Why? We've built this site because citizens wonder what causes otherwise ordinary folks to put themselves in harm's way to protest a faceless bureaucracy. We built it because the mainstream media dismisses the anti-globalization movement as "decidedly left-wing and short on specifics." We are left-wing, and won't apologize for that, but we aren't short on specifics. This Web site will complement the brave people in the streets. If you want anti-globalization talking points for your book group, the office water cooler, or over the back fence with your neighbors, you've come to the right place.

a16.monkeyfist.com signing off

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-18 01:33:50
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Well, 30,000 hits from nearly 1,000 unique sites in 2 weeks (with no budget and a 'staff' of 2) isn't too bad. Trolling through the logs I see lots of hits from several insurance companies, so hopefully we educated some suits or, failing that, pissed them off!

Thanks to everyone who visited the site, as well as everyone who sent me information and reports. The site will stay here permanently to bear witness to what thousands of brave citizens accomplished in DC during the past two weeks.

I want to thank Niel Bornstein, Bijan Parsia and Collin Williams, all fellow members of the Monkeyfist Collective, for helping with this "temporary autonomous" site: for kibbitzing, political strategizing, technical help, artistic advice, etc. etc. I couldn't have done it nearly as well without you guys.

And for anyone in the audience who's looking for a new favorite Web site, if you liked this one, you'll love it's mother: Monkeyfist.com. Check it out.

We're planning some special things for the Republican National Convention at the end of July, including revolutionary silkscreen artwork and t-shirts, a street theater Punch and Judy show, lots of Super-8 video on the streets of Philly, some free software hacking at the Philly IMC, and some surprises too. Watch Monkeyfist.com for details.

Every time I use technology to aid social change, I'm reminded of the words Woody Guthrie inscribed on his guitar:

THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS

Peace,
Kendall Clark

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-17 20:05:24
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I spoke with Scott Haws, Cliff Pearson and Shane Taylor, of the Dallas and Tarrant County Green Parties respectively, this evening as they recounted some of their experiences in DC over the weekend, particularly further details about the mass arrests at the Prison-Industrial-Complex rally on Saturday.

None of the North Texas Greens were planning to be arrestable during the protests, but the DC police's strong-arming tactics changed all that for two of them. Scott, in DC with his juvenille son, Milo, went along to the International Action Committee's permitted rally in front of the FBI. During the rally, Scott called Cliff via cell phone so that they could coordinate meeting and attending a DC Statehood Green Party function. Cliff and Shane were making their way to the IAC rally when they heard, via scanner, the Federal Protective Services dispatched to the area of the IAC rally at approximately 3:30 pm. At approximately 4:05 pm persons claiming to be members of the "Spartacus League," but almost certainly agents provacateurs, urged the IAC rally demonstrators to march toward 20th and K streets where they encountered a massive police presence, which appeared to have been waiting to ambush them.

Cliff, an experienced peace activist, believes the police in DC were as well prepared as any soliders he saw in Kosovo during his last trip there. "Except for the machine guns," Cliff says, "the police were fully decked-out, ready for war." They were intent on intimidation at every occasion, going so far, Scott and Cliff both confirm, as "goose-stepping in an aggressive and fascistic manner."

Having trapped the protesters between barracades and an adjacent building, the police spent the next two hours herding as many as 600 protesters, including Scott Haws and his son Milo, into a small, confined area in preparation of mass arrests. The media were offered safe passage out of the area of arrest, but protesters pleaded with them to remain to document their treatment at the hands of police. Scott Haws says that from his vantage point, nearly all media complied with the requests of protester's, including both independent and corporate media. Cliff and Shane finally arrived in the area of 20th and I, trying to find their fellow Greens, Scott and his son Milo. They were able to communicate via cell phone during the ordeal. According to Scott Haws, who stood very near them, the leaders of the permitted IAC rally tried several times, unsuccessfully, to negotiate the ordered withdrawal of the protesters, but their pleas were ignored. Scott reports that at no time was an order to disperse given to the protesters, and that it seemed as if the police meant to make mass arrests no matter what the protesters did.

While a police helicopter hovered nearby, often directly overhead, the National Guard finally arrived at the scene. Protesters who were not encircled by police tried to block the arrival of National Guard, and Cliff snapped a picture of a DC police offer slapping a female protester with his open hand when she stepped in front of a National Guard vehicle. Cliff immediately yelled out "I took his photo. His badge number is 3255, DC Metro Police." Many police had removed their badges, as was common throughout the weekend, so that they couldn't be identified.

After the protesters were finally taken away in police custody, Cliff and Shane spent several hours trying to track down the location of Scott and Milo. The National Lawyer's Guild informed them that Milo, as a juvenille, would be released, but he was released alone, without his father, in a city he didn't know. Cliff and Shane found Milo after his release. They had a long night as they waited for Scott to be released outside the detention center, spending much of that time chanting for the release of protesters in one of many jail solidarity protests on Saturday. He was released after 16 hours, during 12 of which he was held incommunicado, most of them spent in a detention cell with 41 other protesters. They were held without food or water and only one trip to the restroom. Morale remained high, Scott reports, despite some concerns that they would be held throughout Sunday to prevent them from returning to join the protests.

