[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
An Open Letter from the South to the World Bank
The following is being circulated by the Center for Economic Justice, a
project of the Preamble Center in Washington, D.C.:
Dear Colleague:
The following is an appeal from PAPDA (Platform for Alternative
Development in Haiti), Jubilee 2000 South Africa and 45 organizations and
activists in Southern countries which oppose IMF and World Bank structural
adjustment policies. The appeal calls for defunding the World Bank by
reducing government appropriations and by calling for a boycott of World
Bank bonds.
The Center for Economic Justice, a project of the Preamble Center, is
assisting with the circulation of this appeal. We would be grateful if you
could help us by forwarding it to your Southern colleagues.
Signatures may be returned to signon@rtk.net, and should include: name,
title or occupation, organization [noting whether you are signing on
behalf of your organization], and country.
Thank you for your assistance. Questions may be directed to
econjustice@preamble.org. If you would like to serve on the coordinating
committee for the campaign in your country, send a note to
econjustice@preamble.org. Other documents from the campaign are available
at www.preamble.org/cej.
The letter follows in Spanish, then English, including a list of the
current signatories.
Robert Naiman <naimanr@preamble.org>
Research Associate, Preamble Center
***************************************************************************
CARTA ABIERTA DEL SUR AL BANCO MUNDIAL
James Wolfensohn
Presidente, Banco Internacional de Reconstrucción y Fomento,
1818 H Street, NW,
Washington, DC 10433, EE.UU.
Estimado Señor Wolfensohn,
Nos dirigimos a Usted como ciudadanos de países que sufren por la política del
Banco Mundial, por las siguientes razones:
*El 65% de los préstamos actuales del Banco Mundial son dirigidos al ajuste
estructural y sectorial
*Las condiciones vinculadas a estos préstamos han neutralizado el crecimiento
económico, dificultado el desarrollo económico, promovido la dependencia, e
incrementado la miseria y pobreza de los países en vía de desarrollo.
*El ajuste empeora drásticamente la situación socio-económica de las mujeres.
*El ajuste favorece los “sweatshops”, y la denegación de los derechos laborales
a la libre asociación y a un salario decente y justo.
*El ajuste destruye la producción agrícola campesina y la autosuficiencia
nutritiva de nuestros países
*El ajuste ha acelerado la destrucción del medio-ambiente natural.
*El ajuste tiene un impacto muy destructivo sobre los sectores más vulnerable
de nuestras poblaciones.
*El ajuste degrada nuestra integridad cultural, redefiniendo nuestra manera de
consumir y nuestra relación con la naturaleza.
*El ajuste ha incrementado el peso de la deuda externa de los países que han
implementado dichos programas.
*Las políticas del Banco Mundial de privatización han favorecido el incremento
de la corrupción, la ganancia privada a expensas de la población, la mayor
concentración de la riqueza y el poder, mayor desempleo, y la disminución del
acceso a los servicios públicos.
*Al condicionar sus préstamos a un acuerdo de las políticas macroeconómicas del
Fondo Monetario Internacional y al contribuír fondos a los programas de
austeridad del FMI, el Banco Mundial es por tanto responsable de las
consecuencias de dichas políticas.
*Para obtener economías, sociedades, y poblaciones sanas y sostenibles,
nuestros países deben desarrollar sus políticas económicas con un enfoque en
los pobres y en los trabajadores que representan la mayoría de nuestras
poblaciones, y
*La soberanía nacional en materia económica es un prerequisito para estas
políticas económicas.
Como la mayoría de los fondos del Banco Mundial provienen del mercado privado
de capitales, llamamos a todos los que apoyan los derechos humanos y el
desarrollo sostenible que boicoteen la compra de bonos del Banco Mundial, y
alentamos a que todas instituciones públicas hagan lo mismo.
Además, llamamos a todos los gobiernos de los países miembros del Banco Mundial
que cesen nueva financiación al Banco Mundial hasta que todo préstamo con
condiciones de ajuste estructural y sectorial haya desaparecido, y el Banco
Mundial haya cancelado la deuda que le es debida por los países del Tercer
Mundo.
***************************************************************************
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE SOUTH TO THE WORLD BANK
James Wolfensohn
President, World Bank Group
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433 U.S.A.
