Posted 27th May 2001

ProWB 0 : AntiWB 1

At Half Time The World Bank cancelled its 25-27 June meeting in Barcelona due to fears of disruptions from protesters. The meeting will be conducted online instead stimulating a new form of exposure and protest hactivism. Explaining the decision, World Bank spokeswoman Caroline Antsey said, "A conference on poverty reduction [sic] should take place in a peaceful atmosphere free from heckling, violence and intimidation. Despite our efforts to reach out to some of the groups planning demonstrations, and to include them in the conference, the intention of many of the groups who plan to converge on Barcelona is not to join the debate or to contribute constructively to the discussion, but to disrupt it. We do not want to expose academics from around the world and our hosts in Spain to such a situation." Particularly, she said, "It is time to take a stand against this kind of threat to free discussion." Ms. Anstey said that the Bank had full confidence in the ability and commitment of the Spanish authorities to ensure the logistics of the conference and the safety of the participants.

However, the disruption for the people of Barcelona and the risks and hazards involved, were too high a price for this exchange, which could instead be conducted by other means, she said. "Years ago people used to burn books to try and clamp down on academic freedom - now they try to prevent academics from reaching debating halls. This is hardly progress. Fortunately the internet means that academic debates can now take place on line." Papers prepared for the conference will be posted on the conference web site and plans are being made for an on-line discussion, she said. Nicholas Stern, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, said that the Bank had tried to include many of the groups working against the conference in its discussions. "The subjects reflect our concern that globalization should be managed so that poor people can participate and benefit. The speakers and participants all have extensive experience and understanding to share on these topics. It is a pity that our more outspoken critics chose not to engage in a dialogue" he said.

But antiWB speakers note how it is organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that usually meet secretly and are not accountable to any electorate. "These institutions are fundamentally undemocratic despite whatever PR effort they put on," said Warcry, a New York activist who planned to attend the Barcelona protests. In a clear public relations effort the World Bank framed the summit merely as a meeting for academics to discuss methods to reduce poverty. "But poverty alleviation is not or has ever been the World Bank's main agenda," said Warcry. The World Bank also claimed to have worked with demonstrators but without success. "Despite our efforts to reach out to some of the groups planning demonstrations, and to include them in the conference, the intention of many of the groups who plan to converge on Barcelona is not to join the debate or to contribute constructively to the discussion, but to disrupt it," said Anstey. "We do not want to expose academics from around the world and our hosts in Spain to such a situation. It is time to take a stand against this kind of threat to free discussion."

High irony that the World Bank accuses its opposition as being a "threat to free discussion" when organizations such as the World Bank and IMF have historically held secret meetings behind closed doors. The best example of the extreme secrecy may be the ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations. For the past six years the nations of 34 North and South American nations hade been negotiating in secret with almost no public input except from heads of major corporations. That changed when up to 80,000 protesters converged on Quebec to expose the falsehoods behind the agreement. "The FTAA would still be a closely guarded secret, withheld from the public, except for the phenomenal citizens' trade movement that has arisen in America and all around the globe," wrote Jim Hightower in his newsletter "The Hightower Lowdown." "This growing movement is daring to confront, expose, and rally a grassroots rebellion against the globaloneyists who conspire through insider deals like the FTAA to do nothing less than enthrone multinational corporations as the world's new sovereigns."

Few cities want to become the next Quebec or Seattle, noted Warcry. "The fact that the World Bank has cancelled its meeting because of anticipated protest shows how successful this movement has been in terms of confronting these institutions, but at the same time they continue their policies anyway -- it is a qualified success." While the "anti-globalization / pro-democracy" movement will not have an opportunity to confront the World Bank on the streets of Barcelona, activists may still have a chance to affect the meeting, according to Warcry. "If they are going to meet online, the fact is we have plenty of people who are tech savvy enough to disrupt this meeting via hactivism." Anonymity and secretism are the tools and trade of despotism, tools that are no longer workable.