The conclusion that these brave Green Party activists took away from their encounters with police is simple: overwhelming state-sanctioned violence and disregard of civil liberties was the minimum required for the IMF and World Bank meeting's to proceed at all. "Relying on state-sponsored force and violence," Cliff Pearson summed up, "was the only way the World Band and IMF were able to pursue their disastrous policies and programs."

A comment about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-17 16:50:57
References A Beginner's Guide to Debt Crisis
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The question:

What do you say to the argument that the countries who borrowed from the WB/IMF have no right to ask for debt forgiveness (nor should anyone ask on their behalf) and should be held responsible for their debts like you or anyone else would? And to what extent is the first world responsible for the debt crisis?

Chomsky responds:

The simplest answer to the argument that countries who borrowed from the WB/IMF have no right to ask for debt forgiveness is that the presupposition is false, so the argument is vacuous. E.g., the "country" of Indonesia didn't borrow; it's US-backed rulers did. The debt, which is huge, is held by about 200 people (probably less), the dictator's family and their cronies. So those people have no right to ask for debt forgiveness -- and in fact, don't have to. Their wealth (much of it in Western banks) probably suffices to cover the debt, and more.

Of course, this response assumes the capitalist principle. According to this principle, if I borrow money from you, use it to by a Mercedes and a mansion, and send most of the money to a bank in Zurich, and then you come and ask me to repay the loan, I'm not supposed to be able to say: "Sorry, I don't want to pay you back, take it from the folks in the downtown slums."

And you're not supposed to say: "I got the high yields from this risky investment, but now that the borrower doesn't want to pay it back, the risk should be transferred to other folks in my country through socialization of the debt. That's the capitalist principle. It would suffice to largely eliminate the debt. Of course, that principle is unacceptable to the rich and powerful, who prefer the operative "capitalist" principle of socializing risk and cost. So the risk is shifted to northern taxpayers (via the IMF) and the costs are transferred to poor peasants in Indonesia, who never borrowed the money.

The argument that "their country" borrowed the money so that they are responsible surpasses cynicism, and need not be considered. In fact, it doesn't even stand up under international law. When the US conquered Cuba in 1898 to prevent it from liberating itself from Spain (what is called "the liberation of Cuba from Spanish rule"), it cancelled Cuba's debt to Spain on the reasonable grounds that the debt had been forced on the people of Cuba without their consent. That doctrine, called "odious debt," was later upheld in international arbitrarion, with US initiative. The current US executive-director at the IMF, international economist Karen Lissakers, pointed out in a book a few years ago that if this principle were applied to third world debt, it would mostly disappear. But that would mean that the capitalist principle would have to be observed: borrowers have the responsibility, lenders take the risk. And that plainly won't do, when the concentration of power makes it possible to socialize cost and risk.

On first-world responsibility for the debt crisis, it is huge -- and in this case, the responsibility extends to citizens, insofar as their countries make possible some degree of participation in policy formation, and they do. The current debt crisis can be traced back to policies of the IMF and World Bank encouraging lending/borrowing to recycle petrodollars in the 1970s. Their very confident recommendations that this was just great for all concerned continued up to the moment of the Mexican default in 1982, when the system threatened to crash, and the same institutions stepped in to socialize cost and debt. Another factor was the sharp rise in interest rates in the US under the late-Carter/Reaganite policies of a form of "structural adjustment" here, undertaken with no concern, of course, for the fact that this would impose a crushing burden on third world debtors, as it did. Another factor, of course, is Western support for the murderers, gangsters, and robbers who borrowed the money for themselves and, naturally, don't want to pay it back, when they can get the burden shifted to the poor by the same institutions that created the debt in the first place.

First world responsibility is enormous, so much so that if honesty were conceivable, those who supported folks like Suharto in Indonesia, drove the lending-borrowing craze (then bailing out the banks), and sharply increased interest rates as part of the further shift of power to the rich and privileged in the US (and that's not all), should be paying the debt themselves.

The culpability of third world governments -- say, Suharto in Indonesia -- is enormous, but remember that these governments are western clients, outposts virtually, whose task is to open their countries to foreign plunder, repress the population (by huge massacres if necessary), and enrich themselves if they feel like it (that's not a responsibility, just an incidental benefit accorded them). Suharto was "our kind of guy," as the Clinton administration put it, as long as he fulfilled this role. Much the same hold for other third world governments. Those that try to follow another course typically get smashed. E.g., Nicaragua has one of the highest debts in the world. The Sandinistas were doubtless corrupt, though not by preferred US standards, but that's not the reason for the debt: rather, the fact that the US waged a brutal and murderous war to get them back into line.

Note again that culpability of our governments (and their institutions, like the IMF-WB) are also our culpability, to the extent that we have the capacity to influence policy, and don't.

Interview with Vandana Shiva

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-16 23:17:32
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Vandana Shiva -- one of the real heroes of the anti-globalization movement -- is a beautiful and brave human being. Be sure to watch this interview in which she speaks truth about power, and its abuses, in DC, particularly the illegal search, and subsequent closure, of the protester's Convergence Center.

Watch the interview [RealVideo, 3:02]

Democracy Now!

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-16 23:08:30
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Police Savagely Attack Protesters

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-16 15:09:21
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I watched some tape earlier of savage police assaults on seated, non-violent, peaceful, grounded protesters, including one cop swinging apparently as hard as he could with a baton, striking a protester repeatedly.

