Conference Workshops (1998)

Workshop Session A

A1. Influencing the Multilateral Development Banks: Advocacy Campaigns Initiated by Southern NGOs

This workshop will focus on the Center for Democratic Education's successful advocacy campaign methodology with case studies of advocacy campaigns assisted by the Center in Belize with an indigenous environmental alliance; in Guatemala with a land administration loan and consultative group; and in Nicaragua on the country's external debt and the HIPC initiative.

John Ruthrauff, Center for Democratic Education

A2. Youth and the Global Economy: Peer Education for a Just & Equitable Global Society

Think that structural adjustment, IMF funding, corporate investment, and the MAI, are too complex to talk about with your friends? Come experience how to present economic realities in fun and easily- comprehensible ways to your fellow high-school and college students. Find out how to organize support for sustainable alternatives in communities around the world.

Colin Rajah, Overseas Development Network; Martha Hannan, International Development Exchange; and Shaun Skelton, Visions in Action

A3. MAI: Democracy for Sale?

This is an introductory popular education session designed to help people understand the (MAI) Multilateral Agreement on Investment. We will talk about where the MAI came from, and its effects on countries and communities. We will explore how the MAI is an important piece of the larger economic globalization forces at work in the world today. (It is recommended that participants also attend the MAI Free Zones: Local Organizing Around the World workshop which will focus on ongoing actions and strategies to defeat the MAI).

Susan Thompson, Columban Justice & Peace Office and Lisa McGowan.

A4. Making the Media Work

This workshop will examine the U.S. media's coverage (or non-coverage) of international economic realities, with some comparison to how the rest of the world treats the issues in the media. The main emphasis of this session however will be on tips and strategies activists can use to start making the media work for them -- how to get the stories that should be reported in the news.

Abid Aslam, Inter Press Service and Sam Husseini, Institute for Public Accuracy

A5. Debt and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs)

This workshop explores the role of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), particularly the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, in the debt burdens of developing countries. The workshop will address issues such as the history of IFI lending to developing countries, the evolution of the debt crisis, the current situation, and initiatives, both governmental and from civil society, to address the debt burden. The workshop will also explore the unique political role that the IFIs play in the debt relief debate.

Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth; Lydia Williams, Oxfam America; and Derek MacCuish, Social Justice Committee of Montreal

A6. A Tobin Tax on the Global Casino: Regulating Speculative Capital While Raising Public Revenue

The Tobin Tax refers to a proposal by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Tobin to levy a small tax on all speculative international currency transactions (as opposed to productive investments, which represent a very small percentage of total movement of money around the globe). The tax is designed to reduce market volatility and give governments room to set their own fiscal and monetary policy. The tax would also generate enormous revenue to offset the harmful effects of globalization. This workshop will present the concept, the reasons for supporting it and barriers to its implementation. It will then discuss political realities in various countries (including the U.S.), followed by a strategy session on ways forward. Educational materials will be available.

Robin Round, Halifax Initiative; Ruthanne Cecil, Tobin Tax Initiative; and Carrie Lynch, Office of U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio

A7. The East Asian Financial Crisis

The ongoing collapse of the one-time "miracle" economies of East Asia -- Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, and others -- has become the biggest financial crisis of the late 20th century, and the toughest test for the neo-liberal economic model pushed by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the U.S. and its allies since the end of World War II. This workshop will examine the on-the-ground impact of the crisis, reflect on the origins of the crisis, analyze the reaction of the international financial community, and look at the prospects for the future.

Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South; Nila Ardhianie, Yayasan Duta Awam; Allan Nairn, East Timor Action Network and frequent contributor to The Nation; and Andrew Wells, Asia Pacific Center for Justice & Peace.

A8. Ideas and Tools for Grassroots Advocacy

This will be an interactive workshop which will focus on several key aspects of grassroots advocacy--including organizing meetings with members of Congress, generating grassroots media in support of issues, ideas to build our political clout to influence Congress. It will include some examples of specific campaigns.

