LL:DDV: activist workshops: consensus
Time to beef up your activist skills! Pt'Chang and Friends of the Earth are holding three workshops over the next few weeks, on making meetings effective and enjoyable, or closer to it. $4/$6, 1-4pm, at Friends of the Earth, 312 Smith St, Collingwood. Sat 9 June: Consensus decision-making for small groups A practical workshop on quick, effective methods of making decisions that builds group trust and respect. Designed for activists working in small collectives, working groups and action groups. Sat 16 June: Facilitation skills Facilitators perform a crucial function in helping groups to function well and make the best possible decisions. This workshop will teach and improve facilitation skills for small collectives and groups. Sat 23 June: Building safe and effective groups Creating safe, sustainable and empowering groups that work well. Building group cohesion and trust, dealing with conflict and power dynamics in healthy ways, and preventing burnout within the group. For more info or to book (limited places!), call Domenica at Friends of the Earth, 9419 8700. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDV: Stonewall Celebrations
Radical Women & the Freedom Socialist Party invite you to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which sparked the modern movement for gay liberation. Come to a speak out for Queer liberation! Wednesday 27 June @ 7pm Solidarity Salon, 580 Sydney Road Brunswick Entry by gold coin donation Curry dinner @ 6.15 pm for a $6 donation Bar service This event is endorsed by Q.U.E.E.R and UNITE The gay liberation movement sparked by the Stonewall Riots in June 1969 was radical and confronting. Activists mobilised around a thrilling vision of freedom, debating strategies for permanently eradicating sexism, racism, heterosexism and poverty, and so winning true emancipation for all. But, as Michael Warner argues in his biting critique of queer conformity, The Trouble with Normal, the movement has been in "retreat from its history of radicalism into a new form of post-liberationist privatisation". While passage of the Relationships Bill is important, it must be built on. We don't simply want a world which loves respectable "picket fence" lesbians and upwardly mobile gays with pockets full of pink dollars to spend. We want a world which celebrates the queer majority - young and older, Indigenous, queers of colour, workers, queers with disabilities - most of us poor and none of us attracted to the disappearing practice of life long monogamy. Come hear a diverse panel of speakers talk about the new militancy in the queer movement and then have your say! Featuring: * Sally Goldner - transgender advocate from BENT TV and TransMission Time on JOY FM who last year fought for EO law reform for transgenders. * Liz Humphrys - an organiser for the queer block at anti-corporate protests against CHOGM planned for October and an activist with Q.U.E.E.R. * Sue Jackel - trade union organiser and a co-convenor of UNITE, the trade union movement LGBT caucus. * Richard Lane - aka Riki Revolutskya, an activist in the Wills Branch of Socialist Alliance and supporter of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty. * Vanessa Nguyen - feminist activist from Monash University and former Queer Officer. * Alison Thorne - founder of Melbourne Radical Women, member of the CPSU and gay movement veteran who won a precedent setting 1986 EO case. * Melissa Venville - young feminist and current National Union of Students Queer Officer. * Graham Willett - author of Living Our Loud, President of the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives and a member of the NTEU. * Chaired by Peter Murray - Freedom Socialist Party leader and socialist feminist critic of biological determinism. The evening will also feature historic displays and a fundraiser for the Wills Socialist Alliance election campaign For more information call 9388-0062 or 9386-5065 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Solidarity Salon is just north of Blyth Street. There is ample free parking at the rear (enter from Staley Street). Take the North Coburg tram from Elizabeth Street or catch an Upfield train to Brunswick or Anstey Station. Venue is wheelchair accessible (but the toilets are not). Everyone is welcome. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:PR: 3CR fundraising drive 2001
To left linkies, Please post our radiothon info on the email news list Thankyou Press Release Press Release Press Release Press Release Press Release 3CR - Uncensored and Outspoken! Free from corporate sponsorship and government control, 3CR brings the community social justice radio with integrity. · 3CR is holding its annual Radiothon from 4th-17th June 2001.This year the station needs to raise $125 000 and the theme is Uncensored and Outspoken. · 3CR is committed to providing alternative coverage of social, economic, cultural and political developments taking place in Melbourne, Australia and around the world. We do this from a unique perspective that puts those involved and affected at the centre of our programming, and places broadcasting in a socially and progressive framework. Over the past year 3CR volunteer programmers have won awards for their coverage of the S11 protests and the local music scene. · 2001 is the international year of the volunteer. This year 3CR celebrates 25 years of volunteer driven