I grew up around cops and have known many of them well. All of them were gentle, decent people. And the only thing I can imagine would make them act this savagely is fear. But what are they afraid of from citizens expressing their political views?

As a citizen, then, I am compelled to wonder what kind of "training" were DC -- and Seattle -- cops given that makes them so fearful of non-violent, unarmed protesters that they would savagely attack them. Some of the wire reports are calling the clashes between police and protesters "violent" clashes, failing to discriminate precisely enough between one-way and two-way violence. It's inaccurate and misleading to say "police and protesters clash violently" as a headline when the body of the story recounts only one-way violence, police-on-protester. There hasn't been a single report of protester violence yet.

When a cop swings away, full-force, at a seated protester before his colleague sprays large amounts of capsicium-based pepper spray directly in the protesters face, that kind of savagery can only be the result of some serious anti-democracy propaganda, masquerading as police training.

The Chief of DC police said on Saturday that his job was to "allow the protesters to exercise their rights but only as long as they don't hinder the rights of the World Bank and IMF to hold meetings." The rights to free speech and peaceable assembly to seek the redress of grievances are the bedrock of American political life; but I've been searching the Constitution frenetically trying to find some place where the right of the World Bank and IMF to hold meetings at all costs is guaranteed. Sounds like the Chief of DC Police needs a lesson on the Constitution.

Radical Puppets!

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-15 16:33:17
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Police Crack Down Leaves Protesters Undeterred

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-15 16:15:48
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Jay Sand, IMC coordinator, gives a breaking report via cell phone to the IMC in the wake of a police raid of the Convergence Center, set up to welcome IMF/World Bank critics.

Jay Sand, coordinator of the IMC in DC, was attending an A16 Mobilization meeting when firemen interrupted and brought in police to clear critics from the building.

Reports from media teams inside the center claim that the firemen were wearing ATF badges.

According to Sand, firemen entered the convergence space, set up to meet the thousands of activists expected for the anti-globalisation protests planned for Sunday, and told activists to leave. The reason for the order was an alleged fire code violation. Firemen said that if IMF/World Bank critics didn't immediately evacuate, they would be forced to call police. Police were in fact standing by.

Sand said, at the time of a phone call to the IMC at 9:20am on Saturday, that police were barricading critics inside the convergence center.

IMC sources noted that the police were not wearing identification of any kind.

Critics refused to leave without their protest equipment, puppets, and other materials created this past few weeks in preparation for the demonstrations on Sunday, April 16, known as A16, an international day of action against corporate globalization.

And this follow-up on the effects of this police raid filed by Troy Skeels

Following the 8:30am police raid on the "Convergence Space" under pretense of fire code violations, a16 activists have dispersed to other locations in the neighborhood.

The ease with which this movement without leaders was able to regroup following the raid hints that, perhaps the authorities don't have the situation as under control as they might think. What the police must have imagined to be a devastating blow against the mobilization - overrunnning the headquarters - has proved to be only a minor setback. And if the mood at the new space (Irving Wilson Center at 15th and Columbia) is any indication, it appears the authorities have once again lost by winning.

Word of mouth has it that international media has closely covered the raid and activists from the Global South have taken the opportunity to point out that this is exactly the kind of repression that the IMF/WB inspire in their own countries. Further, early reports that a "fully constructed molotov coctail," was found on the premises have been since retracted., proving again that the authorities will tell any kind of lie to justify their use of force.

It might be remembered that the presence of a "molotov cocktail" in the crowd was one excuse used to explain the police riot in Seattle on December 1st. After all these months it has still never been explained where the police got that bit of information, nor have police even attempted to produce any evidence supporting their assertion. It was simply yet another official untruth, useful for it's short term perjorative effect in justifying the authorities violent tactics.

As of midafternoon, the street in front the the Convergence Space remained blocked with police tape and some incredibly bored looking motorcycle cops. Police are still inside the convergence building itself, doing who knows what. At any rate, it seems to be a sizable police investigation of what is ostensibly a violation of the fire code.

According to Vijay, from Boston, shortly after the raid began this morning, quick thinking activists managed to save numerous personal effects and some useful equipment with a spontaneous "bucket brigade," passing items out of the building in the initial confusion. At least some of the puppets are reported to have escaped arrest and are currently hiding out in an undisclosed location.

RealVideo of the Convergence Center Raid [1:15, with audio]

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-15 00:24:37
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DC's Anarchist Soccer League (ASL) challenges World Bank to soccer showdown. It is time for the policy makers to take direct responsibility for the concerns of the general public. We feel it is the best option to take to the streets, and thus, we challenge the official to put up or shut up.

"If they win, we won't protest their catastrophic policies until Prague - if we win, they have to cancel Third World debt. It's that simple," said Kadd Stephens, an ASL member.

On April 16th, the ASL will descend on downtown DC in anticipation of the high-stakes match-up, hoping that this show of peaceful, good sportsmanship will entice World Bank delegates to "come out from behind those silly barricades and quit being so damned paranoid," said ASL regular Alanna Bolan. The game will take place in some close proximity to the World Bank and IMF buildings.

The anarchists insist that the challenge is non-violent, and will not involve property destruction. When asked about potential breaking of windows, ASL member Dave Duffy responded "I think I just broke wind."