Joanne Carter, RESULTS; Laura Livoti, Economic Justice Now; and Bob Naiman, Preamble Center for Public Policy.

A9. Corporate Welfare and the International Financial Institutions

This is an overview of the corporate welfare issue in how it has been debated in Congress; discuss the corporate welfare subsidies of World Bank projects; analyze IMF operations as free insurance for international banks and investors; and discuss how and if the corporate welfare theme should be incorporated into work on the IFIs.

Rob Weissman, Essential Action; Andrea Durbin, Friends of the Earth; and Gawain Kripke, Friends of the Earth.

A10. Fostering Cooperation & Empowering Learning in Haiti

Learn about some grassroots initiatives in Haiti that are fostering cross-sector collaboration around literacy and popular education. There will be reports on work with Wonn Refleksyon (Reflection Circles) and community organizing and a new partnership with Haitian Rotary Clubs and Rotary International in conjunction with their international literacy campaign.

Eddy Sterling, LimyŽ Lavi and Chris Low, Beyond Borders.

A11. The Han Young Struggle: Challenging the Free Trade Regime

A labor conflict of historic importance is taking place at a small factory in Tijuana, where workers are challenging the system of government-controlled unions in Mexico. Workers at the Han Young factory have been on strike since May 22. Their struggle helped to derail Fast Track last fall and is shaking the underpinnings of NAFTA and other trade agreements. Hear from a Han Young worker, who is a lead organizer for the independent October 6 union.

Trim Bissell, Campaign for Labor Rights and Jaime Garcia Barron, Han Young worker.

A12. Countering Globalization Myths

Fortune 500 corporations and their think tanks are spending millions to "educate" the public about the benefits of free trade and globalization. Their views get widespread and often unchallenged media exposure. This is hardly surprising, since a recent survey reveals that DC-based journalists overwhelmingly favor free trade. This seminar will identify the most pervasive and misleading claims of the promoters of corporate-driven globalization and help participants articulate counter-arguments.

Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies and Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange.

A13. Africa's Debt Crisis - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

This workshop will present recent analysis and information of Africa's debt crisis. How are Africans fighting for debt relief, working for, and demanding economic justice.

Kofi Klu, Jubilee 2000 Afrika; Affiong Limene Southey, Jubilee 2000 Afrika; Bishop Mondlate, Mozambique; and Brian Ashley, Jubilee 2000 South Africa.

A14. The UN: A Platform for Economic Justice Advocacy? - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

This workshop will explore ways the United Nations can be used to advocate for economic justice.

Barbara Adams, UN-NGO Liaison Service

Workshop Session B

B1. Gender & Economic Globalization

A participatory exploration of the global economy and how it affects women. You will have the opportunity to participate in the "Women and Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) Simulation - pit your survival skills against the economic powers of the universe.

Susan Thompson, Columban Justice & Peace office; Lisa McGowan; and Alexandra Spieldoch, Center of Concern.

B2. Popular Education Module: Working & Surviving on the Edge: Education for Marginalized Groups

Globalization, high technology, and the processes of government and corporate restructuring and neoliberal policies have vastly expanded the numbers of people who are marginal to the society and the formal economy, yet provide an enormous source of profit. A new "slave labor" is emerging on many fronts, from undocumented workers to prison labor; from workfare workers, labor pools, and sweatshops to youth. Even formerly stable middle class workers are affected. Come explore how these groups are linked in the global economy, and what this means for building a global movement for economic and social justice.

Carol A. Barton, Alternative Women in Development (Alt-WID/NY) and Walda Katz-Fishman, Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide.

B3. IMF 101: The Basics of the IMF

The themes of this workshop include the role of the IMF and how it has evolved to become one of the most powerful actors in the global economy, the intense debate about the real and perceived failures of the IMF, the reform agenda of international civil society groups around the world, and political opportunities to secure reform.

Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth - U.S.; Angela Wood, Bretton Woods Reform Project; and Jo-Marie Griesgraber, Center of Concern.

