Series: 1944-2021, 77 years of interference from the World Bank and the IMF (Part 28)
The World Bank did not Foresee the Arab Spring Popular Uprisings and still Promotes the very same Policies that triggered them 12 April by
In 2021, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF will reach the age of 77. These two international financial institutions (IFIs), created in 1944, are dominated by the United States and a few major allied powers that act to generalize policies contrary to the interests of the people.
The WB and the IMF have systematically lent to states in order to influence their policies. External debt has been and still is used as an instrument of subordination of debtors. Since their creation, the IMF and WB have violated international covenants on human rights and do not hesitate to support dictatorships.
3 April by
Piyumi Fonseka
Sometimes a loan obtained to save a life can end up taking another life, in the debt-stricken villages of Sri Lanka. A 24-year-old mother killed her child and committed suicide two months ago due to her inability to repay a loan of Rs. 400, 000 to a micro-finance company. It is just one story out of millions of borrowers. Like more than 2.5 million other people in Sri Lanka, most of them were women; she had turned to micro credit in an effort to lift herself out of poverty.
Despite microfinance loans represent only 3% of the total loan portfolio of the sector, the impact it has made on low-income families is immense. According to Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), more than 200 people had committed suicide, during the last three years or so for issues related to micro-finance loans.
India: Proposals against new attempts to privatise state-owned banks 11 March by
Public sector banks account for more than two-thirds of the banking market in India. Currently, they are subjected to a systematic smear campaign launched by the reactionary Narendra Modi government, big media including the international press such as the
Financial Times. [1] These canards are aimed at accelerating the privatisation drive underway since the 1990s. Critics of the public sector argue that the banks would be much more efficient and serve public interest better if they were fully privatised. The fact that there is a series of scams about the misuse of bank funds for the benefit of big Indian capitalists adds fuel to this campaign. What is the real story?
8 February by
Miriam Lang
Ecuador’s third largest city Cuenca, of more than 600.000 inhabitants, has voted clearly against large-scale mining on February 7
th, 2021. According to estimates published on Sunday night, 80% of voters have expressed themselves for water and life, and against mining and extractivism. This referendum has been approved by the Constitutional Court in September 2020, what makes its results binding. While the results of the simultaneous presidential election were still being counted, pointing at a second round in April, the referendum organizers made clear on election night that any new president will have to respect the will of the people of Cuenca. It is the first time in Latin American history that a binding referendum against large-scale mining is won in a big city, and not in a directly affected rural community, according to Argentinian sociologist Maristella Svampa.
Neoliberal Authoritarianism in Egypt
Yanis Iqbal
The whiplash of authoritarianism is being ruthlessly used in Egypt. On January 6, 2021, Ahmed Khalifa, social news editor of Egypt 360 website, was arrested after publishing a series of reports on workers’ legitimate protests. He was falsely charged with joining a terrorist group and spreading fake news, and remains in detention to date. Before his arrest, Khalifa published articles about strikes at the state-owned ElDelta Company for Fertilizers and Chemical Industry.
Contents
In 2011, bold protest chants flowed out from Tahrir Square: from “The people want the fall of the regime!” to “Down, down with military rule!” – everything seemed full of new possibilities. Today, all the dreams envisioned by those chants lie in tatters. Egyptians have gone through an unprecedented and dizzyingly fast-paced trajectory.