Africa/Global: Birthday blues

The World Bank finances energy projects, often run by multinational energy corporations, including Shell and BP, in developing countries. More than 80% of the energy extracted is exported and used in the developed world. World Bank money has left a legacy of environmental and social devastation, from cyanide spills in Peru to land expropriation and water pollution at oil pipelines in Chad. The bank has blindly chanted an "economic growth" mantra to those who have questioned the appropriateness of this investment, presenting a dogmatic argument that these projects will somehow inevitably help the poor. Hannah Ellis, an international financial institutions campaigner for Friends of the Earth, argues in The Guardian UK that in its 60th year it is time for the bank to deliver or retire.