From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 04:35:24 -0700 GRANMA June 8, 2001 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE IN BARCELONA CANCELLED 'Another world is possible' BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD (Special for Granma International) THE surprise cancellation of the World Bank conference scheduled for June 25-27 in Barcelona is "a clear demonstration that the mobilization of citizens can be decisive in changing society's current neoliberal model," declared the committee organizing the protest at the event. "This is just the beginning; another world will be possible," proclaimed a document issued by the Against the World Bank - Barcelona 2001 coordinating committee, calling the meeting's cancellation "an unprecedented success for the movement against capitalist globalization." In any case, the group will hold the conference and demonstration against globalization that it has been planning for several months. 'FOR SECURITY REASONS' According to the Spanish Ministry of the Economy, the event was "cancelled for security reasons," AFP reported, while El Pa�s stated that the decision was made "with the goal of preventing the NGOs and anti-globalization groups from achieving their announced intention of interrupting the meeting." World Bank representative Elkyn Chaparro, quoted by AP, stated that we have seen what happened in Prague, Nice and Quebec, and for that reason the organization decided that it would be impossible to exchange ideas behind a police cordon. Meanwhile, Caroline Anstey, spokesperson for the event, expressed in a written statement announcing the decision that, according to the agency, a conference about reducing poverty should take place in a peaceful environment, without provocation, violence or intimidation. In the past, people burned books to prevent academic freedom, and today people are kept from reaching the meeting rooms, Anstey added. That assertion provoked strong reaction from the event's opponents. A member of an Internet forum wrote, "The World Bank is comparing today's demonstrators to fascists opposed to freedom of expression. That is awfully cynical, when we know that those institutions [the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund] are responsible for thousands of social catastrophes around the world." "The World Bank was trying to change its image with this conference and saw that the effort was going to end badly," commented members of the protest movement quoted on the website www.france.indymedia.org which posts a large number of informative documents on globalization. Barcelona Mayor Joan Clos lamented that the meeting was canceled "for security reasons, when Barcelona is striving for a culture of peace." In its statement celebrating the meeting's cancellation, the Against the World Bank - Barcelona 2001 coordinating committee affirmed that the reasons given by World Bank spokespersons to justify the decision indicate that agency's incapacity to comprehend the reality of movements that are much more representative than the World Bank. Represented on the committee are NGOs, trade unions, student associations, ecology groups and neighborhood associations. A PROTEST AGENDA Encouraged by the burgeoning success of their demonstrations in recent months, anti-globalization groups are maintaining three protests on their agenda during the next few weeks, for which they are actively mobilizing all their members and sympathizers. The events at which the protests will be held are: . European Union Summit, G�teborg, Sweden, June 14-16 . World Economic Forum's European Summit, Salzburg, Austria, July 1-2 . G-8 Summit, Genoa, Italy, July 20-22 According to various observers of the anti-globalization movement, the Genoa event is the one expected to attract the most demonstrators. Protest mobilization has been ongoing for several months, through media such as www.peacelink.it/users/controg8 . _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
