WORLD BANK BONDS BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2001
CONTACT: Neil Watkins 202-299-0020 or Carolyn
Bninski 303-444-6981
As DC Demonstrations Against World Bank Approach,
Boulder City Council Adopts World Bank Bonds
Boycott
City Joins 4 Municipalities, 12 Unions, 10
Investment Firms in Growing Boycott
WASHINGTON, DC -- Amid growing public concern in
the U.S. over the policies
of the World Bank and IMF, the city council of
Boulder, Colorado expressed
its opposition to environmentally harmful World
Bank policies late Tuesday
night by unanimously passing a resolution by a 5-0
margin which commits the
city not to invest in World Bank bonds. The
Boulder council also passed a
resolution opposing the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA).
The Mayor of Boulder, Will Toor, said, "When we
looked at the Bank's record
of lending for large dams and their lending for
fossil fuel projects, we
found that the Bank's efforts to reform have not
yet been sufficient. Given
the environmental threats facing the globe, we
stated that we would not buy
World Bank bonds until the Bank fundamentally
reconsiders its environmental
policies and practices."
In just the past two months, four major
institutional investors have joined
the growing World Bank Bonds Boycott campaign,
including the American
Federation of Government Employees, a 600,000
member public sector union;
the International Longshore and Warehouse Union,
with 60 local unions in
the states of California, Washington, Oregon,
Alaska and Hawaii; the
Unitarian Universalist General Assembly, comprised
of over 1,000 churches;
and the Sisters of the Holy Cross, an
international congregation of women
religious. In addition, the Midstate Central Labor
Council (Ithaca, NY) and
Pax Christi USA have adopted the boycott.
Francoise Poinsatte, a member of the Boulder city
council, said,
"Structural adjustment programs instituted by the
World Bank have
contributed to a loss of social services, health,
nutritional, and
educational programs that are greatly needed in
developing countries. By
adopting the boycott, the city of Boulder is
taking a stand to invest for
not only financial purposes but with a goal of
furthering social and
environmental justice around the world."
The campaign, modeled on the anti-Apartheid
divestment movement, is causing
the Bank serious concern. High-level World Bank
officials attempted to
dissuade members of the Boulder council from
passing the resolution by
sending several lengthy e-mails to city officials,
including a 12-page
position paper. World Bank officials have lobbied
city council members
against boycott initiatives in Madison, Wisconsin
and in Los Angeles,
California as well.
The Boulder city council joins the cities of San
Francisco, Oakland, and
Berkeley, California, and Takoma Park, Maryland;
12 unions; 7 religious
institutions; and 10 investment firms in making a
commitment not to buy
World Bank bonds. The campaign was recently
launched in Europe, and there
are growing World Bank Bonds Boycott initiatives
in Australia, Africa,
Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean.
The one-year-old World Bank Bonds Boycott campaign
organizes institutional
investors to stop buying World Bank bonds as a
means of putting political
and financial pressure on the World Bank for
fundamental change. The
boycott demands that the World Bank Group cancel
100% of debts owed to it
by impoverished countries, stops destructive
'structural adjustment' and
similar policies, and ends all lending for oil,
gas, and mining projects
and all support for environmentally harmful
projects such as dams that
include forced relocation of people.
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