B4. Russia's Financial Crisis: Experts at Work

The recent financial debacle in Russia is just the most recent "bottom" that has been hit in a series of catastrophes brought on by a combination of disastrous economic policies, denials of democracy, and corruption. While the unpopular and anti-democratic President Yeltsin and his cronies are partly to blame, they could not have done it alone. The IMF actually began advising the Russians before the dissolution of the Soviet Union; both Gorbachev and Yeltsin accepted IMF advice over their own advisers'. Yeltsin has also accepted IMF money, and then gone on to attack Parliament, wage war in Chechnya, and stage a come-from-behind election campaign by buying support with billions of dollars' worth of giveaways. This workshop will examine the buildup to today's crisis, with a special focus on the motivations of the U.S. experts, many of them from Harvard's renowned Institute for International Development, who designed programs that impoverished millions and grew rich in the process.

Janine Wedel, author of a recent cover story in "The Nation" ("The Harvard Boys Do Russia") and Russian policy analyst Dmitri Glinksi.

B5. Privatization: The Threat to Social Security's Future

The World Bank has positioned itself as one of the leading proponents of privatizing Social Security style programs around the world. In fact, when the debate became hot here in the U.S., the Bank even sent one of their experts to appear on the Jim Lehrer NewsHour to speak in support of privatizing the U.S. system. The workshop will examine the current state of the Social Security system and the case for privatization. The discussion will include an analysis of the long-term projections, which show that the system is sound for the foreseeable future and that any problems that may arise in the distant future should be quite manageable. The workshop will also demonstrate how privatization does not change improve the situation in any respect, except insofar as it provides a cover for reducing benefits to the elderly. The workshop will also briefly examine the problems that have accompanied privatization plans in other countries.

Dean Baker, Economic Policy Institute.

B6. Exporting Repression: How World Bank and IMF Programs Undermine Labor Rights

Using Brazil and Indonesia as case studies, the moderators will provide analysis of the effects of World Bank and IMF programs on workers in developing countries. The case studies will illustrate the ways in which labor rights have been seen by the IFI's as a necessary sacrifice to economic "development," and will show how their programs have explicitly acted to enhance "flexibilization" of the labor force and otherwise to undermine workers' rights.

Bama Athreya and Colin Fenwick International Labor Rights Fund.

B7. From Apartheid to Neoliberalism: The World Bank in Southern Africa

The workshop will place particular emphasis on the region's two most powerful economies and most politicized civil societies: South Africa and Zimbabwe. The World Bank has failed to make substantial loans but has nevertheless carried out a sophisticated tap-dance in South Africa, where repeated policy advisory interventions have gone against the grain of demands made by the Democratic Movement (in economic policy, land reform, housing, welfare, healthcare, infrastructure and other fields). More clumsily in Zimbabwe, repeated Bank policy suggestions (often backed by loans) have had a disastrous effect, and even big business has taken to periodically ridiculing Bank and IMF teams since the early 1990s. In both cases, popular coalitions contesting neoliberalism have emerged, and in Zimbabwe threaten to form the basis of a left-leaning opposition party led by the trade unions. In South Africa, powerful civil society groups continue to utilize the space gained in the 1994 transition from apartheid, with little prospect of an official Left opposition until after the 1999 election, but with creative trade union, community, NGO and Communist Party activists pressing hard on the African National Congress to rethink its terribly unsuccessful neoliberal approach. Workshop presenters promise to name the names and detail the crimes of key World Bank personnel. Patrick Bond, Campaign Against Neo-Liberalism in South Africa;

Brian Ashley, Jubilee 2000 South Africa; and Dennis Brutus, Distinguished Professor of Humane Letters, Franklin Pierce College.

B8. Disney/Haiti: Re-energizing the Campaign

Out of the ashes of this struggle, which seemed all but finished following cut-and-run by Disney's largest contractor in Haiti and routine firing of union organizers by other Disney contractors, a new hope is arising. Management at the Megatex factory is negotiating with the union and has not fired a single worker in the face of new international pressure. The U.S. Embassy in Haiti is getting involved, fearful that its IMF-tailored plans for cheap labor there may be falling apart. Even the Haitian Ministry of Social Affairs has sent inspectors to the plant. Find out how international solidarity is teaming up with workers in the poorest country in the hemisphere to challenge the rule of corporations.

Trim Bissell, Campaign for Labor Rights.

B9. Popular Education Module: Korea: The Asian Crisis and Its Players

An interactive simulation on Korea's plunge into financial crisis and subsequent economic depression. Meet the different players of the global economic game, learn their motivations, strengths and weaknesses. Find out who wins the game and who losses.

Colin Rajah, Overseas Development Network (ODN).

B10. The ABCs of ECAs: Your Public Money Supporting Corporate Investment Overseas

Debt owed by developing countries and "countries in transition" to Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) now exceeds the amount owed to multilateral creditors, including the World Bank and the IMF. U.S. ECAs include the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) which have little to no regard for environmental standards or safeguards. The ECA rationale for this lack of responsibility is that their mission is to support export of goods and services from their country to the developing world, and that the adoption of environmental standards will make them uncompetitive with other ECAs (European & Asian) that have no such standards. Case studies prove that ECAs often back disastrous projects and play a dangerous role in climate change: Three Gorges Dam in China, Freeport in Irian Jaya, Mohovce Nuclear Power Plant, Chad-Cameroon pipeline and Lihir Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea are just a few examples.

Jon Sohn, Friends of the Earth; Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment Resource Center.

B11. Sado-Monetarism and the "Third Way"

Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have proposed a center-left alliance, a "third way" in global politics. Such a center-left alliance may seem at first like a joke, but it's no joke - it has the unfortunate potential for undermining a real left progressive movement for some time to come. It could have a negative impact on both U.S. and global politics. This workshop will explore the potential result such a global dialogue might have on efforts to end structural adjustment programs of the IMF and the World Bank, oppose the MAI, and stop the Free Trade Association of the Americas.

Chris Riddiough, Democratic Socialists of America; Karen Dolan, Institute for Policy Studies.

B12. The Impact of Neo-Liberalism on Indigenous Communities in Chiapas

Chiapas is the poorest state in Mexico, and nearly a million indigenous people live in traditional communities in the state. It is no coincidence that the Zapatista uprising began on January 1, 1994, the date that NAFTA went into effect. The impact of neo- liberalism has been profound. The presenters will speak on the effects of neo-liberal economic policies on indigenous communities an offer a profound look at the situation today and expectations for the future.

Gustavo Castro, Center for Economic Investigation and Community Political Action (CIEPAC); Marina Patricia Jiminez, Fray Bartolome Center for Human Rights; and Tom Hansen, Mexico Solidarity Network.

B13. How One Congregation Is Fighting World Debt on Four Continents

This workshop will highlight the work of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, an international order of women religious based in Notre Dame, Indiana. A brief history of the congregation's work (past and present) on economic justice issues (particularly with the World Bank and IMF) will be presented, along with possible education/action strategies for other U.S. and international religious orders. We'll show you how to access the resources produced by the Sisters of the Holy Cross and where to find other resources from national and international groups working for debt relief and debt forgiveness.

Ann Oestreich, Sister of the Holy Cross and Mary Turgi, CSC Office of Global Concerns.

B14. Street Theater: A Dynamic Mobilizing Tool - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

This workshop presents street theater techniques that any activist can use to dramatize an issue in a public setting. Note: you don't have to be an accomplished actor to attend this workshop. Street theater -- fun and eye-catching!

Amy Markowitz; Nate Osborne, East Timor Action Network; and Christopher Myott, Friends of the Earth, U.S.

B15. Latin America's Debt Crisis - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

The debt crisis in Latin America did not end in the 1980s or with the "Brady Plan." Come to this workshop to hear about the status of Latin America's debt and what Latin American activists and analysts are doing to demand an end to continued debt slavery.

