Action -- New Internationalist

new internationalist
issue 257 - July 1994

THE CAMPAIGN
The 50 Years is Enough campaign is a loose coalition of groups from all over the world working to expose the negative effects of the globalization of commerce started at Bretton Woods on local economies and ecologies. Some are building support through local education and challenging the policies of GATT, the World Bank and the IMF on the ground. Others are bringing leverage directly to bear against the International Financial Institutions to get them to change their overall policies and practices. Here is their five-point platform for change.

1 The IMF and the World Bank should be completely open and accountable. Affected populations must participate in their decision. making.

2 Economic-policy reform programs should support equitable, sustainable and participatory development.

3 All environmentally destructive lending must end. Lending must instead support self-reliant, resource-conserving development that preserves biodiversity.

4 The IFIs must be scaled back and financial resources rechanneled into a variety of development-assistance alternatives. In particular the International Development Association (the soft-loan department of the World Bank) should be independent of Bank control.

5 All outstanding debt owed to the IMF and the World Bank by the world's poorest countries should be cancelled. In general multilateral debt must be reduced so as to free up additional capital for sustainable development.

ACTION GROUPS
There are a vast number of groups campaigning to challenge and change the politics of globalization as practised by the Bretton Woods institutions. Here are a few you can contact in order to stay informed and get involved. For a more comprehensive list contact Development GAP in Washington, DC (address below).

AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND
Campaign Against Foreign Control in Aotearoa
P0 Box 2258, Christchurch.
Phone: 3-366-3988.
Web: http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA
Email: cafca@chch.planet.org.nz

Maori Congress Foreign Policy Committee
P0 Box 5079, Wellington.
Phone: 4-499-4605. Fax: 4-499-4608.

Christian World Service
P0 Box 22652,Christchurch.
Phone: 3-366-9274. Fax: 3-365-2919
Web: http://www.cws.org.nz/
Email: cws@cws.org.nz

Corso/ GATT Watchdog Group
P0 Box 1905,Christchurch.
Phone: 3-366-2803. Fax: 3-366-8035
Email: gattwd@corso.ch.planet.gen.nz

AUSTRALIA
Rainforest Information Centre
P0 Box 368, Lismore, NSW 2480.
Phone: (02) 6621 3294. Fax: (02) 6622 2339
Web: www.rainforestinfo.org.au
Email: rainforestinfo@ozemail.com.au

Oxfam - Community Aid Abroad
156 George St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065
Phone: (03) 9289 9444. Fax: (03) 9419 5318
Web: http://www.oxfam.org.au/
Email: enquire@caa.org.au

Australian Conservation Foundation
Floor 1, 60 Leicester St, Carlton, VIC 3053
Phone: (03) 9345 1111 or 1800 332 510 (free call)
Fax: (03) 9345 1166
Web: http://www.acfonline.org.au/
Eamil: acf@acfonline.org.au

CANADA
Inter-Church Coalition on Africa
129 St Clair Ave W, Toronto, Ont, M4V 1NS.
Phone: (416) 927-1124. Fax: (416) 927-7554.
Web: http://www.web.net/~iccaf/
Email: iccaf@web.ca

Judith Marshall, Steelworkers Humanity Fund,
234 Eglinton Ave E, Toronto, Ont, M4P1 K7.
Phone: (416) 487-1571. Fax: (416) 482-5548.
Web: http://www.uswa.ca/
Email: uswa@uswa.ca

Action Canada Network
804-251 Laurier Ave W, Ottawa, Ont, Ki P 5J6.
Phone: (613) 233-1764. Fax: (613) 233-1458.

UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Aid
35 Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London SE1 7RL
Phone: 020 7620 4444. Fax: 020 7620 0719
Web: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/
Email: info@christian-aid.org

Third World First, Luis Reveco,
217 Cowley Road, Oxford 0X4 1XG
Phone: (0865) 245678. Fax: (0865) 200179.

World Wide Fund for Nature - UK
Panda House, Weyside Park, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XR
Phone: 1483 426 444. Fax: 1483 426 409
Web: www.wwf-uk.org/

Oxfam UK
274 Banbury Road, Oxford 0X2 7DZ
Phone: 0870 333 2700
Web: www.oxfam.org.uk/

Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQ
Phone: 020 7490 1555. Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: http://www.foe.co.uk/
Email: info@foe.co.uk

UNITED STATES
The Development GAP
927 Fifteenth Street W, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20005.
Phone: (202) 898-1566. Fax: (202) 898-1612.
Web: http://www.developmentgap.org/
E-mail: dgap@developmentgap.org

Food First
398 60th St, Oakland, CA 94618.
Phone: (510) 654-4400. Fax: (510) 654-4551.
Web: http://www.foodfirst.org/

Joint Ministry on Africa
475 Riverside Drive, 16th Floor,
New York, NY 10115-0109.
Phone: (212) 870-2834. Fax: (212) 932-1236.