The Radical Cheerleading Squad and Anarchist Drum Line are expected to provide halftime entertainment. The representatives from the World Bank are responsible for the refreshments that will be served at halftime.

The Anarchist Soccer League was formed in 1998 and plays weekly pick-up matches at Ft. Reno park every Sunday at 2pm. All are welcome, aside from scab reporters who cross picket lines -- they suck.

Below is the note that was sent to World Bank and IMF officials.

Dear Heads of The World Bank and IMF,

We in the Anarchist Soccer League cordially invite you to take part in a soccer match at 6:30 a.m. on the morning of April 16th. This match will have stakes, though, if we win, you have to cancel the entire Third World Debt and if you win we will not protest your existence until Prague in September. We think that these stakes are reasonable and see no reason why our offer will be refused. I hope that you understand that failure to show up for the game will result in forfeit, which means that we win and you must cancel the debt.

Thank you very much and see you on the pitch,

The Anarchist Soccer League

Blogit.pitas.com following A16

A web link about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-14 17:33:26
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Jeff Wiggin, the brains behind Blogit, is covering the A16 events carefully. Since his politics seem to be right-on, and there's so much to cover, we're pointing our respective audiences at both sites so they can struggle toward the full picture. Looks like so far Jeff is analyzing the mainstream sites, which is helpful since their coverage is historically terrible on events like this.

A little independent Web publisher solidarity never hurt anyone!

What do the Anarchists intend?

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-14 17:11:37
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Ooh, the very scary anarchists are ruining America, working for things like an end to all forms of hierarchy and oppression, the devolution of power to local communities, economic and social justice. Ooh, very scary... Well, maybe not. Before you get too upset at the prospect of an anarchist takeover of DC, let's see what the anarchists themselves say they want to accomplish in their protests against the IMF and World Bank. The bad old anarchists have a Web site and everything!

Read the Revolutionary Anti-capitalist Bloc statement.

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-14 13:45:09
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Two faulty assumptions persistently crop up when I talk to people about Seattle and about the impending events in DC.

First, most folk assume, because the mainstream media refuses to make clear distinctions, that everyone in the Seattle protests was an anarchist and that property violence was the aim of all the protesters. That's not true. There were (at least) three types of street-level activity going on: the 'mainstream' non-violent protest; the anarchist protest that employed politically-motivated property damage; opportunists who used the protests as a chance to steal stuff.

Second, people assume that violence against property, even if politically motivated, is only a kind of crime and not a form of political expression with criminal implications. Smashing a window to rob something is a property crime. Smashing a window because it represents a multi-national corporation that exploits child labor in the developing world is, or can be, a political act of dissent and protest.

I'm not arguing for or against a particular kind of protest or political expression (though I am willing to say that violence against persons, including institutional violence, is morally problematic in a way that violence against property isn't; the law and, more crucially, our enforcement of the law should more clearly reflect this moral judgment). I'm arguing for the recognition of these distinctions: non-violent protest and direct action; protest and direct action incorporating politically-motivated property damage; opportunistic property crimes.

We're likely to see some of all three in DC in the next few days, so watch your local and national media to see if they keep these distinctions clearly separated. If they don't, either they're stupid, or they're doing a disservice to democracy by spreading propaganda.

Police: To Protect Business Property and Serve the Owners

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-14 13:23:27
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The DC Metropolitan Police have a page of "safety tips" regarding the A16 demonstrations. Great, I think, I can see what they recommend for dealing with the pepper spray, baton blows and tazer shocks. But, no, what we find there are safety tips for business and property owners about "demonstration-proofing" their stuff.

Isn't that nice? It at least has the virtue of making police priorities very clear. There's not a single word about how people might make themselves safe from police tactics. The criminal code for DC says,

A riot in the District of Columbia is a public disturbance involving an assemblage of 5 or more persons which by tumultuous and violent conduct or the threat thereof creates grave danger of damage or injury to property or persons.

Property over persons! The legal definition of a riot sounds a lot like every St Patrick's Day parade or Redskins game I've ever attended.

But let's be fair, they could have told us how to be safe from the tactics of the demonstrators for that matter. Those papier maché puppets can be dangerous, and don't get me started on the hazards of leftists in turtle suits!

ZNet -- World Trade Crisis

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-12 14:29:48
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The fine folks at Zmag.org have a fairly comprehensive page about world trade issues and protests. What's particularly notable is the range and quality of analysis of the political economy of world trade, from luminaries like Noam Chomsky, Weissman and Mokhiber, David Grossman, etc.

If you're clamoring for alternatives and solutions, this is a good place to start.

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-12 12:57:45
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Thousands and thousands of citizens are taking to the streets in direct democratic and civic involvement. But what we think of as 'democracy in action,' the elites try to dismiss, or marginalize, or criminalize as a crisis of democracy. And what are the tools of the elites for dealing with democratic crises? Censorship and propaganda, pepper spray and rubber bullets. We can only rationally expect it to get much, much worse before it gets better at all.

The People's Campaign Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) today deplored the U.S. government for causing the closure of a university hall where U.S.-based Filipinos and other people of color were to hold a symposium in line with the protests surrounding the Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C.

