><[EMAIL PROTECTED] >) >A: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (World List for Rednet) > >POSTMARK PRAGUE No.322 >Sunday 1 October 2000 > >IMF/WORLD BANK CAUGHT SHORT! >by Ken Biggs, Editor of Postmark Prague > >All things considered, the IMF/World Bank finance capitalists got >off >lightly during their summit in Prague last week. > >Not for them the long-lingering death by starvation and disease >which is >the fate of millions in the countries of the neo-colonised >"developing" >world, ridden with IMF/World Bank debt as a direct result of their >"structural adjustment" programmes. > >Not for them the daily torment of unemployment, long working >hours or >poverty which is the destiny of the majority of working people in the >"advanced countries" of President Havel's beloved "Euro-Atlantic >civilisation" and the newly-"liberated", former socialist countries of >central and eastern Europe. > >All the IMF and World Bank financiers got was their feathers ruffled >a >bit. >Their most serious problem was how to string out the platitudes >about >"reform" and "a new deal" for the world's poor for all four scheduled >days >of their conference. Even this task proved too much for them: the >conference closed a day early. >As the summit opened on Sept.26, the Czech press reported that >only >around >a fifth of Czechs trusted the IMF and the World Bank. Theoretically >at >any >rate public opinion was sympathetic to the cause of the local and >foreign >opponents of capitalist globalisation as propounded by the IMF and >the >World Bank. > >But in the run-up to the summit the Czech Social Democratic >government >had >so terrorised the populace of Prague by its semi-military >preparations >and >stories of imminent invasion by up to 50,000 "foreign extremists" >bent >on >violence that the city was like a ghost town on the morning of >Sept.26. >The >60% of Praguers with second homes in the country had abandoned >the city. >This was the main reason why the summit was not stopped. > >The organisers' aim was to stop the summit by peaceful means: >mass civil >disobedience in the form of a blockade of the conference venue and >the >hotels where the delegates were staying. But they failed to >mobilise the >necessary forces. There were at most 10,000 Czech and foreign >demonstrators >in Peace Square when the anti-IMF march began on Sept. 26. The >Czech >state >turned out more than 12,000 police and soldiers and hardware >which >included >helicopters and armoured vehicles. > >In a live news broadcast from Prague later the same day, BBC >World TV's >reporter said that he saw police officers dressed up as protesters >moving >back and forth through the police lines around the conference >venue. The >independent monitoring group Citizens' Legal Patrol has eye- >witness and >video evidence of this. This means that the police wanted violence. >They >were equipped to deal with it, and the anarchists and ultra-leftists >duly >obliged. > >What the Czech police and government feared most was a >peaceful >demonstration by tens of thousands of people, including Czech >workers. >That >really could have stopped the summit. But, as usual, the >anarchists and >ultra-leftists insisted on putting their half-baked theories on >"revolutionary violence" to the test. Both the theory and the practice >were >found wanting. > >There isn't a revolutionary situation in the Czech Republic. Far from >it. >Despite all their cynicism about post-1989 institutions and their >unhappy >experience of restored capitalism, the Czech people still labour >under >the >illusion that politics and democracy means parliament. To resort to >"violence" in this kind of situation in an effort to stop the IMF >summit >was at best infantile and at worst a downright betrayal of the >emerging >movement against capitalist globalisation. END > >EDITORS! Your readers can have a free copy of the October issue >of the >16-page illustrated Postmark Prague news review by writing to PP, >PO Box >42, 182 21, Prague 8, Czech Republic, or e-mailing >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
