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From the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]:
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Subject: [turmel] Report on April 1 IMF-World Bank Florham Protest Part A
Date: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 12:38 PM
STAR-LEDGER ARTICLE ABOUT IMF-WORLD BANK CONFERENCE
JCT: I first became aware of the IMF-World Bank meeting from the
article in the New Jersey Star Ledger of March 29 2000 titled:
"World Bank meeting to draw protesters"
by Margaret McHugh.
Law enforcement officials through Morris County are bracing for a 48-
hour protest of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
conference that begins tomorrow in Florham Park.
Though neither police nor protesters predict anything close to the
large crowds and melee that disrupted the World Trade Organization
meeting in Seattle in December, police intend to be prepared for the
worst. "We're trying to balance both sides here, the right of the
people to protest and the right of the World Bank to conduct their
meeting" said Deputy Chief Edward Facas of the Morris County
Prosecutor's Office. "It's a juggling act, and we're in the middle."
The New Jersey/New York Mobilization for Global Justice, a coalition
of 30 environmental, civil rights and religious organizations, planned
the florham Park protest a month ago as a prelude to a massive
demonstration to be held in Washington, D.C., in mid-April. "Somebody
saw something about the conference on the World Bank web site,"
organizer Jim Burchell said.
JCT: It's funny that there was no mention of it on the a16
newsgroups that I'm subscribed to. Even though everyone at the meeting
was involved in getting ready for the Washington protest.
More than 170 experts from throughout the world are scheduled to
attend the conference at the Hamilton Park conference hotel off Park
Avenue in Florham Park. The conference, titled "Emerging Markets in
the New Financial System: Managing Financial and Corporate Distress,"
will focus on the corporate and financial restructuring process under
way in Southeast Asia.
JCT: They're giving lessons on managing the distress they cause.
It is sponsored by the World Bank which provides loans to developing
countries; the IMF which lends money to struggling countries if they
agree to debt restructuring; and the Brookings Institution, a
Washington-based think tank. Protesters say the IMF and World Bank
share responsibility for an "unjust world economic system."
The conference was scheduled in August, months before the World Trade
Organization gathering in Downtown Seattle where more than 500
protesters were arrested and merchants reported $2 million in property
damage. The National Guard was also called in.
JCT: Other reports say that the damages and the "loss of
business" were $2 million. From my report on the Seattle protest,
there is no way that there was $2 million in damages but this is how
they exaggerate the threat. One reporter says $2 million in losses,
another translates that into $2 million in property damages.
But unlike the Seattle protest, or the planned demonstration in
Washington, D.C., the vigil and rally to be held in Florham Park are
not intended to shut down the meeting. Rather they are designed to
call attention to the protesters' concerns, Burchell said. "At no time
have we threatened any disruption," said Burchell,president of
Peaceworks, a group concerned with Latin America.
In fact, Burchell said he thinks "the local authorities are completely
overreacting. There may be more police than protesters," he said. The
coalition expects to maintain a presence of about 20 or 30 people
starting at 5p.m. tomorrow, as conference attendees arrive to
register. The biggest crowd, estimated at between 300 and 500, is
expected a rally to be held from noon to 5p.m Saturday, as the
conference wraps up. "We view the IMF/World Bank conference as an
opportunity to explain the implications of these undemocratic
institutions' unprecedented power to control the world economy and
harm the global environment," said Nicole Roskos of the Drew
University Environmental Action League. A "teach-in" to air the
protesters' concerns is scheduled for Friday at Drew University in
Madison.
The protesters won't be allowed on the grounds of Hamilton Park but
police made arrangements with Fairleigh Dickinson University to let
them set up in a parking lot next to the conference center.
Police also made arrangements for them to park at a corporate complex
down the road and provide a shuttle bus to the FDU parking lot,
Burchell said. "They are bending over backward to accommodate us," he
said.
JCT: How nice of the authorities to help keep it organized!
Representatives from law enforcement agencies throughout Morris County
will meet today to go over the strategy for the 48-hour protest,
