From: Bob Olsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 21:38:09 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: World Bank meeting cancelled, Spain National Post, May 22, 2001 Protest fatigue prompts World Bank to kill conference 'It is not a cave-in': Activists rejoice as Barcelona session on poverty cancelled Michael Higgins National Post, with files from The Daily Telegraph and Bloomberg Gregg Newton, Reuters In the wake of violent protests at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City last month, the World Bank has cancelled a conference in Spain. Saying it is time to "take a stand" against disruptive protests, the World Bank has cancelled a three-day conference planned for Spain amid fears of widespread rioting by anti-globalization demonstrators. The Washington-based bank, the world's largest development lender, was to hold the conference in Barcelona next month to discuss how to make sure the poor benefit from lower trade barriers, increased capital flows and other aspects of globalization. "We do not want to expose academics from around the world and our hosts in Spain to such a situation," said Caroline Anstey, a World Bank spokeswoman. "A conference on poverty reduction should take place in a peaceful atmosphere -- free from heckling, violence and intimidation. It is time to take a stand against this kind of threat to free discussion. "It is not a cave-in. It is the opposite. To have 200 academics protected by 4,000 police, which is what was planned, would have been absurd." Protesters were elated by the bank's decision and mocked its depiction of the cancellation as a tough stand against intimidation. "For the first time in history, they have cancelled one of their meetings because of the prospect of people power rising up against them," said a spokesman for the Barcelona Campaign Co-ordination Commission. The World Bank has had several recent conferences disrupted. Similar international meetings, such as the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, have been the target of large-scale and violent demonstrations. Because of the fear of violence in Barcelona, 4,000 riot police were prepared to deal with anarchists, communists and protest leaders. "Despite our efforts to reach out to some of the groups planning demonstrations, and to include them in the conference, the intention of many who planned to converge on Barcelona was not to contribute constructively to the discussion, but to disrupt it," Ms. Anstey 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." Lawrence MacDonald, another World Bank spokesman, added: "We would have thought the demonstrators would want these kinds of discussions." The bank decided instead to hold its conference via an Internet video-conference link. Protests were being organized by Barcelona Socialist Youth, and top the calendar of events on an anti-World Bank Web site. The Web site is run by Mobilization for Global Justice, which says the policies the World Bank pushes developing countries to adopt hurt the poorest citizens. And on a Web site called Protest.net there is a call for "mass demonstration against the capitalist policies of the World Bank and against the presence of the WB in Barcelona." One anti-bank activist said the bank refused to make the meetings entirely open to the public, and so tried to keep out the people affected by its policy prescriptions. "The real point of the people in Barcelona is that meetings should be open and broadcast," said Soren Ambrose of the group 50 Years is Enough, which organized an anti-World Bank protest in Washington. "We should at least see what solutions to poverty they want to impose." The bank's cancellation was seen as a victory by fellow activists in Europe, Mr. Ambrose said. Last year, the bank's meeting in Prague ended a day early because of fighting in which more than 100 police officers were hurt. In Washington in April, 2000, self-described anarchists wearing masks fought with police on city streets, prompting the authorities to use pepper spray and tear gas. At the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, more than 400 demonstrators were arrested after protesters clashed with police, hurled blocks of concrete at them and knocked down security fences. Copyright � 2001 National Post Online .......................................... Bob Olsen, Toronto [EMAIL PROTECTED] .......................................... _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
