Selected headlines from Pambazuka News 170
SMS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS
* Use your mobile phone to sign the petition in support of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Send a message to: +27832933934, with the word ‘petition’ and your name in the message. You will only be charged the cost set by your network provider for sending an international SMS. More information http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/smssocial.php or sign online at http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/
HOW TO SUPPORT THE SMS PETITION
* Send text messages to your colleagues and friends alerting them to the petition and informing them how to sign by SMS. You can also use email and word of mouth to help spread the word.
* Distribute leaflets about this initiative. If you work in a human rights or social justice organisation in Africa, volunteer to distribute leaflets for us about the petition to your networks and contacts. Send your details to [email protected] and we will post you pamphlets to distribute.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS ISSUE:
* Conflict and Emergencies: Proxy wars in Central Africa – profits, propaganda and luxury goods for the west
* Women and Gender: Gender and the environment
* Elections and Governance: SADC adopts election guidelines
* Development: July WTO meeting a setback for Africa
* Corruption: The boom that only oils the wheels of corruption
* HIV/AIDS: Stopping the brain drain
* Education: Lift the yoke, uplift the child
* Environment: Concern over DRC logging
* Land and Land Rights: SADC calls for land reform
* Media and Freedom of Expression: On verge of release, Ethiopian editor convicted anew
>>>>>Africa, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
This year marks what many activists have dubbed the unhappy birthday of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is 60 years since the creation of these institutions in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and in that time period both have come to have a profound and controversial influence on the world. These are the institutions that have been responsible for Structural Adjustment Papers, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and a host of other programmes that are supposed to have had an impact on making the world a better place. They are the institutions that claim to be acting in the interests of the global good, with mission statements such as the World Bank, which says that its “mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world”. But critics lambast both institutions for their lack of democracy and for creating a system of modern day colonialism that does nothing to advance the interests of the poor and is in fact damaging to just about every aspect of life.
Beginning this week with an article by Patrick Bond that examines how the Bretton Woods Institutions have responded to criticism over their democratic credentials, their particular approach to development policy, their ongoing support for mega-projects and their failure to cancel debt, Pambazuka News will be carrying a series of articles leading up to the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in October. The articles will aim to examine the role of these institutions in the context of Africa. We encourage activists, academics or anyone interested in the role of these institutions in Africa to respond to the articles we carry or to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Contributions can be sent to [email protected]