STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
| STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
IMF and World Bank do more harm than good
Though unable to join the massive protest in Washington D.C. this weekend, many thousands of Australian citizens will agree that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank should be abolished without delay.
In a world where two billion people have yet to be connected to electric light, it is an obscenity that these two institutions operate to channel more wealth away from the poorest countries and into the coffers of private banks and multinationals.
The evidence was plain to see in the provision of massive IMF loans to the stricken economies of Mexico, Korea, Russia and Indonesia --always with the proviso that those governments accepted prime responsibility to pay out debts to private banks.
The use of taxpayers' money to bail out imprudent bankers is not only an abuse of public trust--it also encourages bankers to go on taking unwarranted risks.
A growing number of people in high places now wants to see the IMF and World Bank abolished or drastically reformed.
The former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has accused the Fund of secrecy and bad economics. Also, in March, the US Congressional International Financial Institution Advisory Commission (the Meltzer Committee) unanimously recommended that the IMF and the Bank be radically downsized, and that large amounts of debt be cancelled.
As was the case when ordinary people shut down the World Trade Organisation in Seattle, the protest against the IMF and World Bank is well justified.
The StopMAI (WA) Coalition will be presenting its support at the May Day (7 May) rally at Fremantle. We will also conduct a public forum on globalisation in June, and are inviting other organisations to support a major Perth convention in November to debate the destructive impacts of unfettered free trade and speculative investment.
ends #35
PHONE CONTACTS: Brian Jenkins +61 8 9528 1864; Dion Giles 0411 745 538