Campaign on Debt and Development Alternatives
1025 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 300,
Washington, DC 200045.
Phone: (202) 783-7400 x208. Fax: (202) 783-0444.

Global Exchange
2017 Mission St, Rm 303,
San Francisco, CA 94110.
Phone: (415) 255-7296. Fax: (415) 255-7498.
Web: http://www.globalexchange.org/
Email: admin@globalexchange.org

REST OF THE WORLD
All-Africa Council of Churches, Women's Desk,
P0 Box 14205, Nairobi, Kenya.
Phone: 254-2-44-1483. Fax: 254-2-443-241.
Web: www.aacc-ceta.org
Email: secretariat@aacc-ceta.org

Freedom from Debt Coalition
34 Matiaga St., Central District
Quezon City, Philippines 1100
Phone: (63 2) 921-1985 Fax: (63 2) 924-6399
Web: http://www.freedomfromdebtcoalition.org/
Email: mail@freedomfromdebtcoalition.org

Ibase
Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses
Av. Rio Branco, nº 124, 8º andar, Centro - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, CEP 20148-900
Phone: 55 21 2509-0660
Web: www.ibase.org.br/
Email: imprensa@ibase.br

UBINIG
5/3 Barabo Mahanpur Ring Road,
Shaymoli, Dhaka, 1207 Bangladesh.
Phone: 811-1465, 329-620. Fax: 811-3065
Web: http://membres.lycos.fr/ubinig/
Email: ubinig@citecho.net

Berne Declaration
P.O. Box 1327, CH-8031 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone: 41 (0)1 277 70 00 . Fax: 41 (0)1 277 70 01
Web: www.evb.ch
Email: info@evb.ch

The Development Institute, Dr Martin Atherton,
P0 Box 109, Roseau, Dominica.
Phone:809-448-6666.
Fax: 809-448-3855.

RESOURCES
Here are a few useful educational tools which might help you get a grip on the issues and pass the word onto others.

PRINT
Dark Victory by Walden Bello of the Institute for Food and Development Policy is an excellent summary of the impact of structural-adjustment policies on the Third World. This slim volume is crisply written and provides an excellent tool for study groups and campaign activists. Available from Food First, 398 60th St, Oakland, CA 94618 USA. Phone: (510) 654-4400. Fax: (510) 654-4551. The $15.50 includes shipping within North America Available from Pluto Press in the UK.

BankCheck is a lively quarterly newletter published by the International Rivers Network that uses wit and a sharp intelligence to keep on top of all the latest machinations of the World Bank. Subscriptions are highly recommended and cost $25 ($15 low income). Send cheques to: BankCheck, do International Rivers Network, 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703, USA.

Ampo A good quarterly magazine on economic issues in Asia published by the Pacific-Asia Resource Centre, P0 Box 5250, Tokyo International, Japan. Subs - $28.

The Other Side of the Story; The Real Impact of World Bank and IMF Structural Adjustment Programs. Available from Development GAP (address above) is an indispensable guide to the groups and activities of the 50 Years is Enough campaign. Full of contacts and sharp analysis. A good buy at $5 in the US and $6 for the rest of the world.

Eurodad, Vlafbriekstraat 11, Brussels B-1060, Belgium. This European charity has an excellent reproduction service of documents relating particularly to Third World debt. Phone: 32-2-539- 2620. Fax: 32-2-539-1343.

For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment and a Sustainable Future by Herman E Daly and John B Cobb (Beacon Press, Boston 1989). This is a more ambitious read but well worth the effort. One of the best ecological critiques of conventional economics.

AUDIO-VISUALS
To Be a Woman is a powerful presentation of the stories of women in Ghana, Uganda and Zambia as they battle the effects of structural adjustment. Available for $35 from Canada's Inter-Church Coalition on Africa (address above). Orders outside the Americas to All Africa Council of Churches (Nairobi address above).

Also two excellent videos - the witty Debt Crisis: An Unnatural Disaster (1991) from Jamaica and Hell to Pay (1990) which chronicles the effects of structural adjustment on women in Bolivia. For purchase information contact Full Frame Film and Video, 394 Euclid St, Toronto, Ont, M6G 2S9, Canada. Phone: (416) 950-9338. Fax: (416) 324-8268.