(eng)Group critical of agencies says it will still protest (fwd)
The Anarchives (tao@presence.lglobal.com)
Sat, 14 Oct 1995 15:57:13 +0000 (GMT)
^Group critical of agencies says it will still protest@
WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuter) - The U.S.-based ``50 years is
enough'' group, which seeks reform of the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund, said Friday it plans to continue
protesting the lending organisations' policies despite small
signs of change.
Speaking at a news conference ahead of the 50th annual
meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, members of the
group said they had no intention of toning down their campaign
to appease World Bank head James Wolfensohn.
Asked whether the group would comply with Wolfensohn's view
that the campaign should be calmed as it could have an
unintentionally damaging effect, Doug Hellinger, an executive
committee member, said, ``It is not us who is the problem.''
The group, which includes more than 160 organisations in the
United States and another 170 around the world, argues that the
policies that are a condition for IMF and World Bank aid are
disastrous for poor people.
The group welcomed a decision by Wolfensohn to scrap a
controversial hydroproject in Nepal and an internal world bank
initiative that could lead to the granting of debt relief for
poor nations, but said more must be done.
Speakers at the meeting called on officials at the two
Washington-based organisations to step up their contacts with
people at the grass-roots level in the world's poorest nations.
They would then see the real economic impact of the hardship
policies they advocated and the strain debt repayment placed on
poor countries, the speakers said.
``The IMF does not think about people or the environment, it
thinks about Gross Domestic Product,'' said Marijke Torfs, a
representative of the environmental group Friends of the Earth
who is on the steering committee for the group.
Aid often only went to large organisations, leaving small
farmers and businesses as victims of the policies, the group
said.
It said it planned to hold a protest march on Monday in
Washington, the day before the official opening ceremony of the
World Bank and IMF annual meetings.
The IMF and World Bank believe that the structural
adjustment policies they require from countries which need
financial aid forces these nations to face up to -- and correct
-- fundamental problems in their economies.
Reut12:51 10-06-95
Reuter N:Copyright 1995, Reuters News Service
.