broadcasting which has allowed the station to remain free from censorship and corporate sponsorship. Every week over 400 volunteer programmers broadcasting in 20 languages provide 24 hour coverage of the issues that affect their daily lives. With the support that the community shows though donating during the annual Radiothon and the dedication of our volunteers, 3CR continues to be uncensored and outspoken. · With hundreds of community groups putting their views to air on 3CR - Kooris, women, environmentalists, community language groups, social justice activists, trade unions, lesbians and gay organisations, community arts, alternative and local musicians, 3CR remains committed to the voice of true media diversity. · Donations over $2 are tax deductible, call 9419 8377 with your donation. Anyone who donates can win A Dyno Cruiser Glide Deluxe, Value $600 from Loco Low Riders A Giant Mountain Bike, Value $500 from Lygon Cycles -- Not for Publication · Photos of volunteers at work on air or covering rallies are available on request. · For interviews or more information contact the Jay Estorninho or Emily Hayes on 94198377. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:INFO: Black out
GLOBAL SOLSTICE EVENT *ROLL YOUR OWN BLACK OUT THE FIRST DAY OF JUNE 21, 2001 THURS EVE 7-10pm worldwide, all time zones In protest of George W. Bush's energy policies and lack of emphasis on efficiency, conservation and alternative fuels, there will be a voluntary rolling blackout on the first day of summer, June 21 at 7pm - 10pm in any time zone (this will roll it across the planet). Its a simple protest and a symbolic act. Turn out your lights from 7pm-10pm on June 21. Unplug whatever you can unplug in your house. Light a candle to the sungod, kiss and tell, make love, tell ghost stories, do something instead of watching television, have fun in the dark. Forward this e-mail as widely as possible, to your government representatives and environmental contacts. Let them know we want global education, participation and funding in conservation, efficiency and alternative fuel efforts-and an end to over exploitation and misuse of the earth's resources. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: from the Observer:
The Observer, London It was like a scene out of Le Carré: the brilliant agent comes in from the cold and, in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of an ideology gone rotten. But this was a far bigger catch than some used-up Cold War spy. The former apparatchik was Joseph Stiglitz, ex-chief economist of the World Bank. The new world economic order was his theory come to life. He was in Washington for the big confab of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. But instead of chairing meetings of ministers and central bankers, he was outside the police cordons. The World Bank fired Stiglitz two years ago. He was not allowed a quiet retirement: he was excommunicated purely for expressing mild dissent from globalization World Bank-style. Here in Washington we conducted exclusive interviews with Stiglitz, for The Observer and Newsnight, about the inside workings of the IMF, the World Bank, and the bank's 51% owner, the US Treasury. And here, from sources unnameable (not Stiglitz), we obtained a cache of documents marked, 'confidential' and 'restricted'. Stiglitz helped translate one, a 'country assistance strategy'. There's an assistance strategy for every poorer nation, designed, says the World Bank, after careful in-country investigation. But according to insider Stiglitz, the bank's 'investigation' involves little more than close inspection of five-star hotels. It concludes with a meeting with a begging finance minister, who is handed a 'restructuring agreement' pre-drafted for 'voluntary' signature. Each nation's economy is analyzed, says Stiglitz, then the Bank hands every minister the same four-step programme. Step One is privatization. Stiglitz said that rather than objecting to the sell-offs of state industries, some politicians - using the World Bank's demands to silence local critics - happily flogged their electricity and water companies. 'You could see their eyes widen' at the possibility of commissions for shaving a few billion off the sale price. And the US government knew it, charges Stiglitz, at least in the case of the biggest privatization of all, the 1995 Russian sell-off. 'The US Treasury view was: "This was great, as we wanted Yeltsin re-elected. We don't care if it's a corrupt election." ' Stiglitz cannot simply be dismissed as a conspiracy nutter. The man was inside the game - a member of Bill Clinton's cabinet, chairman of the President's council of economic advisers. Most sick-making for Stiglitz is that the US-backed oligarchs stripped Russia's industrial assets, with the effect that national output was cut nearly in half. After privatization, Step Two is capital market liberalization. In theory this allows investment capital to flow in and out. Unfortunately, as in Indonesia and Brazil, the money often simply flows out. Stiglitz calls this the 'hot money' cycle. Cash comes in for speculation in real estate and currency, then flees at the first whiff of trouble. A nation's reserves can drain in days. And when that happens, to seduce speculators into returning a nation's own capital funds, the IMF demands these nations raise interest rates to 30%, 50% and 80%. 