Dear Mr. Wolfensohn,
As citizens of countries suffering from World Bank policies, we are
writing to you because:
*65% of World Bank lending today is for sectoral and structural adjustment
loans;
*The conditions attached to these loans have crippled economic growth, hindered
economic development, promoted dependency, and increased misery and poverty in
developing countries;
*Structural Adjustment is vastly increasing the socio-economic burden on
women;
*Structural Adjustment leads to the promotion of sweatshops, and the denial of
workers' rights to organize and to earn a decent living;
*Structural Adjustment is destroying peasant-led agricultural production and
the abilities of our countries to feed themselves;
*Structural Adjustment has accelerated destruction of the natural environment;
*Structural Adjustment has a very destructive impact on the most vulnerable
sectors of the population;
*Structural Adjustment is degrading our cultural integrity, by changing our
models of consumption and our relationship with nature;
*Structural Adjustment has significantly added to the external debt burden of
countries implementing such programs;
*Privatization under World Bank policies has led to increased corruption,
private gain at the expense of the public, further concentration of wealth and
power, greater unemployment and decreased access to public services;
*The World Bank in practice supports the macroeconomic policies imposed by the
International Monetary Fund by making agreement with the IMF a condition of
Bank lending, and by contributing money to IMF austerity packages, and is
therefore responsible for the consequences of those policies;
*For sound and healthy economies, societies, and citizenry, economic policy in
our countries must be formed in the interest of the poor and working people who
compose the majority of the population; and
*National economic sovereignty is a prerequisite for the adoption of such
policies.
Since the majority of the Bank's funds are raised in the private capital
market, we call on all supporters of human rights and sustainable economic
development to boycott the purchase of World Bank bonds, and encourage all
public institutions to do so.
Moreover, we call on governments of all member nations of the World Bank, to
cease further funding to the World Bank until all such structural and sectoral
structural adjustment lending has ended and the World Bank has cancelled all
debts owed to it by Third World countries.
Camille Chalmers, PAPDA, Haiti
Dennis Brutus, Jubilee 2000 Afrika
Marina Dos Santos, MST, Brasil
Carlos Pacheco, Center for International Study, Nicaragua
Mariclaire Acosta, CMDPDH, Mexico
Carmencita Abad, Global Exchange,Philippines
Miguel Alemas,CONFRAS, El Salvador
Priscilla Aliysno, Sisters of Notre Dame, Nigeria
F. Averdreno, FACS, Nicaragua
Jean B. Bakole, COASAD, R.D. Congo
Bertha Caceres Flores, COPIN, Honduras
Rita Clark, Nicaragua-US Friendship Office, Nicaragua
Edgar Cortez, CDHMAPJ, Mexico
V.E. Edoku, Uganda Debt Network, Uganda
Nelson Edoku, SAARE, El Salvador
Luis Gonzalez, MCD & UNAM, Mexico
Loila Guadanozn, Integral/Cautro, Nicaragua
Haroy CleoJean, Collectif syndical, Haiti
Rieoberto Henriquez, COACES, El Salvador
Onecimo Hidalgo, CIEPAC, Mexico
Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, MPP/MPNICP, Haiti
Marina Patricia Jimenez, Center of Human Rights
Wambui Kimaltri, Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya
Gnaka Gervais Lagoke, Jubilee 2000- Cote d'Iviore, Cote d'Iviore
Ernesto Ledesma, Global Exchange, Mexico
Frances Lo, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines
Alejandro Monsiváis, A to Z, Mexico
Hisako Motoyama, Friends of the Earth-Japan, Japan
Mwiza Munthali, Malawi
Hilda Navarrete, The Voice of the Voiceless, Mexico
Odnor Ongiven, NGO Council, Kenya
Dalia Osoño, Mesa de Mujres Rurales, El Salvador
Mercedes Osuna, Enlace Civil, Mexico
Patricio Pazmino, CDES, Ecuador
Esperanza Rascon, Institute of Culture, Mexico
Pelia Rivas, Chile Igersic O'odham in Mexico, Mexico
Antonio Rivero, Comité de Incidenos, El Salvador
Cornleio Rivero-Contro, CCAJ, Nicaragua
Sofia Robles, Pueblo Mixe Services, Mexico
F. Saldún, Agricultural Forum, El Salvador
Cecilia Sanchez, National Center for Social Communication, Mexico
Virgina Sanchez, Seeds for Self-Relilance
Seydina Senghor, Jubilee 2000- Senegal, Senegal
Jorge Luis Sierra, PRD, Mexico
Zoraida Sora, Mujer y Communidad-SPC, Nicaragua
Eddie Sterling, Limije-Lavi, Haiti
Herendira Telez, General Council-UNAM, Mexico
Dier Tong, Irish-Sudanese Solidarity, Sudan/Ireland
Paulina Vega, Atención Jurídica, Mexico
-------------------------------
Robert Naiman <naimanr@preamble.org>
Preamble Center
1737 21st NW
Washington, DC 20009
phone: 202-265-3263 x277
fax: 202-265-3647
http://www.preamble.org/
-------------------------------