The forum titled "Imperialist Globalization: Its Impact on the Environment and Human Rights" was to be held at George Washington University's Corcoran Hall on April 15. Government and school officials announced on April 10 that they were closing the universiy to outsiders.

The forum, sponsored by Amnesty International, was one of the activities under the Filipino-led People's Assembly Against IMF-WB.. "This is the way they treat Filipino activists here in Washington. They are taking away our right to speak up against the harsh impacts of imperialist globalization," said PCAIG convenor and Bayan Vice Chairperson Dr. Carolina Pagaduan-Araullo who is now in the U.S. as a speaker at the said forum. "It's like martial law here at the U.S. capital. Just to make the IMF-WB meeting look good, the U.S. government is using all means to stop the protest actions and thwart discussions against imperialist globalization," Araullo added.

Araullo, a veteran of last year's "Battle in Seattle," will be joined by South African anti-apartheid leader Dr. Dennis Brutus and Friends of the Filipino People leader Boone Schirmer. The venue has been moved to the Church of the Brethren, also at the U.S. capital, on April 15.

"We ask Filipinos and Americans to condemn this fascist assault on the right to free expression, assembly and the right to dissent against the IMF-WB," she exhorted.

Last year, the PCAIG was also refused a permit to stage a rally in Seattle during the World Trade Organization summit. However, this did not stop them from pushing through with the march and joining thousands of others in a historic show of protest against globalization.

Welcome to the Whirled Bank: Our Dream is a World Full of Poverty

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-11 15:35:33
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A very clever, well-done satire of the World Bank Web site. A must visit.

World Bank boycott campaign

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-11 13:14:06
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How do you get a banker's attention? Hit him or her squarely on the bottom line. The World Bank Boycott campaign is calling for an end to the private financing of the World Bank. If you have a pension fund or other investment tool that invests in bonds, you may be supporting the World Bank unwittingly. Do some research and then act appropriately. The World Bank Boycott Web site is a great resource.

The World Bank raises 80% of its funds through bonds which are sold to investors on private capital markets. Today is the public launch of a boycott against World Bank bonds, which is being organized in eleven countries, including South Africa, Ecuador, and Pakistan. Beverly Bell, Director of the Center for Economic Justice said, "The fact that labor unions, churches, universities, and municipalities own these bonds gives ordinary citizens the opportunity to take power away from this destructive institution."

"When investors realize that their money is being used to damage the environment, destroy indigenous communities and trample human rights, they will move their investments to less controversial projects," says Neil Tangri of Washington, D.C.-based Essential Action. Even before the campaign's official launch, several socially responsible investment firms (including Trillium Assets Management of Boston and Progressive Assets Management of New York) have pledged not to buy World Bank Bonds. In addition, the city of Berkeley, California and Local 9423 of the Communications Workers of America in San Jose, California have passed resolutions to boycott the future purchase of World Bank bonds. Similar resolutions have been initiated in communities and institutions throughout the United States.

OneWorld.net Campaigns: IMF & World Bank

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-11 12:46:48
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OneWorld.net has put together a fairly comprehensive site about the campaign against the World Bank and IMF. It's not being kept as up-to-minute as this site, but it's still worth a look. Check it out.

On April 16 the World Bank and the IMF hold their annual meeting in Washington DC. Tens of thousands of anti-free trade, Third World Debt and other civil society campaign groups will converge on the city to challenge policies they say are deepening poverty and inequality across the world. Get the latest news, action and background stories from OneWorld.net.

7 Arrested in IMF Protests

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-10 14:41:46
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Seven people were arrested in downtown Washington and traffic was tied up for 45 minutes this morning in the first street action of protests this week against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Police said three were arrested who were trying to lead a protest rally from the top of a rental truck, two others after they chained themselves to the vehicle and two others who officials said tried to unfurl a banner on the World Bank building.

Hundreds of protesters have come to the city to protest policies of the World Bank and the IMF during the groups' spring meetings, which start Tuesday. They say they hope to build on the momentum of protests against the WTO that turned ugly in Seattle, resulting in disruption of the meetings and tear-gassing of protesters.

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-10 02:47:49
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People continue to ask about alternatives: how about replacing the damage structural adjustement loan conditionalities do to subsistence farming in the Global South with sustainable, local agriculture and micro-lending? Agribusiness and export-driven cash crops are the among leading causes of famine and food-security crises worldwide. One affinity group coming to the A16 protests is focused on these issues. When agribusiness and genetically-modified foodstuffs are the order of the day, planting a simple garden can be a revolutionary act.

Welcome to D.C. The A16 Guerilla Gardening Collective is proud to hand over the reigns of leadership of the agrarian revolution into your willing and capable hands. Guerilla gardens are revolutionary infrastructure. Seizing back control of our own food supply from multinational corporations is one of the first steps in eliminating our dependence on those corporations, and eliminating our dependence is the first step towards freedom.

If our embryonic revolution is to grow into a mass movement that will change the course of history it must seize the imaginations of working people. We must illustrate viable alternatives to the present madness. We must do it creatively enough that they cannot credibly label us as terrorists, and militantly enough that we cannot be ignored.

Listed below are a number of scenarios. Choose the one that appeals to you, or create your own, organize your affinity group, and do it.

