Protesters will bring a long list of grievances with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with them when they descend on the city this weekend. The demonstrations, which have been held at meetings of the international lending organizations since 1999, are an amalgamation of different causes under the catchall slogan “global justice.”
Issues dominating past protests include environmental concerns, union and worker rights, women’s rights, free and fair trade, corporate abuse and debt relief.
“Global Justice is a movement that encompasses many issues,” said senior and activist Eleiza Braun. “There is more awareness now than there once was. The movement has brought these issues into the public discussion.”
In 2002, the World Bank provided more than $19.5 billion in loans to more than 100 developing countries.
Those who feel the loans are unfair to developing nations have called the bank’s lending practices into question.
“The policies of the World Bank and the IMF hurt the environment by not checking pollution, they hurt workers by not allowing them to unionize, they hurt more people than they help,” Braun said. “The global justice movement calls for human and economic rights.”
Other issues addressed in the protests include making AIDS drugs more available and relieving debts owed to the IMF and World Bank.
“The effects are primarily in developing countries, where people are paying less for health care,” said senior Naina Dhingra, a student activist coordinator. “Millions of people have already died of AIDS there needs to be some level of humanity.”
Dhingra said money being used to pay back IMF/World Bank loans should be used for health care and social services. She called the effects of the debt on third world countries “catastrophic.”
In the past violent episodes have marked the protests, at times requiring tear gas to break up crowds. Police officials are concerned about splinter groups of protesters that may become violent.
“The majority of the people are here to protest in a peaceful manner,” Metropolitan Police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said. Gentile said that the police would be prepared for trouble with riot gear and other crowd control equipment.
“There may be some violence,” said Luke Kuhn, a Rockville, Md. resident who was among the first protesters at the World Bank on Tuesday. “When a crowd and the police are together there might be something that happens, but this is a peaceful movement.”
“There is a lot more to the movement than relieving world debt,” said Kuhn, amidst a group protesting the World Bank’s impact on the global cigarette market.
Protests will be held across the city Sept. 26 though Sept. 29.
