BALI, INDONESIA – A globally coordinated protest action on October 8 by peoples’ movements and civil society organizations is set to launch a conference against International Monetary Fund – World Bank (IMF-WB) in time for the 2018 Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia. The conference also condemned the crackdown of the Widodo administration to legitimate public events in Bali.
The independent, people-led initiative Peoples Global Conference Against IMF-WB to be held at Auditorium of Radio Republik Indonesia, Denpasar City, Bali from October 11 to 14, will confront the upcoming IMF-WB meetings with a worldwide people’s mobilization to mark the peoples resistance to the Bank’s maneuvering of a global corporate-captured and profit-driven development agenda.
The center of international action will take place in ground zero Denpasar City, Bali, simultaneous with several protest actions in Jakarta and 18 other provinces of Indonesia, and in several countries such as Philippines, India, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Bangladesh.
“There’s no better way to welcome the IMF-WB 2018 Annual Meetings than to unmask how it continuously sabotage economies, natural resources, and rights of the people with its policies and projects subservient to the profit-driven demands of transnational companies (TNCs) and global superpowers,” said Helda Khasmy, Seruni Chairperson and spokesperson of Gerakan Rakyat Menentang IMF-WB.
Research from international think-tank IBON International, shows how the IMF-WB Group, with its ‘Maximizing Finance for Development’ approach “threatens to interfere not only on domestic policies but also on decision-making processes, in which the interest of the corporations and rich investors are primary instead of the public’s voice and needs.”
Protesters march to the Bali Police headquarters as leaders of peoples’ organizations, civil society organizations, and lawyers meet authorities for a dialogue on the banning of political activities in the island during the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings this Oct. 8 to 14. Photo courtesy of Peoples’ Global Conference.
Amid a Bali crackdown
The Peoples’ Global Conference will also push through despite the recent crackdown of the Indonesian government against any “public event” in Bali. This, and the military deployment of military forces for alleged anti-criminality and anti-terrorist operations have prompted protests and raised concerns for possible human and civil rights violations of participating individuals in IMF-WB meeting parallel events.
“We will not back down. The essence of this activity is to air redress and grievance the IMF-WB thus, it shouldn’t be treated as a threat by the government rather welcome it as a process to engage and inform the larger public of what is happening. This exercise of freedom is already protected by the law and the overkill security deployment is unnecessary. It might bring more damage to the community,” said Dewa Putu Adnyana, Director of Yasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia -Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Bali (YLBH-LBH Bali).
The four-day Peoples Global Conference Against IMF-WB will gather almost 50 national and international formations to discuss how international financial institutions (IFIs) like IMF-WB work as tools for imperialist domination and cause resource plunder to affected communities.
On October 11, ‘Open Space’ parallel sessions will be held, where participants can choose to participate activities of interest, to led by collaborating CSOs and peoples organizations; discussing wide-array of topics from peoples’ rights, global political economy, inequality, environment, to peoples’ development issues and campaigns.
From October 12 to 14, plenary sessions dissecting the impact of IFIs in policies of governments and institutions, and local economies of developing countries will be led by expert panel and resource speakers. Synchronized workshops of labor, peasant, women, and indigenous peoples sector covering concrete cases of violations of people’s’ rights by IFIs and how they are resisting will also be conducted.
“Thru this conference, we are arming ourselves with the realities from the grassroots on how IMF-WB’s enabling corporate power and their capture of development calibrate its offensive against people’s economic and human rights. It is more imperative now that international solidarity be strengthened to reclaim a people-oriented development,” concluded Helda Khasmy.
Reference:
peoplesglobalconference@gmail.com
Ali +62-821-2013-5553
Rahmat +62-821-1134-1420
Hendrik Rosdinar +62-811-1463-983
Dewa Putu Adyana +62-813-3844-0652
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