International People’s Forum vs. the IMF and World Bank - ‘We Must Have a Voice’

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) 2006 Month of Mobilisation was launched on September 16 to coincide with the IFI Annual Meetings.  GCAP Asia and GCAP International convened the International Peoples Forum (IPF) vs. the IMF and World Bank from September 15 to17 in Batam, Indonesia to launch the mobilization campaign and highlight the harmful impact of World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies on poor countries.  Under the slogan of ‘We Must Have a Voice’,  GCAP emphasised the role the IMF and WB play in restricting the ‘voice’ of poor countries in determining their own economic policies, as well as the lack of ‘voice’ that poor countries have in the way the institutions are governed.

The IPF activities included plenaries, seminars, workshops, meetings, and cultural events with the first day’s activities focused on Indonesian issues.  Most of the activities were organized by citizens groups, social movements and NGOs. Other events were scheduled in Singapore, in coordination with and with the assistance of convenors and partner groups based in Singapore.

Over 700 individuals from 25 countries representing at least 100 organizations participated in the IPF, and shared in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, exchanging information, insights and strategies on critical issues facing communities and peoples affected by World Bank and IMF operations.

Due to the crack down on democratic space for popular and peaceful protests by the Singaporean authorities in time for the Annual IMF-WB meeting,  this, among other things, forced the cancellation of outdoor events, and caused at least 100 international individuals to forfeit their participation. At least 54 individuals from 17 organisations were either banned from entering Singapore, detained at the Singapore airport without explanation, subjected to custodial interrogation and deportation.  GCAP participants from India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and from the South East, North and Central Asia (SENCA) Subregional Secretariat were detained and interrogated and some were even deported.  In response to the banning and mistreatment of IPF colleagues, 163 organizations boycotted the official events and engagement at the IMF-World Bank Meetings in Singapore.

“The GCAP participants flew to Singapore in good faith, armed only with stories of the harmful effect of IMF-WB policies. In return, they were treated like common thugs. But the forces of repression have not succeeded, the Poverty and Debt Tribunal will continue. Our voices will be heard”, said Marivic Raquiza, GCAP-Asia Convener.  

A Special Event during the International People’s Forum was the Asian People’s Tribunal on Poverty and Debt (APTPD) convened by GCAP-Asia in partnership with Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement for Debt and Development.  The Tribunal, which took place September 17 in Batam, Indonesia, dramatized the many adverse impacts of IMF-World Bank lending policies on developing countries across the region.  Around 200 participants gathered during the APTPD to listen to the testimonies presented by expert witnesses from civil society organizations from Asia and to hear the verdict that was passed.

The charges laid down by the prosecution against the IFIs included --

    * Perpetuating the structural and systemic oppression of the peoples in Asia

    * Passing on to the people the burden of payments for debts which they were not adequately informed about;

    * Financing environmentally destructive projects;

    * Entrenching corruption by lining the pockets of corrupt and repressive governments;

    * Partnering with privileged big businesses that are usually owned and controlled by local elites, and with transnational companies as well. 

In the verdict rendered at the end of the Tribunal, the Judges found the IMF-World Bank guilty of the following crimes against impoverished peoples of the world: (1) the intensification poverty and deprivation, (2) human rights violations, (3) curtailment of basic political and civil liberties; (4) undermining of sovereign and democratic governance, and (5) subversion of the right to development attendant to and resulting from the debt problem.

The APTPD also called for the following:

    * Immediate and 100 percent cancellation of multilateral debts as part of the total cancellation of debts claimed from the South, without externally imposed conditionalities.

    * Open, transparent and participatory External Audit of the lending operations and related policies of the IMF and the WB.

    * Removal of all conditionalities inherent in neoliberal policies and projects.  

The IPF also played host to a ‘campaigning against the IFIs’ skillshare session on IFI advocacies organized by Civicus and GCAP Asia.  Country campaigns from Indonesia, Philippines, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom and Australia were presented and discussed, and a sharing of what works well and not so well in their advocacies. 

The GCAP Asia Facilitation Group (AFG) meeting was also held in Batam. AFG members’ present and national coalitions’ representatives provided updates and information to come up with a more cohesive campaign platform for 2006-2007. Plans for the region were identified, including participation in ASEAN parallel civil society meetings in Cebu Philippines, at the World Social Forum in January 2007, at the G8 meeting and ADB meeting in 2007. Initial discussions were also made on the following projects: maternal death audit, a regional ODA workshop, and a Dalit conference in South Asia, among others. The group also looked at how to improve GCAP work at the global, regional and national levels, with a recommendation of improving communications and working towards synchronising the work being done at the different levels of governance.