Alejandro Bendana and Carlos Pacheco, Nicaragua Jubilee 2000 Initiative; Marguerita Benda, World Council of Churches.

Workshop Session C

C1. Women's Labor and Economic Globalization

A U.S. woman on welfare is forced to pick up garbage in workfare - a new form of slave labor. A migrant woman form Albania finds herself into forced prostitution in Germany. A Mexican woman on the border with the U.S. faces sub-minimum wages and sexual harassment in order to feed her family. Come explore how women' s labor is integral to the process of globalization. Who are the responsible institutions and what are the points of intervention?

elmira Nazombe, Center for Women's Global Leadership and Carol Barton, Alternative Women in Development (ALT-WID, NY).

C2. GDP: Does it Measure Economic Progress?

The IMF, World Bank, governments, investors, the press all use Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the barometer of economic performance. But GDP keeps hidden the social and environmental costs of growth. The workshop shows how the use of GDP and other conventional economic statistics, as well as current IMF policies, perpetuate poverty and environmental degradation. Participants will discuss U.S. and international efforts to change these measure and to control the impacts of the IMF on the environment.

Christine Real de Azua, Accounting for the Environment and John Fitzgerald, Accounting for the Environment; Jonathan Rowe, Redefining Progress.

C3. "It's Getting Hot in Here": The Role of International Financial Institutions in Fueling Climate Change

This workshop will explore the role of international financial institutions (IFIs)--the World Bank, OPIC, EXIM, and others--in creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of growing greenhouse gas emissions due to a disproportionate investment in fossil fuels in developing countries. We will explore the role of IFIs--and the corporate interests they serve-- in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, China, Burma and India.

Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies; Oronto Douglas, Environment Rights Action; and Francesco Martone, Reform the World Bank Campaign

C4. Community-Based Monitoring: Farmers Investigating World Bank Projects in Asia

This workshop will examine strategies for grassroots monitoring of World Bank projects, with a focus on empowering local communities to investigate the impacts of WB projects on their communities and to organize to demand a central role in the design and implementation of such projects. We will also look at how Southern groups can utilize the Bank's binding environmental and social policies to leverage needed change at the local project level and discuss opportunities for Southern-Northern NGO strategic collaboration. A case study of community monitoring of a World Bank agricultural project in Indonesia will be presented.

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Pesticide Action Network; Nila Ardhianie, Yayasan Duta Awam.

C5. Economic Violence: The Policies and Practices of Global Domination

"Economic Violence" is a way of seeking, talking about and understanding the economic world order as the majority of humanity always has: as a system of vastly unequal power relationships maintained by the use, or threat of violence. This panel will discuss the role of economic violence – and the institutions and economic interests that control it to disguise and/or legitimate this reality in terms of law, economic law and military doctrine. We will discuss the historic ability to render invisible or silent in the dominant discourse: the interests of women, Native Peoples, the Peoples of the Global South as their own subject and the value of nature. It will discuss changes in language and organizing techniques to expose the current genocidal level of economic violence that now kills 34,000 children each day.

John Mateyko, Campaign for a Moral Economy; Marie Dennis, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns; and Tony Avirgan, Development GAP.

C6. MAI Free Zones: Local Organizing Around the World

The MAI organizing workshop will discuss strategies for organizing locally, nationally and globally to stop the MAI and similar investment agreements that increase the power of corporations, trade away democracy and bypass the protection of domestic court systems in the name of economic efficiency. Examples of successful organizing campaigns to pass city council resolutions opposing the MAI will be discussed and organizing materials will be made available. There will be ample opportunity for all participants to share experiences, raise questions and discuss strategies.

Ruth Caplan, Alliance for Democracy's MAI Campaign; Margrete Strand with Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch; and Susan George, TransNational Institute (on what is what is happening in Europe).

