Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Bono as President of the World Bank?

not bono | 16.03.2005 23:58 | World

Rumours that Bono were to become new President of the Bank are shot down in flames as Bush the Second names Paul Wolfowitz. Another blatant move by Bu$h, a major reform of the bank and an even more polarised world.

resist
resist


George Bush, according to the Guardian, has named Paul Wolfowitz, the current Deputy Secretary of Defence, who is known to greatly favour military interventions by any means necessary to expand the U.S Empire of Capital. In other words, Mr Wolfowits is a guy who knows about gunpowder, bullets, and battle fields – in theory, of course-, and not a guy who is into helping the poor and marginalised people of the world. That is, after all, what the Bank claims it is in the business of. On the other hand it is clear that Mr. Wolfowitz makes necessary a lot of development, since he is pushing the buttons of missiles and what is worse, so in that sense he ought to be very aware of the need for development in certain places. Perhaps a good start for his new job. He is moving towards the more constructive side of things, ishe? -- that is probably good for his personal development – he may get out and see some poor people and stuff – yea, right!?

It is interesting that Bush the Second chooses someone that is likely to alienate many civil society actors from the Bank – as has indeed already been noted:

“Peter Bosshard, the policy director of the International Rivers Network, an American NGO, said: "In his career, Wolfowitz has so far not shown any interest in poverty reduction, environmental protection and human rights. His election as World Bank president would most likely exacerbate the current backlash against social and environmental concerns at the World Bank, and would initiate a new era of conflict between the Bank and civil society."” from  http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1439192,00.html

Particularly in the last ten years an emerging global civil society has managed to engage the World Bank in a critical dialogue and exhibited the Bank's functions, mechanisms, and effects in the public. The current Bank President, James Wolfensohn – it seems that there is a Wolf theme here – has listened to the leading critics of the Bank, the IMF and the general process of global capitalism. These leaders, or should we call them global civil society from above, have gained some influence and some policy changes have no doubt occurred as a consequence of analyses by, say, Susan George and the insistence of Bono to be taken serious as a lobbyist. In fact, the integration of critical voices has been so comprehensive that last week there were rumours that Bono was shortlisted for becoming the new President of the Bank. But it was not to be: a man of the military strategy room is getting the job.

While it is a shock and very sad for the world, it may also be good. More people may realise what global civil society actors from below --(the grassroots, non-violent direct action groups and NGOs committed to social change, who do not accept minor adjutments of an unjust system in turn for a piece of the action)-- have been saying all along, namely that these Capital Towers are beyond reform.

Let us recall the PGA hallmark where it is written:

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker;
from:  http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/pga/hallm.htm

Take a look at it from the perspective of Bu$h and Co. The Bank is getting entangled with civil society, it is getting soft. It still does a good job on destroying the environment and rip off the poor, but it is being highlighted again and again and concessions have to be made. Global civil society is watching and Bono keep coming round wanting to be my pal. It is real trouble. What can I do? Ahh, I'll get Wolfie to deal with it, he can deal with big problems! He will hire a lot of his friends, who are all nice people and who can't live forever off rebuilding rogue states with all that public attention, he will alienate all the liberal softies, and get it all sorted. The world will be more free and democratic once we control everything.

So, there you go – Susan George, Bono, and the rest of the self-proclaimed leaders and woefully misguided, influence seeking, opportunistic lobbyists – you have your major reform of the Bank.

And then let's get back to the war, don't be a tourist!



not bono

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech