BY JAMES ARVANITAKIS
Seattle, Washington, Melbourne, Prague, Quebec and now Honolulu — the protests against corporate-led globalisation continue to grow.
While smaller than its predecessors, the May 9-11 protests and parallel people's forum held in Honolulu, Hawaii, during the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), were just as important.
Once again a wide variety of community groups formed coalitions and proposed alternatives to the single, simple and outdated neo-liberal economic model offered by the champions of corporate-led globalisation. Further, the protests took place in Honolulu, a location that does not have a history of activism or protests.
The focus of these protests was the ADB, but the issues raised by the protesters are far broader than the bank and touch on international relations of power between the rich and poor countries and the structure of the global economy.
Established in 1966, the ADB is a multilateral development bank modelled closely on the World Bank.
The bank has recently stated its primary goal to be "poverty reduction" but, really, its focus has remained the same. The model that is promoted is simple — increase economic growth, which leads to greater "development" (measured by gross domestic product), and eventually poverty reduction will follow through the "trickle-down effect".
The results of these policies are predictable: the privatisation of state assets, liberalisation of economies, large-scale infrastructure projects and exploitation of natural resources. The outcomes are environmental destruction, displacement of communities and a growing gap between the very wealthy and the rest.
In an audit of its own projects, the ADB has admitted that only 30% of them are sustainable or deliver any long-term benefits.
Embarrassed
The ADB's last annual meeting was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and was a disaster for the institution, with more than 5000 villagers arriving to protest its destructive policies.
The ADB was embarrassed by the adverse publicity and moved this year's meeting to a more low-key location. Seattle was originally proposed, but the city's officials reportedly refused to seriously consider the offer, and Hawaii was chosen instead.
Although Hawaii has long been promoted as an island paradise, and the perfect location for international conferences, the reality is different. The ADB meeting was the perfect opportunity for local campaigners to unravel this corporate myth.
Hawaii is occupied by the US military, has been colonised politically and economically and faces serious pollution problems. The rights of the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians) are under serious attack by the US federal and state governments, as well as by conservative and anti-affirmative action groups.
To prepare for the protests, a parallel people's forum was organised by ADBwatch, a broad-based coalition of people working for economic justice in Hawaii, and the International Rivers Network. The aim of the forum was to highlight the struggles of the people affected by ADB and development projects, link these with the struggles of indigenous Hawaiians, and discuss alternatives to the ADB's economic model.
Representatives were present from a number of affected nations around the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, Thailand and Laos. International activists such as Focus on the Global South's Walden Bello, Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and Bruce Rich of US advocacy group Environmental Defense highlighted how all these struggles link in with the anti-corporate globalisation movement that is continuing to emerge around the world.
The point repeatedly made by activists was, how do you reduce poverty by making people "development refugees"?
The people's forum was a powerful way for those devastated by the ADB projects to bring their stories to the world. Unfortunately, the stories are all too familiar — forced dispossession, environmental and social destruction and inappropriate development projects.
While participants were deeply moved by the stories, the ADB either refused to acknowledge the issues or dismissed them outright. As Phoy Bun Nyok from the Tampuen Ethnic Group/Non Timber Forest Product Project in Cambodia asked, "How do you dismiss the sores that the children now suffer as a direct result of the pollution from ADB-funded projects?"
Although there were many issues highlighted, two were dominant. The first was food security and the ADB's general policy to promote exports ahead of food security.
Recently, AID/WATCH has been working to redefine poverty. Quite simply, the group has argued that those who have food security, clothing and shelter, as well as cultural and spiritual security, cannot be defined as "poor" no matter the level of GDP. This view was echoed at the people's summit by Anuradha Mittal, an Indian activist now based in the US who works for the NGO, Food First.
The ADB doesn't seem to understand this argument, and has ignored the impact of its policies on the food insecurity and, therefore, poverty of the local population.
The second dominant issue was the Samut Prakarn waste water treatment plant being built in the Klong Dan province of Thailand, which will collect waste water from a large industrial district [Villagers acknowledge that something needs to be done to address the problem of the waste water — the plant will not treat pollutants such as heavy metals and will deposit them in the river system].
Proponents of the project have falsely claimed that little fishing occurs in the area, while representatives of the local area argue that this is often the basis of their livelihoods. The environmental and social consequences are high, but the ADB has cynically classified the project as "environmental", which means that no environmental impact assessment needs to be undertaken as in most infrastructure projects.
Accusations of corruption have also marred the project. While the ADB acknowledges that these concerns are valid, the construction continues.
Police presence
State authorities originally aimed to stop the protest rally, organised by ADBwatch and other activists to coincide with the annual meeting's official opening, but were forced to let it go ahead when activists took legal action.
Instead, the police and state authorities followed a tactic that seems to have become popular worldwide — they warned of international agitators and "black bloc" brigades supposedly attending with the aim of provoking violence and chaos.
On the day, the streets were clogged with road closures and barricades, while police were stationed on most corners and police helicopters circled overhead. They were obviously ready for a big day.
At the official rally, protesters were welcomed with a ceremonial greeting. Like most protests of this nature, it had an amazing community feeling. There were puppets, dancing and music. There were some great chants, and the spirit was high.
When the protesters converged on the convention centre, the numbers swelled to some 1500. Then a chant went up, "We want Chino, we want Chino", a reference to the ADB's president, Tadao Chino.
Despite a warning from his advisers, word reached the protesters that Chino would meet with protest representatives and would accept a petition. Walden Bello, who was to present Chino with the petition, declared it a symbolic surrender by the ADB to those who had been most affected by its policies.
When this symbolic surrender was over, the march continued through Waikiki. Tourists looked on in amazement as protesters marched through the main tourist district, chanting "A.D.B. is B.A.D." and "shut it down".
Meanwhile, hundreds of police looked on, some probably thinking: Were these the protesters who would create chaos? Were these the people the state had spent US$7 million safeguarding the city from?
The march came to a halt in a park alongside the beach, where there was an indigenous prayer and speakers linked the struggle of various indigenous communities around the world.
Amusingly, critics of the protests pointed to the diversity of the group as a weakness. But the coalitions of environment groups, labour unions, political parties, church groups, human rights groups, social justice groups, affected communities, and even ex-World Bank employees, are robust and are gaining in their demands for serious changes to institutions such as the ADB.
It is this diversity which has given that coalition its strength, as different voices are proposing different multi-level solutions. Compare this with the one dimensional model offered by the ADB, that is, "exports are good, no matter the cost".
[James Arvanitakis is the campaign director of AID/WATCH, a small independent community-based organisation in Australia, which acts as an independent watchdog on aid and development projects and the ADB. For more information, please contact <aidwatch@mpx.com.au>.]