[stop-imf] IMF-WORLD BANK MEETING IS TARGET - The Washington Post (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

The Washington Post =09=09=09=09Wednesday, January 26, 2000

Protesters At WTO Plan D.C. Follow-Up:
=20
IMF-WORLD BANK MEETING IS TARGET

=09By John Burgess

=09Activist groups that paralyzed downtown Seattle during the=20
World Trade Organization conference late last year plan to=20
converge on Washington in April to protest a joint meeting of the=20
World Bank and International Monetary Fund--with some groups=20
pledging to =93shut down=94 the gathering with civil disobedience.
=09More than 60 organizers met last week in Washington to map=20
out a week of political events aimed at keeping alive what they call=20
=93the spirit of Seattle.=94 They variously plan to lobby in Congress,=20
hold educational forums, stage peaceful demonstrations and=20
physically block the meeting, organizers said.
=09The groups view the IMF and World Bank, both based in=20
Washington, as key institutions for an unjust global economic order=20
that enriches some people and impoverishes others. The meetings=20
have traditionally drawn protesters, but in smaller numbers than=20
predicted for the one on April 16.
=09Many demonstrators will also use the occasion to fight the=20
Clinton administration=92s efforts to persuade Congress to grant=20
China normal trade relations.
=09=93There=92s tons of interest,=94 said Juliette Beck, economic rights=20
coordinator for Global Exchange, a San Francisco activist group. =93=20
=2E . . We are shooting for a gathering of many thousands of people.=94=20
Her group, she said, would attempt to =93shut down=94 the meeting by=20
nonviolent means, with members willing to be arrested.
=09D.C. police said they were aware of the plans and had put=20
together a team to prepare. =93We anticipate that our city will not be=20
shut down,=94 said Terrance W. Gainer, executive assistant chief of=20
the department. =93 . . . We=92ll be in good shape.=94 Police Chief Charles=
=20
H. Ramsey recently attended an FBI seminar on lessons of the=20
Seattle disorders, Gainer added.
=09Organizers have been flying around the country to drum up=20
support. Planners expect that =93spirit of Seattle=94 caravans will cross=
=20
the country from Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area, up the=20
East Coast and down it.
=09On the morning of Nov. 30, armies of demonstrators linked=20
arms to block access to the Seattle convention center where WTO=20
delegates were to try to start a new round of global trade talks.=20
Opening ceremonies were canceled, and cabinet ministers were=20
trapped in their hotels. While most of the demonstrators were=20
peaceful, a few vandals broke store windows, and chaos and tear=20
gas reigned into the night. Three days later, the meeting broke up in=20
failure, and the demonstrators claimed much of the credit.
=09The Seattle police force initially did little to interfere, its city=20
government viewing civil disobedience as a legitimate form of=20
political expression. Their loss of control of a large sector of=20
downtown led to investigations and political invective; D.C. police=20
flew to Seattle in the closing days of the unrest to observe and=20
learn, Gainer said.
=09For groups on the streets, =93Seattle is the =91Big Bang=92 of activism=
=20
for the global economy that has now turned on so many people to=20
the reality of what=92s happening,=94 Beck said. In recent weeks,=20
electronic mail has been flying back and forth to organize a follow-
up in Washington.
=09=93It=92s not a top-down kind of thing,=94 said Soren Ambrose, policy=20
analyst for 50 Years Is Enough, which was founded in 1994 on the=20
half-century anniversary of the IMF and World Bank and is now=20
coordinating the planning. =93It=92s a kind of chaos, with a center, and=20
we are the center.=94
=09Many of the groups prominent in Seattle were present at the=20
organizing meeting in a room at the University of the District of=20
Columbia last week: the Ruckus Society, Global Exchange, Direct=20
Action Network and Public Citizen=92s Global Trade Watch,=20
according to 50 Years Is Enough. Organizers have had initial talks=20
with labor groups about getting them involved.
=09Global Trade Watch deputy director Mike Dolan, who spent=20
months organizing the Seattle demonstrations, predicted that the=20
turnout here would be smaller, because the events are being=20
organized on much shorter notice.
=09Organizers said no one at their meetings was talking of=20
engaging in the kind of violence against property caused in Seattle.=20
Dolan said the group that caused the damage in Seattle was from=20
Oregon and is not represented on the East Coast.
=09Jubilee 2000/USA, part of a worldwide movement pressing for=20
lending institutions such as the World Bank and IMF to forgive the=20
debt of the poorest countries, has for months been planning a=20
peaceful human-chain event for April 9, the Sunday before the=20
meeting. In recent weeks, however, the other groups have begun=20
talking of doing their own events.
=09IMF spokesman Bill Murray declined to discuss security=20
arrangements for the April 16 meeting of the IMF and World Bank,=20
which will draw delegates from many of the sister organizations=92=20
member countries. But =93given what happened in Seattle, we have to=20
be sensitive to security concerns,=94 he said.
=09He said the IMF had been trying to build cooperative relations=20
with the activist groups, and he noted that the Fund is moving=20
forward with plans to forgive some of its loans to the poorest=20
countries.
=09Caroline Anstey, a World Bank spokesman, offered similar=20
views: =93Maybe the dialogue is going to be in the streets. I think it=20
would be better if it were around tables discussing how we can=20
reach solutions to these problems.=94