[stop-imf] Baker Robert Naiman pies Michel Camdessus

[Robert Weissman]

All articles Feb. 13 2000 

Outgoing IMF Chief Hit With Pie BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The outgoing
chief of the International Monetary Fund got a rude retirement present
Sunday when an American anti-free trade activist penetrated security at a
trade conference and hit him with a pie in the face. Moments before Michel
Camdessus was to deliver his last speech as IMF chairman, the activist
hurled a fruit-and-cream pie inside the meeting hall where some 190
nations are holding the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. The
action left Camdessus -- seen by many activists as Public Enemy No. 1 for
dictating financial policies to poor countries -- and Thailand's
tough-talking security officials with pie on their faces. Camdessus has
been a prime target of both Thai and foreign anti-free trade activists
gathered in Bangkok to demonstrate at the conference, seeking to repeat
protests that derailed the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle last
year. The pie-thrower, who identified himself as Robert Reuel Naiman, 34,
of Washington, D.C., said he performed the stunt to give the IMF chief ``a
friendly reminder of what we think of his policies and to give a warning
to his successor we expect different policies.'' Camdessus was chatting to
delegates in the main conference hall before making a keynote speech when
Naiman snuck up beside him and threw a pie with a shout of ``Happy
Birthday!'' ``It was a small cake, very tasty,'' Naiman told the ITV
television network before he was taken away by security. Naiman had
managed to sneak his projectile through a tight security cordon around the
Queen Sirikit Convention Center, the site of the conference. Thai police
have kept demonstrators away from the immediate area. Naiman was being
questioned by U.N. security officials inside the center. National Police
Chief Gen. Pracha Promnok said it would be up to the United Nations if
they wished to file criminal charges and prosecute him. ``I'm
disappointed,'' said Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan. ``It's absolutely
impossible to prevent such an incident. We have left no stone unturned in
our planning and preparation. We have been able to prevent bigger
problems.'' The Brussels-based group said it had staged similar attacks at
international conferences and called the attack a ``slight and sweet
embarrassment'' compared to the tremendous suffering inflicted on poor
countries by the IMF. Naiman, who described himself only as a ``private
citizen,'' said that he had been at the WTO meeting in Seattle, which
ended in acrimony when anti-free trade activists clashed violently with
police.




Camdessus Defends IMF in Speech

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Giving his last speech as chief of the
International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus used the occasion Sunday to
counter claims that his organization has ignored the concerns of ordinary
people. Camdessus said foreign investment in the Third World has enormous
potential to close the income gap, while information technology has given
poor nations access to knowledge that was once the preserve of the rich.
``Globalization can now be seen in a positive light ... as the best means
of improving the human condition throughout the world,'' he said.
Camdessus, 66, retiring after heading the IMF since 1987, spoke at the
U.N. Conference on Trade and Development shortly after an American
anti-free trade activist threw a pie in his face in protest against the
IMF. He spoke without mentioning the attack but was passionate in his
defense of the fund's goal of stabilizing the global financial system as a
prerequisite for reducing inequality in wealth. ``Macroeconomic stability
is clearly necessary for growth and hence poverty alleviation,'' Camdessus
told delegates from some 190 countries gathered for the eight-day meeting.
UNCTAD aims to use trade to promote development in poor countries.
Camdessus postponed a news conference that had been scheduled after his
speech, which itself was delayed for half an hour after the pie-throwing
incident. Critics of the IMF's bailout packages of Asian countries during
the recent regional economic crisis see the Washington-based fund as a
symbol of how globalization has benefitted rich countries at the expense
of the poor. In Thailand, which will leave its IMF-brokered $17.2 billion
economic bailout package in June, many people claim the fund's insistence
on high interest rates to restore financial stability deepened recession,
leading to heavy job losses.

IMF chief Camdessus hit with pie at UN trade meet BANGKOK, Feb 13 (AFP) -
A protester at a major UN trade talks here threw a fruit pie at
International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Michel Camdessus
Sunday as he entered the conference venue. The mess landed on Camdessus's
face and he retreated to a corner of the room to clean himself up, while
the lone demonstrator left the scene. The protester, who identified
himself as US national Robert Naiman, was apprehended within the building
shortly afterwards by security personnel, who had initially moved to
surround Camdessus. The IMF chief quickly recovered and resumed his
conversation with officials at the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), where he is to deliver a keynote address later
Saturday. Naiman told AFP he was acting as a private citizen and not on
behalf of any group, but the protest group "Patissiers sans Frontieres"
(Bakers without Borders) has issued a statement on the prank. Naiman also
said he had demonstrated at the World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle,
which were marred by violent demonstrations. "We wanted to tell Mr.
Camdessus that we don't appreciate his leadership, because of the
destruction IMF policies have caused," he said. "Mr. Camdessus is a
servant of rich countries who enact economic policies which hurt the poor.
We want to give a warning to his successor that we expect different
policies," he said before he was hauled off by police. Camdessus is to
step down from his post Monday and his address here will be his last major
speech before retiring. UNCTAD's Thai hosts have erected a massive
security curtain around the meeting, anxious to prevent a repeat of the
violence at Seattle and at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.
However, a thousand activists marched on the conference Saturday calling
for radical changes to the global financial system, which they say keeps
much of the world locked in poverty. UNCTAD, which has earned a reputation
as an advocate of developing nations, is attended by many delegates
hostile to the role of world financial bodies.

BANGKOK, THAILAND, 13-FEB-2000: US national Robert Naiman (C) is
surrounded by Thai and UN security guards after throwing a fruit pie at
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Michel Camdessus in Bangkok
February 13, 2000. Camdessus was arriving at the conference venue for the
10th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to
deliver a keynote address. [Photo by Jimin Lai, copyright 2000 by AFP and
ClariNet]