1. Tree planting canvas: This action is for individuals or pairs. It involves going door to door in the neighborhoods of D.C. with saplings and flyers. When people answer the door tell them you are offering to plant them a tree for free if they agree to give it a marker stake and water it, as young trees need a lot of care to make it through the first year. Give them a flyer about the IMF/World Bank effects on global forests and use it as an opportunity to start conversations, build community support, and reforest the city one yard at a time.
2. Community Gardens: There are plenty of existing community gardens that could use a hand, so if that is what your group is interested in, give us a call and we'll try to hook you up with some locals.
3. Urban Reclamation: Throughout the city there are abandoned lots just waiting to be discovered and reclaimed by the people and Mother Earth. These actions provide opportunities for us to connect the issues of the environment, community control, biotechnology and the role of the IMF/World Bank when we talk to the media and the community members walking by.
4. Spectacle on the Green: This one is going to be the most confrontational and is going to require a well-organized cluster of affinity groups. The idea is to liberate a section of greenspace in central D.C. This idea has the potential to create a powerful image of the people reclaiming the capitol city in a creative and beautiful way. All the details are left to you for obvious reasons.

Protesters target IMF meeting (BBC News)

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-09 23:34:27
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The BBC takes a fairly objective look at the A16 protests and the IMF/World Bank.

Campaigners from around the world are targeting the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington to launch a series of demostrations and protests.

They are hoping to repeat the success of the demonstrations at the world trade talks in Seattle in December, which succeeded in disrputing the meeting, which ultimately collapsed without agreement.

The same coalition of activists - including trade unions, environmental groups, and development activists - are expected to converge on Washington during the coming week.

On Sunday they plan a mass demonstration and rock concert to "raise consciouness about globalisation,"

Later in the week, a mass demonstration of trade unionists opposed to a US trade deal with China will take to the streets.

And non-violent direct action around the world is being planned for Sunday April 16 when the IMF and World Bank spring meetings formally open.

The IMF acting managing director, Stanley Fisher, met with environment and develop groups in March to try and convince them that the organistion was sympathetic to their concerns.

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-09 23:07:34
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The vanguard of what could be thousands of protesters began arriving in Washington, D.C., today for the start of week-long demonstrations they hope will shut down meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

``People are pouring in, and we're getting ready to hit the streets,'' said Laura Jones, a leader of one of the hundreds of groups planning the protests scheduled to lead up to the joint meetings on April 16-17 of the World Bank and IMF.

Organizers inspired by massive protests at last December's summit of the World Trade Organization in Seattle will stage marches, street theater and teach-ins, and form ``human chains'' to accuse the two lenders of pursuing policies that harm poor people and the environment.

The protest plans have prompted police in Washington to mobilize thousands of officers to guard against any repeat of the violence in Seattle. The scheduled demonstrations also have altered meeting preparations at the IMF and World Bank, which have told most of their employees to stay home on April 17.

The largest and most confrontational events are set for April 16, when thousands of people are expected for a downtown rally against the IMF and World Bank and others plan to engage in civil disobedience that's expected to result in arrests as demonstrators try to close down the groups' meetings.

(report filed by Paul Basken)

50 Years is Enough! U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-08 19:37:12
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Read the 50 Years platform; it's full of alternatives to the existing international finance regime.

Above all, the Network calls for the full participation of affected women and men in all aspects of World Bank and IMF projects, policies and programs. This requires far-reaching changes in the lending policies, internal processes and structure of the World Bank and the IMF. Only when these reforms are implemented will these institutions be able to play a positive role in support of equitable and sustainable development. This will require the following:

1. Openness and full public accountability of the Bretton Woods institutions and the systematic integration of affected women and men in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of World Bank and IMF projects and policies;
2. A major reorientation of World Bank- and IMF-financed economic-policy reforms to promote more equitable development based upon the perspectives, analysis and development priorities of women and men affected by those policies;
3. An end to environmentally destructive lending and support for more self-reliant, resource-conserving development;
4. The scaling back of the financing, operations, role and, hence, power of the World Bank and the IMF and the rechanneling of financial resources thereby made available into a variety of development assistance alternatives; and
5. A reduction in multilateral debt to free up additional capital for sustainable development.

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-08 18:21:59
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I tried to explain to someone recently, who was criticizing the World Economic Forum protesters in Davos earlier this year for not engaging in "thoughtful conversation," that protests, particularly direct actions, are not meant to be places of thoughtful conversation or reflection. But, I said, direct actions are always accompanied by teach-ins and conferences in which thoughtful people lay out alternatives to institutions like the IMF and World Bank. The A16 protests are no exception; two such conferences are

• forum on Altenatives to Corporate Globalization at 5pm on the Thursday the 13th at the Church of the Reformation, 222 East Capitol St NE
• "Bearing the Burdens and Creating Alternatives" which focuses on women activists world wide; from 2-4pm on Thursday the 13th at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St. NW.

The issue of 'alternatives' is a bit tricky since it's just as often used to dismiss critics of the status quo as it is to inquire sincerely about other ways of organizing the world. But the IMF and World Bank, particularly through structural adjustment programs as conditions of development loans, do such damage to the global South that it would be better if they were just disbanded altogether.

We always have the alternative of stopping harmful actions and replacing them with nothing. It's better to have no international development apparatus than the neoliberal one we have now.

