Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building,
Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [log in to unmask] ___________________________________________________
Thursday,
April 6, 2000
Memo #1 to Media: From Seattle to D.C. Why Challenge the
IMF and World Bank?
With protests planned in mid-April for Washington,
D.C., when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund meet in the
nation's capital, the following analysts are now available for interviews
about those institutions:
DENNIS BRUTUS, [log in to unmask], http://www.50years.org Now professor
emeritus of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Brutus was a
political prisoner with Nelson Mandela. A member of Jubilee 2000 South
Africa, Brutus said today: "The record of both the World Bank and IMF over a
period of more than 50 years shows that they serve the interests of the
corporations rather than of people. Their policies have led to increased
poverty and misery in much of the developing world. It is time to stop these
policies. Seattle represented a tremendous surge for change in the world
which will be further developed in Washington. What we seek is a new, just,
equitable world in which people are more important than
profits."
MEREDETH TURSHEN, [log in to unmask] Author of
"Privatizing Health Services in Africa" and a professor of policy and
planning at Rutgers University, Turshen said today: "The IMF and the World
Bank have forced, as conditions of badly needed loans, many African countries
to dismantle their public health services. One consequence of this is the
increased number of reported AIDS cases in Africa. AIDS in Africa is rarely
diagnosed with an HIV test -- they can't afford it. Rather, it's diagnosed by
symptoms, so many of the 'AIDS' cases are actually TB and other diseases that
are easily preventable and treatable if they had minimal health facilities.
Attributing the deaths to 'AIDS' covers for the culpability of the West in
the deteriorating health conditions in Africa and implies that there's little
to be done except get Africans to use condoms, which dovetails with the World
Bank's obsession with population control; it also plays to sexual
stereotypes. The IMF has also ordered currency devaluations which have
severely curtailed drug imports."
JEFFREY WINTERS, [log in to unmask] Co-editor of the
upcoming book "Re-inventing the World Bank" and associate professor of
political economy at Northwestern University, Winters said today: "The World
Bank's public relations budget is roughly five times its budget for project
auditing and supervision. One consequence of this is the massive problem of
Criminal Debt, that portion of a country's official foreign debt that is
stolen by government officials. For many countries in the Third World, this
is between 25 to 50 percent of the money loaned -- for Indonesia, it's a
third or $10 billion. The population has to pay back 100 percent plus
interest. The World Bank's charter requires that it ensure that the monies it
lends are used for their intended purpose -- but since its inception the Bank
has failed to do this, with the losses accruing to poor people across the
developing world."
For more information, contact at the Institute for
Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020