Protesters gear up for bank meetings

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<snip> The Mobilization for Global Justice, the main protest sponsor, and other activists also plan to voice concern over Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary and Iraq war designer who recently won approval to head the World Bank.

With a permit for 3,000-5,000 people to march Saturday from the World Bank's downtown headquarters to nearby Dupont Circle, organizers are not anticipating the crowds that in the past have disrupted meetings and resulted in mass arrests. They do, however, plan a festive afternoon of music and poetry.

Activists insisted that smaller demonstrations are just a snapshot of broader opposition to U.S.- and European-driven economic policies, which they say benefit the world's richest countries at the expense of the poor.

"We will not have 30,000 people in the streets, but I think that we have millions of people around the world," said Njoki Njoroge Njehu, director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network, formed in 1994 to mark the bank's 50th anniversary. <snip>

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/politics/11376256.htm

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1. IMF, World Bank Protests Planned This Weekend (Posted 4/15)

Prepare for a weekend of protests, street plays and teach-ins, as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund hold their spring meetings.

Several groups are planning a three-day presence to coincide with those meetings. The biggest gathering is expected on Saturday, when protesters will march from the World Bank's Washington DC headquarters to Dupont Circle.

They're also planning a protest today Friday outside the Treasury Department. This is where a meeting of the finance ministers from the richest industrialized countries - the G7 - will take place.

The ministers will discuss full debt cancellation for poor countries, which is a key goal of the protesters ...

http://mathaba.net/x.htm?http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=187203

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2. Some D.C. Streets To Close for Weekend Protests

Friday April 15, 2005 8:14pm

<snip> Several groups are planning a three-day presence - beginning Friday - to coincide with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings. The biggest demonstration is Saturday, when protesters march from 18th and H streets, NW, to Dupont Circle.

The executive director of Africa Action, Salih Booker, says the World Bank and IMF are "hazardous" to the health of developing countries.

Sections of Pennsylvania Avenue, G Street, and 19th Street will be closed for the weekend.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0405/221223.html

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3. Debt Help From G-7 Urged by Protesters

Critics Target Financial Leaders

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 16, 2005; Page B02

Protesters kicked off a weekend of anti-globalization demonstrations with a lone drum and just over 50 people outside the Treasury building yesterday.

They waved signs and chanted at the long windows of the building's conference rooms, urging the Group of Seven finance ministers from the world's wealthiest countries meeting inside to cancel the debts of underdeveloped countries.

We have been here for years, and we will keep coming back until the debt is dropped," said Njoki Njoroge Njehu, director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network, a U.S. coalition of more than 200 groups working toward global economic justice. "We have accomplished something by making them consider debt cancellation, but now we have to hold their feet to the fire." <snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57478-2005Apr15.html

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4. IMF/World Bank Protests Continue Downtown (4/17)

WASHINGTON - The barricades are up and police are out, as several hundred protesters gather Sunday for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.

So far, the demonstrations have been described as more festive and less combative than in the past.

Protesters renewed their calls for the cancellation of Third World debts, and changes in the policies of the World Bank and the IMF. <snip>

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=506549