa Growth & Opportunity Act, local currency initiatives, and the IMF's connection to militarization in Africa.

On Saturday evening more than 100 conference participants gathered for a reception/party at the University of the District of Columbia Law School. It provided an opportunity for conference participants to relax and network.

All told, there were 394 registered participants in the Sado-Monetarism conference. With the 170 registered for the Jubilee 2000 USA conference, we most likely had more than 600 people (not everyone registered) gathered in Washington to learn about and oppose the policies of the IMF and World Bank.

The conference was capped with a rousing rally and march. The rally and demonstration were organized "to dramatize the need for definitive debt relief and an end to approaches to globalization that lead to environmental destruction, loss of local control, and greater inequality." We commenced at the White House in Lafayette Park where we directed our demands to the Clinton Administration and to the Treasury Department for an end to the powers of IMF powers in setting Southern countries' economic programs and called for a denial of the $18 billion IMF expansion fund.

We then marched to the U.S. Trade Representative's office where the MAI was put on trial -- "The People vs. the MAI (Corporate Greed)" – and found guilty of attempts to circumvent democracy and ride roughshod over the rights of workers, women, communities, and countries.

We continued on our march to the World Bank headquarters where with chants of "More World, LESS Bank" we called for the cancellation of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project (see October issue of "Economic Justice News" for details); an end to World Bank financial support of multinationals, and demanded an end to the World Bank's pushing of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) and other destructive policies and programs.

We marched on to the Mexican Embassy where we heard about the impact of neo-liberal policies on the poor and communities (especially indigenous communities) throughout Mexico, and specifically in Chiapas and the ramifications in the human rights arena.

And then we marched to our ultimate destination -- the IMF headquarters -- where all sorts of "important" meetings were taking place -- in particular the joint World Bank and IMF Interim Committee, the most influential governing body of the institutions. We heard from several speakers who called for cancellation of the crushing debt of impoverished countries and an end to the power of the IMF in designing and shaping economic policies for countries of the South. Several speakers also addressed the role of the IMF in the financial crises of the past decade, (not just the recent/current financial crises) among them debt crisis, the devastation of economies and communities through SAPs, and the increased powers of the rich and of multinational corporations. With chants of "Break the Chains of Debt, NOW!" we emulated the 70,000 people-strong human chain organized by the Jubilee 2000 UK Coalition during the G-8 Summit (see the June "Economic Justice News" lead article for details), and surrounded the IMF main building.

After the formation of the human chain we re-gathered at the entrance to the IMF just as various officials, including World Bank President, James Wolfensohn came out of a meeting. They had to walk the gauntlet or board their chauffeured limousines as we chanted "Break the Chains of Debt, NOW!" It was a poignant hour as the people, mostly men, who make decisions about the lives and futures of the world's poorest people emerged from their meeting and confronted us demanding specific actions that would positively impact the lives of the poor. The looks on their faces - arrogance, disdain, embarrassed smiles and grimaces, bafflement, etc - were a sight to behold. We heard a report, from one of our activists who was in the building at the time meeting with IMF officials on the 13th floor, that our chants could be heard clearly. After "chanting at the gateways to Sado-monetarism we heard concluding remarks" and then gathered up our signs, banners, and braids and left chanting "We'll be back!"

As most of the conference participants made their way home, the 50 Years Is Enough Steering Committee met for an all-day strategy meeting on Monday, Oct. 5. We set goals and priorities for the year to come; we'll share news and the minutes from that meeting shortly.

On Tuesday, October 6, at noon, those who were still in Washington participated in a demonstration at the Marriott Hotel - Wardman Park (formerly the Sheraton), where the bulk of the sessions of the WB/IMF joint annual meetings were taking place. The demonstration, organized chiefly by Friends of the Earth and co-sponsored by 50 Years is Enough and others, focused on calls for canceling World Bank support (through its private-sector lending arm, the International Finance Corporation) for an expensive ($3.5 billion) environmentally, and socially destructive 600-mile pipeline project from Chad to the coast of Cameroon. The financing, which amounts to massive corporate welfare for Exxon, Shell, and other oil giants, has not yet been approved, and we intend to organized and exert public pressure that would sway the decision. Before the demonstration, there was a direct action where activists unfurled a huge banner from scaffolding at the Marriott. It announced to the officials arriving at the Marriott that the "World Bank Still Funds Destruction." The noon demonstration brought together about 60 activists and was addressed by Cameroonian environmental activist Samuel Nguiffo, Director of Centre pour l'Environnement et le Developpement which opposes the pipeline, Oronto Douglas a lawyer who was part of Ken Saro-Wiwa's defense team and activist with Environmental Rights Action who shared his experiences with Shell in Nigeria's Niger Delta region. Once again the activists were energized by the sight of dozens of limousines carrying officials to their private meetings.

We have heard from participants and believe that their analysis - this was our best conference yet. At the Steering Committee Strategy meeting we began to plan for next year and look forward to your input and participation.