A16 Medical Collective

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-07 14:47:18
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The Medical Team will help you, the warriors for global justice, stay as active, healthy and engaged in the struggle as possible. We will provide free treatment to the best of our ability to anyone who requests it. We will offer 'straight' (allopathic) and 'complementary' (herbal, homeopathic, etc.) care.

The primary health care will take place in the protest zone by trained Street Medics, and you the protesters. The medics will facilitate assistance to anyone who desires it. The medics will be assigned to areas of action, affinity groups, and/or hot zones.

Make sure to read the How to deal with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets? page.

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-07 02:23:15
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If you're in high school in D.C. these days, the closest you're likely to be able to get to your free speech rights is civics class. In addition to their other thuggery, the D.C. police have been, in concert with high school administrators, tearing down A16 posters and organizing literature found in local high schools.

Poor students didn't realize that you're not actually supposed to expect free speech, it's just one of those things they talk about in high school.

An update about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-06 14:38:04
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In an effort to shape the mainstream media coverage of the upcoming IMF and World Bank protests, the IMF is denying media accreditation to independent, community or alternative journalists.

Ron Smith, an independent journalist, says, "I just talked to the lovely people at IMF, and they claimed, as they told me about my rejection, that no community stations are being accepted. 'we have to draw the line somewhere'. I was applying under KAOS FM Olympia, a local station in Olympia Washington."

Julie Light, editor at Corporate Watch, adds that, "my collegues and I at Corporate Watch were just denied credentials. I've called the IMF to protest and have not heard back...I'm managing editor of Corporate Watch and a full time working journalist. This is the first time in over 15 years as a journalist that I've been denied credentials. I'm spitting mad!."

According to its press office, the IMF does "not provide press accredition to public access TV, community radio, nor student or academic publications to attend our meetings."

The IMF apparently only feels comfortable accrediting professional journalists, where professional means "corporate". Why's that? If the IMF and World Bank want accurate coverage, don't they have to accredit non-corporate journalists? Where does this leave Web-based, non-profit, academic, community and public access journalists? It effectively leaves them out in the cold.

The Media Alliance has released a press release with additional detail.

A comment about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-06 12:32:26
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by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

The next citizen showdown against corporate globalization will be on April 16 and 17, when thousands of people come to Washington, D.C. to protest -- through legal demonstrations and/or civil disobedience -- the politics of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. For details on events, see www.a16.org. Here's a dozen reasons why you should join the protests:

1. IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs have increased poverty around the world.

Structural adjustment -- the standard IMF/World Bank policy package which calls for slashing government spending, privatization, and opening up countries to exploitative foreign investment, among other measures -- has deepened poverty around the world. In the two regions with the most structural adjustment experience, per capita income has stagnated (Latin America) or plummeted (Africa). Structural adjustment has also contributed to rising income and wealth inequality in the developing world.

2. IMF/World Bank "debt relief" for poor and indebted countries is a sham.

Many poor countries must devote huge portions of their national budgets to paying back foreign creditors -- often for loans that were made to or for dictators, wasteful military spending or boondoggle projects. The money used to pay back debt subtracts from essential expenditures on health, education, infrastructure and other important needs.

The IMF/World Bank plan to relieve poor countries' debt burden will leave most poor countries paying nearly as much as they currently do. And all of the debt relief is conditioned on countries undergoing years of closely monitored structural adjustment.

3. The IMF has helped foster a severe depression in Russia.

Russia in the 1990s has witnessed a peacetime economic contraction of unprecedented scale -- with the number of Russians in poverty rising from 2 million to 60 million since the IMF came to post-Communist Russia. The IMF's "shock therapy" -- sudden and intense structural adjustment -- helped bring about this disaster. "In retrospect, it's hard to see what could have been done wrong that wasn't," says Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

4. The IMF helped create and worsen the Asian financial crisis.

The IMF encouraged Asian countries to open their borders to "hot money" -- speculative finance invested in currency, stocks and short-term securities. That was an invitation to trouble. The Asian financial crisis resulted from the hot money brokers' herdlike decision to leave Asian countries en masse.

Once the crisis hit, the IMF made things worse by requiring structural adjustment as a condition for IMF loans. The result was a surge in bankruptcies, layoffs and poverty. In Indonesia, poverty rates rose from an official level of 11 percent to 40 to 60 percent, depending on the estimate. At one point, Indonesia's food shortage became so severe that then-President Habibie implored citizens to fast twice a week. Many had no choice.

5. The IMF bails out big banks.

The IMF bailouts in Asia, like those in Russia and Mexico, directed money to those countries largely for the purpose of paying off loans to foreign banks. Thanks to the IMF, the banks escaped significant losses for imprudent lending decisions. Citigroup, Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan were among the beneficiaries of the "Korean" bailout.

6. IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs devastate the environment.

Structural adjustment demands an increase in exports and foreign exchange earnings. As a result, explains Friends of the Earth, "Countries often over-exploit their resources through unsustainable forestry, mining and agricultural practices that generate pollution and environmental destruction."

7. IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Here's how Dr. Peter Lurie and collaborators explained the problem in the journal AIDS: The displacement of the rural sector under structural adjustment programs -- as imports undermine local farmers and the shift to large-scale plantations for exports further displaces the rural population -- contributes to migration and urbanization. Many men leave rural villages for work in big cities or in mines, contract HIV/AIDS from casual sex partners or sex workers, and then spread the disease to spouses in their home village. The displacement of children and young women into the cities has led to a sharp increase in commercial sex work and heightened rates of HIV/AIDS.

8. IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs harm women.

Cuts in budget spending, mandated by structural adjustment programs, leave women to pick up the pieces -- with government services eliminated, women are forced to provide informal social supports for the sick and disabled. The IMF/Bank emphasis on exports has pushed women farmers to switch from growing food for family consumption to crops for exports -- and left them poorer in the process. The high interest rates associated with structural adjustment have made credit less accessible, undermining the viability of small women-owned businesses.

9. IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs and Bank project loans have led to deforestation worldwide.

The export orientation demanded by structural adjustment policies has led to more forest cutting. And World Bank forest sector loans to countries around the world have done nothing to improve the situation.

"Although the [1991 Bank Forest] policy had dual objectives of conservation of tropical moist forests and tree planting to meet the basic needs of the poor, Bank influence on containing rates of deforestation of tropical moist forests has been negligible in the 20 countries with the most threatened tropical moist forests." Who said that? The World Bank's own Operations Evaluation Department, in November 1999!

10. World Bank policies have displaced millions of people around the world.

World Bank loans for dams and major infrastructure projects routinely require removal of massive numbers of people from their homes and destruction of their communities. In addition to the emotional hardship of leaving their land, the displaced people almost always find their quality of life diminished after the move. The Bank itself agrees. A 1994 report from the World Bank's Environmental Department found that, "Declines in post relocation incomes are sometimes significant, in certain cases reaching as much as 40 percent for people who were poor even before their displacement."

11. The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) provides corporate welfare for environmentally destructive projects.

The IFC finances and provides advice for private sector ventures and projects in developing countries in partnership with private investors. Among its private sector partners: ExxonMobil, BP, Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark and Marriott. There's no reason for a public development institution, supposedly working to fight poverty, to lend its support to these well-endowed multinationals. Making matters worse, many of the private sector projects supported by the IFC, especially in the oil and gas sector, are environmentally destructive.

12. April 16 is a chance to make history.

While massive protests against IMF and World Bank policies are commonplace in the developing world -- from Jordan to Indonesia, Venezuela to Zambia -- the IMF and World Bank are not accountable to populations in those countries. In contrast, there has never been a demonstration of more than a few hundred people to challenge IMF and Bank policy in the United States -- the largest and most influential shareholder in the institutions.

That's going to change on April 16. The thousands of people who will attend the April 16 protests will forever change the political context of debates on IMF and the World Bank -- the best hope for billions in the developing world who have been subjected to the IMF and Bank's brutal policies with no recourse.

Special bonus reason to come to D.C.: With large puppets, colorful pagaentry, militant protests, Emcee Michael Moore at the legal demonstration on the Ellipse, and lots of great music, the protests will be a fun-filled festival of resistance.

Reprinted with permission.

A Beginner's Guide to Debt Crisis

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-05 16:01:36
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There's a growing movement calling for international debt cancellation. If you're not very familiar with the structure of international entities like the World Bank and the IMF, you may think debt cancellation is a bad idea. "After all," you may be thinking, "countries shouldn't borrow money they can't repay."

But if you want to make an informed decision about about debt cancellation, you have to have all the facts, and Jubilee 2000's Beginner's Guide to Debt Crisis is a good place to start.

A comment about A16
Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-04 13:23:16
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Mozambique, a country of 20 million inhabitants, has just suffered the worst floods for 30 years. The government estimates the cost of reconstruction at $250 million. While the industrialized countries point to the emergency aid they have provided to the victims, they are discreetly demanding that the Mozambican authorities repay the country's foreign debt. Mozambique, which is one of the poorest countries on the planet must pay its debt, money it could use to meet the basic human needs of its people. The country's foreign debt amounts to $8.3 billion. The creditors fall into three groups:

1. the multilateral financial institutions (World Bank/IMF), who hold $2.1 billion, or around a quarter of the total (the "multilateral debt");
2. foreign states, who hold $4.3 billion, around half of the total (the "bilateral debt");
3. private financial institutions, who hold $2 billion, or a quarter (the "private debt").

Continued...

Florham Park, NJ: Spank The Bank

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-04 02:28:51
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And so it begins... In Florham Park, NJ, on Saturday, activists greeted delegates, arriving for plenary sessions, with, as Brooke Lehman writes, a

forty foot banner depict[ing] two bloody corporate hands squeezing the life out of the global south with the caption "World Bank and IMF = Corporate Colonialism." As the banner was unfurled hundreds of local and federal law enforcement officers stood helplessly below.

It's not expected that law enforcement will always be so quiescent.

Protest Art: Post it in your neighborhood

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-03 14:34:29
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Can't make it to DC? Print these out and placard your neighborhood. Or print a few out and replace those mindless "Team Work" posters at work.

What is the World Bank/IMF?

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Posted by Kendall Clark on 2000-04-03 14:05:10
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To understand why people are protesting the World Bank and IMF in Washington D.C., you first have to understand what the World Bank and IMF do.

Global Exchange has a helpful World Bank/IMF factsheet. Read it carefully before passing judgment on the protesters.

Visit the Monkeyfist a16.DC archive for more articles.