'The result was predictable,' said Stiglitz. Higher interest rates demolish property values, savage industrial production and drain national treasuries. At this point, according to Stiglitz, the IMF drags the gasping nation to Step Three: market-based pricing - a fancy term for raising prices on food, water and cooking gas. This leads, predictably, to Step-Three-and-a-Half: what Stiglitz calls 'the IMF riot'. The IMF riot is painfully predictable. When a nation is, 'down and out, [the IMF] squeezes the last drop of blood out of them. They turn up the heat until, finally, the whole cauldron blows up,' - as when the IMF eliminated food and fuel subsidies for the poor in Indonesia in 1998. Indonesia exploded into riots. There are other examples - the Bolivian riots over water prices last year and, this February, the riots in Ecuador over the rise in cooking gas prices imposed by the World Bank. You'd almost believe the riot was expected. And it is. What Stiglitz did not know is that Newsnight obtained several documents from inside the World Bank. In one, last year's Interim Country Assistance Strategy for Ecuador, the Bank several times suggests - with cold accuracy - that the plans could be expected to spark 'social unrest'. That's not surprising. The secret report notes that the plan to make the US dollar Ecuador's currency has pushed 51% of the population below the poverty line. The IMF riots (and by riots I mean peaceful demonstrations dispersed by bullets, tanks and tear gas) cause new flights of capital and government bankruptcies. This economic arson has its bright side - for foreigners, who can then pick off remaining assets at fire sale prices. A pattern emerges. There are lots of losers but the clear winners
LL:DDV: Nike puts the boot into unis_SMH-08may00
A reminder of what was happening over a year ago (2 articles attached below, courtesy Leftlink). There's only one way to show your personal objection to Nike's continued exploitation of low-income workers: a physical demonstration in the heart of own metropolis, right outside Melbourne's Nike Superstore (cnr Bourke & Swanston Sts, City), every Friday at 5.00 - 7.00pm . Each week draws dozens of new people who nervously admit that this is their first "blockade". And what a positive experience they walk away from! Although there was some police violence in some of the earlier weeks, the last two weeks have seen agreement by the constabulary to allow the blockade to proceed, as a legitimate form of democratic protest. Last Friday, there was even friendly banter between the two "opposing" forces about the need for warm cuppas to sustain the momentum! (the police urging us to go home as soon as Nike shut its doors. As if this was our only objective! Every pedestrian, walking past the smiling, chanting, boisterous crowd linked 3-deep and arm-in-arm, would have understood that this protest was as much about conveying a message about Nike's despicable work practices as it was about stopping trading for a mere two hours a week). The Nike store has now been shut down for NINE consecutive Friday nights, with crowd numbers in excess of 100 for the last 3 weeks (not bad for two sliding doors only two metres wide!). There's a real feeling that this blockade represents the start of a genuine community rebellion - against exploitation of workers, in this instance, but also building towards a general community backlash against the corporate domination of our democracy. Please circulate this amongst your friends, especially those who don't think of themselves as "political". It'd be a shame for anyone to complain "I'd have come along, if only you'd told me about it," when this blockade is eventually recognised as a key event in Melbourne's recent history, alongside the Vietnam moratoriums, the MUA blockade and S11. Chris Chaplin State Secretary The Greens (Vic) Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/0005/08/text/world6.html Nike puts the boot into unis Date: 08/05/2000 Los Angeles: The sportswear manufacturer Nike has withdrawn millions of dollars of sponsorship from three American universities because of the activities of campus-based anti-sweatshop groups. The move is the latest in a running battle between leading multinational firms and the student anti-sweatshop movement which has mushroomed on campuses during the past year. In the past three weeks, Nike has withdrawn from financial arrangements worth more than $US50 million ($83.8million) with the University of Oregon, the University of Michigan and Brown University, Rhode Island. The sports firm had provided free equipment for the universities' sports teams and had made large donations and endowments. Nike objects to the demands being made by the Workers Rights Consortium, made up of students, university and union officials, and human rights campaigners. The WRC, which campaigns for improved working conditions in countries that produce clothes for Western markets, supports unannounced visits to factories and minimum working conditions. Nike has said it provides better working conditions than its competitors and makes a conscious effort to ensure that its factories operate fairly and humanely. The company supports another monitoring group, the Fair Labour Association, which the WRC claims is dominated by companies and does not carry out tough enough inspections. Last month Nike's chairman and founder, Phil Knight, announced that he would not be making a $US30million donation to his alma mater, the University of Oregon, because the company considered the WRC, which has branches in nearly 50 universities, unfriendly towards business in general. Nike has also accused the WRC of being a tool of the US unions, which have been unhappy at seeing manufacturing jobs go abroad. Since then, Nike has broken its links with Michigan and Brown universities. The question of whether US manufacturers are using sweatshops at home and abroad has become an important issue in student politics. Last month, 12 university administration buildings were occupied by students objecting to the administration's investment policies. The Guardian * This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." - -- -- Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 10:26:12 +1000 From: TCFUA Vic Branch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: LL:ART: Nike admits breaking work agre
LL:ART: one of the longest lock-outs in Aus. history over
Meatworkers win $1m in back pay http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2001/05/31/FFX6CHOGCNC.html By PAUL ROBINSON WORKPLACE EDITOR Thursday 31 May 2001 More than 30 Pakenham meatworkers who endured one of the longest lock-outs in Australia's industrial history are set to receive up to $1 million in back pay. The Federal Court has ruled that G.and K. O'Connor Pty Ltd, which locked more than 300 workers out of its meatworks between March and November, 1999, had been significantly underpaying workers when they returned to work. Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union secretary Graham Bird said yesterday the decision was a victory for meatworkers and others who had been forced to defend their award conditions. "There are many families whose livelihoods have been depending on this decision and they will hopefully finally see some financial relief after two years of hardship and intimidation imposed on them by their employer," he said. Only 80 workers returned after the lock-out, called over a dispute about pay and conditions. O'Connors told them they would be re-employed under the Federal Meat Industry Processing Award instead of the expired 1992 enterprise agreement. Under that agreement, the most highly skilled meatworkers, boners, would have received about $950 a week. Under the federal "safety net" award offered by O'Connor the same boners got about $425 a week. The court ruled that the 1992 agreement must apply to the locked-out workers. But company spokesman Matt O'Connor questioned the union's version of the court's decision, saying it was "a very complex document that covers a wide range of things". He said the company was "considering all our options". -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:AA: community legal centres
Community Legal Centres Under Fire Alison Evans (edited by Claire Flynn) Victoria's Community Legal centres (CLCs) are currently facing funding pressures that could see the loss of inner city CLCs or a serious curtailment of their activities in the local community. The Victorian community legal centres are independent organisations that aim to ensure access to justice for people without big bucks, regardless of the type of legal problem they have. From the initial set-up of Fitzroy Legal Service in the 1970s, CLCs developed in response to a common community perception that the traditional legal system was complicit in social injustice. The issue at hand stems from disagreement between the State and the Federal government over funding of community legal centres. Both departments have used information from the controversial 'Review' of the 'Victorian Commonwealth State Community Legal Centre Funding Program', conducted by The Implementation Advisory Group (IAG). One chief aim of the Review was to determine whether the distribution of CLC services resources was consistent and equitable. Proposals made would involve draining money from the well-developed inner-city centres to be redistributed to outer-suburban CLC's. While no-one disputes the desperate need for better-resourced community legal services elsewhere in Victoria, the solution should not be to decrease funding to inner-city legal services. Victoria is not alone in being subjected to a decreased level of Federal Government funding to community legal aid. These cuts have occurred despite population growth around Australia with a concurrent increase in litigation, higher legal costs and high levels of unemployment, all resulting in more eligible applicants for legal aid that need to compete for public money. It is increasingly important to maintain informed community-based legal centres that have earned respect from those people in the community they are designed to help. For more information, or to join the BAG the IAG campaign, contact the Fitzroy Legal Service on (03) 9411 1308. -- Ruby Nolan Media Officer Farrago Melbourne University Student Union Inc.* First Floor, Union House University of Melbourne VIC 3010 phone: +61 3 8344 6957 fax: +61 3 9349 4945 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.union.unimelb.edu.au * Incorporated in Victoria Reg. No. A0017677L * Australian Business Number 71 639 615 753 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:DDW: June 15-16 Perth Globalisation Conference
