[stop-imf] April 18-19 Forum - in advance of IMF/WB meetings

[Robert Weissman]

Come to DC April 18 for the Forum on the World Bank. 
Stay for IMF/World Bank (and related) Protests, April 20-21<<

The IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings are coming up: April 20-21,
Washington, DC.

Those days are also the time of two major national mobilizations in
Washington: the mobilization against Plan Colombia [School of the
Americas Watch, et. al.], and the mobilization for peace [National Youth
& Student Peace Coalition, et. al.].  The Mobilization for Global
Justice is now working with those organizers to plan complementary
protests outside the IMF headquarters, site of their high-level
meetings.  

Plan to come to Washington by Thursday afternoon (April 18) to attend a
unique forum featuring expert activists from around the world addressing
the reasons, and the need, for persistent international protests against
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  

"From Engagement to Protest" will feature presentations by many speakers
from the Global South (and some from the North) who have made good-faith
efforts of engaging the World Bank and other international financial
institutions.  

The four-year Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative
(SAPRI) -- in which the World Bank agreed to work jointly in up to ten
countries with both civil society organizations and national governments
to assess the impact of its structural adjustment programs (SAPs) --
will be concluded with these sessions, as civil society representatives
from each participating country report on the devastating findings and
the World Bank's failure to honor its commitments.  

The new and controversial "poverty reduction strategy papers" (PRSPs),
ostensibly designed to encourage civil society and government
participation and "ownership" of national economic programs, will also
be examined critically.  Likewise the World Commission on Dams, the
Forestry Policy Review, the Extractive Industries Review and initiatives
related to privatization, debt, information disclosure and related
matters will be discussed.

The common thread in all of these cases: the World Bank has pointed to
them as evidence of their eagerness to work with affected populations in
designing economic and development policy . but in every case the Bank's
behavior has been superficial, disingenuous, and even on occasion
deceitful.  

The message: engaging in dialogues with the Bank will have
little impact without sustained outside pressure. The Bank will always
try to subvert criticism of its actions, even if the criticims come from
processes sponsored by the Bank itself. All of those speaking at the
forum are united in calling for continued pressure on the Bank and 
its sister global economic institutions and their G-7 and corporate
constituencies through activism, citizen mobilization and public protest
in both the South and the North.

The Forum opens on Thursday, April 18 at 2 p.m. in Washington, DC, and
continues through Friday, April 19, concluding with presentations from
the South and North on mobilization and protest and a public discussion
of strategies for meaningful change.

More details will be available shortly.  Check the websites of the
sponsors for updated information:  

The Development GAP: www.developmentgap.org
50 Years Is Enough Network: www.50years.org
Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative Network:
www.saprin.org
International Rivers Network: www.irn.org