C7. The Three Gorges Campaign: Halting the International Financing of a Monument to Authoritarianism

If built according to plan, the Three Gorges Dam would be the world's largest dam. Supporters of the project claim the dam will tame floods, provide electricity to China's bourgeoning cities and improve navigation in the upper reaches of Asia's mightiest river. Critics claim that the proposed mega-dam would cause extensive environmental and social damage, force the resettlement of 1.9 million people, submerge hundreds of archaeological sites, and forever destroy a magnificent stretch of canyons known as the Three Gorges which has for centuries been a source of inspiration for travelers, artists, poets, and writers. China is not capable of, or planning to, build the project on its own. Foreign equipment and financing are playing a key role, which if stopped or severely scaled-back would deal the project a major blow. Three Gorges is a political, not a development project. It was effectively stopped prior to Tiananmen square when successful efforts by Qing, an award-winning Chinese journalist, exposed the project's true costs, impacts and risks, causing the State Council to table the proposal for at least five years. All in all, NGOs are following the money, With the project's unofficial budget estimates at five to six times what was approved in 1992, the demand for foreign assistance is growing. Concern over the deteriorating health of China's banking sector resulting from the growing amount of non-performing assets, combined with mounting skepticism of Asian markets generally, should tighten international credit for projects like Three Gorges.

Doris Shen, International Rivers Network; Dai Qing, author Three Gorges Dam, Changjiang! Changjiang! (Yangtze! Yangtze!); and Sandy Buffett, Quantum Leap (National Wildlife Federation).

C8. Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) and the International Financial Institutions 101

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have left their mark on the world most harshly through SAPs, the neo-liberal policy packages they insist indebted countries adopt before getting desperately-needed loans. SAPs are almost 20 years old now, but have yielded no real success stories. They have, however, plunged entire populations into perpetual poverty, widened the gap between rich and poor, depleted countries' capacity to feed themselves, and set standards of living and levels of literacy back by decades. This international scandal is one of the core reasons for the existence of the 50 Years is Enough Network. This workshop will serve as an introduction: why do countries accept SAPs? why do the IFIs want these policies imposed? What are the range of effects? What countries have been living under structural adjustment? Is there any end in sight?

Soren Ambrose, Alliance for Global Justice; Julia Mulaha, African Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON), and Dennis Brutus, Distinguished Professor of Humane Letters, Franklin Pierce College.

C9. Understanding the Global Economic Casino

This workshop will explore the rise of finance capital and the recent volatility in global financial markets. We will attempt to demystify the workings of global financial markets and maybe even discover ways to fight the money merchants (e.g., the Tobin Tax).

Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange and Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer.

C10. Stealth IMF: The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act

When President Clinton visited Africa in the Fall, he confided to aides that what impressed him the most about Africa is that U.S. investment in Africa yielded the highest return - about 31 percent - in the world. Therefore, Africa is ideal for U.S. investment. The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act became the Administration principal vehicle for accomplishing this objective. The workshop intends to reveal why this measure is not in the interest of the majority of Africans. In the words of A South African intellectual, "This act is not about Africa growth, neither is it about any opportunity for Africa." This is simply another means, among several others advanced by the IMF and the World Bank, of ensuring Africa's subserviency and exploitation in the global economy.

Ezekiel Pajibo, Africa Faith and Justice Network; Deborah Toler, Black Radical Congress; Patrick Bond, Campaign Against Neo-Liberalism in South Africa; and Lori Wallach, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch.

C11. Preaching Beyond the Choir: Organizing Inclusively Beyond One's Own Constituency - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

Too often we just "preach to the converted" and we don't always reach out effectively to communities of color. This workshop deals with how to reach out to involve a diverse range of groups and communities in our organizing for economic justice.

Suzie Johnson, Africa Fund; Stephanie Seidel, Bread for the World; and Marcia Thomas, US Aid for Africa.

C12. Organizing a Local Jubilee 2000 Campaign and Getting Your Local Church on Board - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

This workshop is intended for activists interested in starting a Jubilee 2000 coalition or intensifying the debt relief activism of their existing local or regional organization. How do you get your local church or economic justice group on board? It will cover organizational strategy and making an effective local impact.

David Bryden, Jubilee 2000 and Kathy Pomroy, Bread for the World.