Dear Friends, Here's an intensive Perth conference following a week after our free GATS public forum, and featuring knowledgeable guest speakers Keith Suter and Jagjit Plahe. There's a Friday night session of 2 hours, followed by an all-day Saturday conference with quality workshops. Not to be missed if you live in Perth! Regards Brian Jenkins From: Adie Wilmot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Tuesday, 29 May 2001 15:14 Subject: Development Network Conference, please promote Globalisation and Civil Society: Where in the world is social justice?" 15-16 June 2001 This conference will be a time of inspiration, replenishment, challenge, enjoyment and sharing of information and strategies for those involved or interested in enhancing their understanding and commitment to global social justice issues. Venue Friday night 15th June 7.30pm -9.30pm Wesley Centre Auditorium, 2nd Floor, Wesley Centre, Cnr William Street and Hay Street, Perth. Saturday 16th June 9am - 7pm Noalimba Conference Centre, Mandala Crescent, Bateman Brought to you by The Development Network of WA The Development Network of WA is a coalition of agencies and organisations, each engaged with aid, development, human rights and social justice issues at a global and local level. Our joint aims include: · Increasing the public's understanding of, and commitment to aid, development, justice and human rights issues. · Providing opportunities for like-minded organisations to build cooperative strategies and action on these issues. · Encouraging better understanding and support amongst Development Network members. Members include: Amnesty International, Anglican Board of Missions, ASeTTS (Association for Torture and Trauma Survivors), AusAID (Australia's Agency for International Development), AUSTCARE (Australian Care for Refugees), Australian Red Cross, Australian Volunteers International, Caritas Australia, Oxfam-Community Aid Abroad, Community Arts Network, One World Centre, RUSSIC (Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change), Save the Children, TEAR Australia, World Vision, United Nations Association of Australia. Development Network of Western Australia Conference "Sponsored by: Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change (RUSSIC), Curtin University Conference Aims: · To challenge and inspire community members to become involved in actions or organisations which contribute to the building of a more just, peaceful and sustainable world. · To build community among those involved in or interested in international development issues. · To create a space for reflection for those already involved in these issues to gain further learning, inspiration and networks to enhance their involvement. Keynote Speakers: Dr Keith Suter is a broadcaster, journalist, strategic planner, conference speaker and author. Keith has been active in speaking about globalisation and its impacts in the media and in his two recent publications: "The Global Agenda" and "In Defence of Globalisation". Jagjit Plahe works as a Policy and Campaigns officer in the Advocacy Network Department of World Vision Australia in Melbourne. Jagjit coordinates the Australian Council of Overseas Aid (ACFOA) Trade Advisory Committee. She has been in Australia for a year, and is from Kenya where she has been a human rights activist. Format of Conference: Friday night: Public Meeting 7.30pm - 9.30pm "The impact of globalisation in Australia and the developing world" Dr Keith Suter and Jagjit Plahe Saturday: 9.00 - 9.30am Indigenous Welcome to Country Welcome to the Conference: Sir Ronald Wilson 9.30 - 10.30amSpeakers: Jagjit Plahe and Dr Keith Suter "The contemporary challenges for civil society" 10.30 - 11.00am Morning Tea 11.00 - 12.30pm Workshops 12.30 - 1.30pm Lunch 1.30 - 2.15pm Introduction to Open Space Facilitator: Brendan McKeague 2.15 - 5.00pm Open Space Conversations 5.00pm - 5.30 Open Forum to share conversations 5.30pm - 7.00pm Refreshments Workshops will include the following: 1. Development and the human spirit: How do we connect them? (Tim Muirhead) 2. Northern NGOs in the era of globalisation (Andrew Hewitt) 3. World Trade Organisation and human rights- a practical case study (Jagjit Plahe) 4. Opening our global hearts: Towards life-sustaining societies (Rodney Vlais) 5. The experience of volunteering in developing countries (Australian Volunteers International) 6. Possible changes and possible implications for General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) - Peter Ellis Open Space Open Space is a guided process that allows the agenda of the conference to be generated by the interests and talents of the participants themselves. On the Saturday afternoon of the conference you will have the opportunity to put forward ideas for conversations or activities you might like to have with others. It could be about a strategic issue you or your organisation are concerned about, a global issue that you think is important, a space for creativity to emerge
LL:ART: Learn from Cuba, Says World Bank
http://wwwadmin.gn.apc.org/resources/ips/ipsmessage.asp?ID=2551 IPS Search Results - Tue, 01 May 2001 20:04:51 -0700 (PDT) /CORRECTED REPEAT/FINANCE: Learn from Cuba, Says World Bank By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Apr 30 (IPS) - World Bank President James Wolfensohn Monday extolled the Communist government of President Fidel Castro for doing "a great job" in providing for the social welfare of the Cuban people. His remarks followed Sunday's publication of the Bank's 2001 edition of 'World Development Indicators' (WDI), which showed Cuba as topping virtually all other poor countries in health and education statistics. It also showed that Havana has actually improved its performance in both areas despite the continuation of the US trade embargo against it and the end of Soviet aid and subsidies for the Caribbean island more than ten years ago. "Cuba has done a great job on education and health," Wolfensohn told reporters at the conclusion of the annual spring meetings of the Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "They have done a good job, and it does not embarrass me to admit it." His remarks reflect a growing appreciation in the Bank for Cuba's social record, despite recognition that Havana's economic policies are virtually the antithesis of the "Washington Consensus", the neo-liberal orthodoxy that has dominated the Bank's policy advice and its controversial structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) for most of the last 20 years. Some senior Bank officers, however, go so far as to suggest that other developing countries should take a very close look at Cuba's performance. "It is in some sense almost an anti-model," according to Eric Swanson, the programme manager for the Bank's Development Data Group, which compiled the WDI, a tome of almost 400 pages covering scores of economic, social, and environmental indicators. Indeed, Cuba is living proof in many ways that the Bank's dictum that economic growth is a precondition for improving the lives of the poor is over-stated, if not downright wrong. The Bank has insisted for the past decade that improving the lives of the poor was its core mission. Besides North Korea, Cuba is the one developing country which, since 1960, has never received the slightest assistance, either in advice or in aid, from the Bank. It is not even a member, which means that Bank officers cannot travel to the island on official business. The island's economy, which suffered devastating losses in production after the Soviet Union withdrew its aid, especially its oil supplies, a decade ago, has yet to fully recover. Annual economic growth, fuelled in part by a growing tourism industry and limited foreign investment, has been halting and, for the most part, anaemic. Moreover, its economic policies are generally anathema to the Bank. The government controls virtually the entire economy, permitting private entrepreneurs the tiniest of spaces. It heavily subsidises virtually all staples and commodities; its currency is not convertible to anything. It retains tight control over all foreign investment, and often changes the rules abruptly and for political reasons. At the same time, however, its record of social achievement has not only been sustained; it's been enhanced, according to the WDI. It has reduced its infant mortality rate from 11 per 1,000 births in 1990 to seven in 1999, which places it firmly in the ranks of the western industrialised nations. It now stands at six, according to Jo Ritzen, the Bank's Vice President for Development Policy who visited Cuba privately several months ago to see for himself. By comparison, the infant mortality rate for Argentina stood at 18 in 1999; Chile's was down to ten; and Costa Rica, 12. For the entire Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole, the average was 30 in 1999. Similarly, the mortality rate for children under five in Cuba has fallen from 13 to eight per thousand over the decade. That figure is 50 percent lower than the rate in Chile, the Latin American country closest to Cuba's achievement. For the region as a whole, the average was 38 in 1999. "Six for every 1,000 in infant mortality - the same level as Spain - is just unbelievable," according to Ritzen, a former education minister in the Netherlands. "You observe it, and so you see that Cuba has done exceedingly well in the human development area." Indeed, in Ritzen's own field the figures tell much the same story. Net primary enrolment for both girls and boys reached 100 percent in 1997, up from 92 percent in 1990. That was as high as most developed nations, higher even than the US rate and well above 80-90 percent rates achieved by the most advanced Latin American countries. "Even in education performance, Cuba's is very much in tune with the developed world, and much higher than schools in, say, Argentina, Brazil, or Chile." It is no wonder, in
LL:INFO: Where's the Leftlink email...?
Dear all, My apologies for the lack of Leftlink during the past few days. Due to someone subscribing Leftlink to another email list, which subsequently went insane, Leftlink was bombarded with a huge number of emails, causing it to overload itself. I have sorted through the emails and am posting the ones that ordinarily would have been posted. You should start receiving them shortly. I'm looking into ways in which this sort of thing can be resolved. Moderating an email list can take a long time, particularly such a high-traffic list as this one. I typically receive ten times as many emails to moderate as I send out, and it's getting a bit much. Please think carefully before submitting an email. Leftlink's focus tends to be on local (ie, Australian) issues, especially protests and events that may be of interest to the Left community. We now return you to your regular (?) programming... Alister Air Leftlink moderator -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
