This weekend, Singapore will host the 2006 Annual Meetings of the
IMF and World Bank. The Singapore authorities have banned all
outdoor protests, put pressure on Indonesia to ban the
'International Peoples Forum VS The IMF & World Bank' (an
anti-IMF/WB conference) and banned 20 campaign group members from
entering the country - despite the fact they were all invited to
attend by the IMF/WB! The UK based 'World Development Movement' -
one of the blacklisted groups - have said "The pretext ... is
“security”. However, in reality this is ... to exclude ... voices
that would publicly criticise the IMF and World Bank”.

As SchNEWS put it in 2002 "The (capitalist) empire has found that it
doesn't allways need to pull out the guns to get control of
countries and extract their goods, when economic 'persuasion' will
do, and has institutionalised the process - with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. These institutions lend money on
the pretext of helping the country 'compete in the modern world' -
and have them paying the loan off - or at least servicing the
interest - for evermore. Chances are anyway that the money went into
weapons which are keeping that regime of choice in power, or
infrastructure like roads which some multinational corporation needs
to do its dirty work. Once you've got that country in debt you can
really put the clappers on them: start dictating how far they have
to tighten their belt to repay you by imposing wage restrictions and
public spending cuts. Then enforce privatisation which lets you and
your corporate mates come in and own and control vital services like
water, education, healthcare etc, prizing a country from its people
bit by bit and bumping up the prices while you're at it. And then
get on with the reason you're actually there: to help yourself to
that country's natural resources and cheap labour force. Cos these
people owe you something and how else are they going to repay the
loan?"

So what happens? Take Argentina, who did everything the IMF said. It
sold off everything and let foreign firms take over the economy. It
deregulated its markets, imposed 13% cuts in wages and pensions and
tried to make the people work longer for less pay. It jumped through
all the IMF hoops, chasing promises of wealth, yet in 2001 found
itself with a $150-billion foreign debt. After crisis talks, the IMF
agreed a $12.57 billion loan in September 2001 and congratulated the
Argentine government. In December 2001, the economy crashed and
Argentina defaulted on its debts, announcing effective national
bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, the World Bank continues its project of reshaping the
world for business. In addition to making loans to fund the IMF's
structural adjustment programs, the Bank finances harmful projects
around the globe such as roads, dams, powerplants, and oil
pipelines. For example, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyan oil pipeline. Running
through Azerbaijan, Turkey and Giorgia, this publicly-funded, 32%
over-budget project is a nightmare. From local economic and
environmental devastation and huge contributions to climate chaos to
constuction malpractice and human rights abuses by police and
security. This kind of thing is what the Bank is all about.

This demonstration is in solidarity with all those resisting the
effects of the IMF and World Bank - and all other mechanisms of
capitalism - around the globe.

More info:

www.50years.org, www.wdm.org.uk, www.agp.org, www.indymedia.org,
www.schnews.org.uk

More events:

Mon 18th Sept, 7.30pm: Film Show: 'Crowd Bites Wolf'. What happened
when the IMF & WB held their annual meeting in Prague in 2000. Want
a clue? They ran away a day early... At RISC, 35 - 39 London St,
Reading Conference room

6 - 8th June 2007: G8 Summit, Germany. Lets shut the whole bloody
thing down!