C13. Third World Debt: Root Causes, Effects, Solutions, and Answering Difficult Questions - sponsored by Jubilee 2000 USA

What's wrong with HIPC? A critique of the World Bank/IMF official debt relief program, the HIPC Initiative. How much will debt relief cost and who will pay? What about corruption? How to prevent future crises?

Jo Marie Griesgraber, Center of Concern.

C14. Funding Extinction: Tropical Rainforests of the Americas and Africa

The importance of tropical rainforests to the stability and permanance of our global environment, and the role of World Bank lending and IMF structural adjustment plans in speeding their destruction. In the Americas and Africa, cycles of debt and destruction are causing the largest mass extinction in our planet's history. Using the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua as a case study, the workshop will look at the role of timber exports in short-term debt service and long-term dismantling of agricultural economies, and the consequences of rainforest extinction for our species.

Orin Langelle, Action for Community and Ecology in Central America (ACERCA), Magda Lanuza, Centro Humboldt; Patricia Awerbuch, Rainforest Action Group of Delaware Valley; Erick Brownstein (Rainforest Action Network).

Workshop Session D

D1. An Ill Wind: Globalization's Impact Visited on the U.S.

This workshop looks into how people in the U.S. end up paying a steep price for the globalization policies imposed by the U.S. government and the international financial institutions. Three destructive policy patterns will be examined, from their roots in neo-liberal economic policies to their impact on forcibly-marginalized people in the U.S. The failed but immensely expensive "war on drugs" that violates basic rights of citizens in both the consuming and producing countries will be discussed by Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies and Clarence Lusane of American University. The hypocrisies and injustice of welfare "reform" -- the clearest example of structural adjustment brought back to its country of origin – will be critiqued by Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union. Chung wha Hong of the National Korean American Service Consortium will diagnose the meaning of the scape-goating of immigrants by U.S. politicians and policies.

Tammi Coles, Washington Peace Center; Chung wha Hong, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium; Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union; Clarence Lusane, American University; Sanho Tree, Institute for Policy Studies.

D2. Development Without Debt or Inflation: Local Currencies

This workshop/panel will discuss why our existing monetary system, which relies on interest-baring debt, tends to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and how communities can develop an alternate monetary system. Local currencies have caught on throughout the world because they promote both equity and sound ecological investment. We will discuss local currencies in terms of economic theory and of their current practical application in a variety of communities in the U.S.

Greg Wilpert, Global Sweatshops Coalition; Margaret McCasland, Ithaca Hours; and Edgar Cahn, Time Dollar Institute.

D3. The IMF and Militarization in Africa: Lessons from Rwanda and Angola

Does the conditionality of the IMF require force and militarism? What is the attitude of the IMF and the World Bank to the arms trade? Did the IMF finance the authors of genocide in Rwanda? What is the nature of the flip-flop of the IMF in the war in Angola? To what extent do the ideas of free market correspond to the ideas of patriarchy, violence, and militarism?

Horace Campbell, Syracuse University; Marc Mealy, AAD Strategic Consulting Group; and Deborah Toler, Black Radical Congress.

D4. Oil and Development: Road to Prosperity or Obstacle to Progress?

In many countries around the world development of petroleum resources has been promoted as an instrument for improving the lives of poor people. However, more often than not, the benefits of such development have gone principally to multinational oil corporations and local elites in partnership with those corporations while the purported beneficiaries are left with degraded lands and disruption of their traditional livelihoods. This workshop will focus on the gulf between the promise and the reality of petroleum development. The experience of grassroots and international activists concerned about the environmental and human rights implications of the Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project will be highlighted.

Korinna Horta, Environmental Defense Fund; Samuel Nguiffo, Centre pour l'Environnement et le Developpement; Pastor Luc Norbert Kenne, Ecumenical Service for Peace (Service Humanus), Cameroon; and Francesco Martone, Reform the World Bank Campaign.

