The publicity brought to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank meetings forced globalists to take their schemes out into the open.
They heard everybody猶at Buchanan, Liberty Lobby, tie-dyed and tattooed environmentalists,
black-clad anarchists and buttoned-down internationalists who want a kinder, gentler world
government.
These protesters forced the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, meeting jointly in
Washington April 16-17, to curb their actions while defending their existence.
In session after session, in formal speeches and at every news conference, the international
bureaucrats felt compelled to argue that banking policies that enrich the rich and impoverish
the poor will be "improved" and pollution-causing projects are not polluting.
But預bove all else悠MF and World Bank officials argued that surrendering national sovereignty
to international institutions is not surrendering sovereignty.
"Some have criticized the WTO as an organization that infringes on the sovereignty of its
member governments," but "the WTO is basically a commercial court," said Michael Moore,
director-general of the World Trade Association, in a speech April 13 at the National Press
Club.
But, Moore said: "We have learned to live as citizens of the world . . . pollution crosses
borders easily, so do criminals. Globalization is not a policy option" but a fact of
"interdependence."
People "are protesting against globalization," said IMF Director and Bilderberg regular
Stanley Fischer in a formal address. "So I will talk about globalization. Integration of
the world economy is the best way."
The IMF "will do what it can to create a stable global economic environment" and make "the
global financial system run better," Fischer said. "We are sharpening our surveillance of
economic policies."
"Surveillance" is an IMF euphemism for dictating economic policies to once-sovereign nations
for the benefit of international financiers and corporations.
CHINA TRIP BLOCKED
In another victory for protesters, a planned trip to Red China for congressmen undecided
about granting permanent favorable trading status was canceled because most of them decided
against the trip.
Instead, they are spending the Easter recess at home.
The White House had hoped to have 20 congressmen travel with Commerce Secretary William Daley
to China and another 20 travel later with Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. Now, it is
hoping to have 10 to justify the second trip scheduled to leave April 24.
Pat Buchanan helped make the trip impolitic for the congressmen when speaking to a rally of
thousands of union members at the Capitol.
"I'd tell 'em, 'You've sold your last pair of chop sticks in any mall in America,' " Buchanan
said to the cheers of the workers.
Meanwhile, criticism of the World Bank and IMF continued unabated, not only on the streets,
but in the offices of experts.
Kevin Danaher, who has written extensively and authored a book on the subject, said:
The World Bank takes our tax-payer money and uses it as collateral to issue bonds from
major banks. That money is then used to create leverage over third-world Elites.
The World Bank lends these Third World countries money熔n the condition that they will
implement policies written in Washington and Wall Street. The bank is actually sucking
money out of these countries.
"The World Bank and IMF, like the WTO, are using public funds遥et are undemocratic,
unaccountable and advancing the interests of the rich and powerful," said Daphne Wysham,
coordinator of Sustainable Energy and Economy Network.
"Since the bank is not punished for defective projects . . . it has no incentive to improve
the quality of its lending," said Catherine Caufield, author of a book on the IMF and World
Bank.
In secret deliberations, both the IMF and World Bank guarantee loans to poor, uncreditworthy nations. International financiers then make loans and investments with a potential for immense profits because of cheap labor and goods預t no risk. Often, money publicly designated to a poor country goes straight to the banks as interest payments and is never touched by the "beneficiaries."
The practice of deliberating secretly to bail out big banks and international financiers was the main complaint of demonstrators.