By Norm Dixon
MADRID â "50 años bastan! FMI-BM asasinos!" (50 years is enough! IMF-WB are assassins!) was the chant that resounded through the streets of the Spanish capital on October 2 as an estimated 20,000 demonstrators marched to show their opposition to the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which have had a disastrous effect on the lives of millions in the Third World and in eastern Europe.
The march was the culmination of a week of anti-IMF-WB activity and education which centred on the Alternative Forum â the Other Voices of the Planet Conference.
The march and conference were organised to coincide with the IMF-WB general assembly, also held here. 1994 is the 50th anniversary of Bretton Woods, the meeting which led to the creation of the IMF and WB, as well as GATT, the international institution which sets the rules of global "free" trade to the benefit of the powerful, industrialised, capitalist "north".
The Alternative Forum began on September 26 and continued until October 3. More than 100 environmental, solidarity, social and political groups endorsed the gathering. Many major development NGOs also took part. Well over 3000 people participated, a large proportion coming from all over the world.
A clear majority of participants were young people, mostly from Spain, but also from all over Europe. Their mood was militant and determinedly anti-capitalist. Many sported the symbol of anarchism (although there were few signs of any coherent anarchist ideology at the conference), others the hammer and sickle. While most were involved primarily in environmental and anti-racist campaigns, a considerable number were active in left-wing political groups and parties.
The ASEED network, which brings together young environmental and solidarity activists from around the world, found accommodation for more than 100 of its activists in the top two floors of an abandoned building in central Madrid. The building's walls were decorated in equal measure with the anarchist symbols, portraits of Che Guevara and hammers and sickles, and slogans denouncing all things reactionary.
The squat soon became the social centre for the young and/or militant conference participants. A bar serving cheap (and large) beers was set up, and on October 1 a gigantic dance with four live bands was held, attended by more than 1000 people.
In plenary and workshop sessions, participants heard details of the appalling social and environmental misery that is being wreaked on the Third World and former socialist countries by the IMF-WB through debt and "structural adjustment programs".
Medhar Patkar described how an WB-funded dam in India is devastating the Narmada Valley. Villages throughout the region are occupied by police, and already 35 tribal villages have been submerged. "Resistance is still growing and urgently needs support from the international NGO community", Patkar said.
Another participant from India, environmentalist and feminist Vandana Shiva, said that the current outbreak of plague was the direct result of the IMF-imposed structural adjustment program (SAP), which has led to the dismantling of India's health system. The only reason that more people have not died from a disease most believed extinct in the 20th century was because the SAP had just begun. Five years later and the disaster would have been horrendous.
Other participants included representatives from the Zapatistas in Mexico, the Philippines Freedom from Debt Coalition, Herri Batasuna, the militant Basque separatist party, and many newly formed environmental groups in eastern Europe. Prominent speakers included Susan George, Samir Amin and James Petras.
The conference was not without its controversies. On the eve of the conference the NGOs Coordinadora, a body which represents a number of Spanish NGOs, announced its withdrawal because of the participation of Herri Batasuna. Herri's spokesperson, Karmelo Landa, told Green Left Weekly that the organisations involved were close to the ruling PSOE and sections of the Communist Party of Spain opposed to self-determination.
In a hard-hitting talk, Oxfam Belgium's general secretary, Pierre Galand, attacked several major NGOs for their parasitic relationship with the US/UN "peacekeeping" operations. The IMF-WB was funding an increasing number of NGOs, he pointed out. NGOs must no longer be ambiguous but must take a firm political stand against Western economic interests and the IMF-WB, even if this meant being politically attacked by Western governments.
The manifesto adopted by the Alternative Forum reflected the radical mood of most participants. It stated that the IMF-WB contributes to global poverty, environmental destruction and war. It demanded autonomy and freedom for all women and called for cancellation of debt, and the abolition of these international financial institutions.