Challenging the Corporate Police State

More than 15,000 protestors came to Washington D.C. last week (Sept 27-29th) to protest the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's policies regarding Third World loan programs. The weekend of protests was organized to disrupt the planned meeting of IMF/World Bank officials on Friday and Saturday. Six Illinois State University students went to D.C., documenting the protest. We participated in three days of active resistance and demonstrations.

Unfortunately, direct non-violent action by protesting is becoming the last outlet for many people to effectively confront corrupt American politicians. It has become the only way to force these politicians to listen to the public's demands.

Those who demonstrated in D.C. were subject at any time to the use of violent police intimidation, including arrest, batons, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas. Why would they really risk all that danger if they had not already attempted other methods and failed? [Full Story]

Ralph Nader Incites Democracy at DC Rally

One of the highlights of our weekend of action in Washington D.C. was hearing Ralph Nader speak twice. The first of his speeches was at a teach-in sponsored by numerous groups from Jubilee USA to 50 Years Is Enough. Coming off the heels of Friday's mass arrests, the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church was packed with protestors who managed to evade the police earlier that day and protestors who had just arrived in Washington D.C., as myself and fellow Indy reporter Nick Berveiler had not more than two hours before the rally.

The rally, dubbed "End Corporate Rule: Global Struggles Against the IMF and World Bank," featured a number of speakers, most prominent of whom were Nader; Maude Barlow, author of Blue Gold, a book condemning the IMF's doctrine of water privatization; Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and columnist for the Toronto Sun; Oscar Olivera, leader of the struggle against water privatization in Bolivia; and Mohau Pheko of Africa's Gender and Trade Network.

All of the speakers delivered powerful messages; Klein showed poignant video footage shot by herself and her husband during the recent UN Environmental Conference in South Africa of locals monkeywrenching attempts by the South African government at cutting down the water supply in the poorest areas of the Johannesburg area. Olivera gave a rousing speech (which was interpreted from Spanish into English by a conference participant) condemning the policies of the IMF and World Bank, and the United States as well, for their respective roles in Latin America and across the world. [Full Story]

What Are the IMF and the World Bank?

Seven Reasons Why We Should Care

On Saturday, September 28th, hundreds of protestors put themselves in harm's way to quarantine corporate executives from leaving the IMF/World Bank Meeting.

Most Americans become confused when they hear about the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These are not ordinarily high on the radar screen in corporate media coverage. But from September 27th through 29th, these two economic groups were thrust into the spotlight by anti-corporate globalization protestors in Washington D.C. The two groups met in D.C. last weekend to discuss future plans for furthering their "neo-liberal," "free market" agenda and reforms, and were challenged by grassroots protests and direct action attempting to shut down their annual meetings.

Most people are perplexed when they finally hear about these groups from protestors and activists. What exactly is the role of these groups, what are the effects of their policies, how long have they existed, and more importantly, should they even be allowed to exist?

All of these are perfectly valid questions that will never accurately be addressed in the media for one reason. The corporate media are owned by the same interests (elite, business interests) that make massive profits from "structural adjustment" policies enacted by the IMF and World Bank. But we first need to understand some of the history of the IMF and World Bank and their exact role in the global economy before we can criticize them. [Full Story]

A Senseless War Against Iraq

Washington, DC-- Over 5,000 people gathered in Dupont Circle to peacefully protest war on Iraq.

At this point in time, our top governmental officials and intelligence agents are preparing for a very large-scale war against a regime that is being hyped as one of our world's biggest threats to life as we know it. For if Bush and Company are correct, Saddam Hussein will soon develop the power, weapons, and desire to wipe the United States off the face of the map.

Unfortunately, I fear, Bush and his squad of warhawks are incorrect regarding these assumptions. I simply have a hard time believing that our current administration contains the necessary intellectual tools to properly evaluate this situation. So, I shall give what I believe to be an objective rundown of our current crisis with Mr. Hussein.

As speculation has it, Saddam Hussein is currently in the process of developing and harboring weapons of mass destruction. Is he doing so? It is very possible. But there is a more important question that we should be asking ourselves. Why is he doing so? To answer this question we must do something that the Bush Administration has, at least to this point, refused to do. We must attempt to view the world through Saddam Hussein's eyes. [Full Story]

Corporate Criminal of the Week

James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank

World Bank Attempts to Privatize Water

Imagine how great it would be if you couldn't afford to pay for drinking water. What would life be like tomorrow if you woke up and someone told you they decided you do not have a right to life? How fair would it be if you had to pay a company exorbitant amounts of money just to survive, all so that its executives and shareholders could line their already bulging pockets.

We live in times of rapid worldwide population growth. With current growth rates, our world's developing countries will need increased access to water right? Wrong. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank President John Wolfensohn, water is not a fundamental human right, but a privilege only the rich should be able to afford. Imagine trying to live through programs implemented by crooks like Wolfensohn designed to raise the price of drinking water by two to three times, all supposedly in the name of increasing access and lowering prices for water (it sounds just a little Orwellian).

In a despicable act of corporate crime, the World Bank and IMF are moving to hand over public utilities responsible for keeping millions of malnourished people in the Third World alive to the "responsible" private sector (responsible like Enron, Tyco, and World Com of course!). Maybe next up we should expect the privatization of air. [Full Story]