D5. Alternatives in the Age of Economic Globalization

Join us as we explore the increasingly vital subject of how civil society can "turn from defense to offense" in advocacy on the global economy. Panelists will discuss whether the global financial crisis and victories on fast track, the MAI and the IMF have created political space to push for "alternatives" to the financial and investment deregulation agenda of globalization. Panelists will present approaches to controlling speculative financial flows and regulating corporate investments and engage participants in discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of these options. Equally importantly, participants will discuss strategies for ensuring that progressives have a voice in the ongoing debate on the future of the world's "financial architecture."

Mark Vallianatos, Friends of the Earth, U.S.; John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies; and Mercia Andrews, South Africa NGO Coalition.

D6. Earth Day 2000 As A Campaign Catalyst for Transforming the International Financial Institutions

Brief presentations proceed a round table strategy session brainstorming the most effective ways to use the momentum of Earth Day 2000 to implement our campaigns to transform the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). How do we halt IFIs funding of polluting fossil fuels and redirect investments solely for sustainable environmentally-friendly energy sources! Can we help the public understand that environmental issues and social justice are linked? In Earth Day 1990, thousands of NGOs and 200 million citizens from 141 countries joined together for the largest environmental event in history. Earth Day 2000 presents an opportunity perhaps more impressive than 1990 to transform how we live with the Earth and each other.

Mark Dubois, Earth Day 2000; Daphne Wysham, Institute for Policy Studies; and Steve Mills, Sierra Club.

D7. Kyrgyzstan's Poison Profits: What's a Little Cyanide for Pots of Gold?

QUESTION: What do you get when you combine the following -- A mountain of gold (the Kumtor gold mine in the mountains of Kyrgystan); a government and a company withholding information about the number of deaths (the Kyrgyz government which owns 2/3 of the operation and the Canadian multinational company Cameco which owns 1/3 of the operation); financing institutions which don't seem to care very much about the local people or the environment (the World Bank financer and insurer through the IFC and MIGA); European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Canadian Export Development Corporation (CEDC), and private banks including Chase Manhattan?

ANSWER: A cyanide spill: a poisoned river (the Barksaun River), multitudes of sick and perhaps several dead, and no one accepting responsibility. Come hear the story of the May 20, 1998 Kumtor gold mine cyanide spill and learn about the World Bank's larger role in Kyrgystan the country.

Doug Norlen, Pacific Environmental Resource Center; Kalia Moldogaziaeva, Human Development Tree

D8. World Bank and Corporate Activism for the 21st Century

Much has changed in the last 30 years of environmental and human rights activism. Governments are ever more irrelevant as transnational corporations spread their tentacles to every corner of the earth, the economy is globalized, biodiversity is choked and international monoculture looms. Despite the fact that much has been achieved in this past 30 years, we are losing ground faster than ever. Dozens of new fires break out for every one we manage to put out. How must our strategies change to effect this new reality? How do our old strategies limit us? How do we engage the public and build a grassroots movement while converts to the religion of consumerism (you are what you buy) multiply across continents? At this workshop we will examine new ideas in taking on a World Bank which has shifted much of its resources to MIGA and the IFC, and taking on a globally dominant economic system overwhelmingly driven by private capital and fueled by consumption.

Kelly Quirke, Rainforest Action Network and Andrea Durbin, Friends of the Earth, U.S.

D9. U.S. Farmers and the Global Economy

This workshop will explore how U.S. trade and investment policy dictate U.S. farm policy and food safety standards. Special consideration will be given to how NAFTA and GATT enabled passage of the 1996 farm bill, leading to long-term economic crisis in rural America. The increasing role of international financial institutions in farm policy will also be discusses.

Jim Potts of the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) and Dena Hoff, an NFFC board member and sheep rancher from Glendive, Montana.

D10. To Be A Woman

A video presentation and discussion of the impact of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) on African women. Women in Uganda, Zambia, and Ghana describe how SAPs have affected their ability to make a living, farm, or provide food, shelter, and education for themselves and their families.

Julia Mulaha, African Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON).