USA: Grassroots Campaign Calls on Institutions to Boycott World Bank Bonds

CONTACT:

Neil Watkins 202-299-0020 / 202-421-1023

Soren Ambrose 617-407-0109 (In Prague)

WASHINGTON, DC -- Thousands are descending upon Prague to protest at the
Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, while protestors stage
solidarity actions against corporate globalization in 57 U.S. cities and at
least 28 other countries. As part of the action call of the September 26
Global Day of Action, numerous new institutions in the United States have
joined the boycott against World Bank bonds.

The City of Oakland, California; the Communications Workers of America;
the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE);
Citizens Funds; and the Sisters of Loretto have all committed -- through
resolution or statement of policy -- not to purchase bonds issued by the
World Bank. Coalitions of human rights and social justice groups in San
Francisco and Boulder are poised to introduce resolutions before their city
councils in October.

The boycott was launched because while the World Bank has adopted new
rhetoric, its policies on debt and structural adjustment have remained
largely unchanged and continue to plunder environments and economies of
poor countries. "The World Bank has devastated countries and communities in
the Global South for over 50 years. Its newest promises still include
destructive structural adjustment. Now people, North and South, are saying
the game is up: either stop structural adjustment programs or lose your
lifeline," said Dennis Brutus, the renowned South African poet and
anti-Apartheid campaigner.

In many of the actions planned in the U.S., activists will focus on the
World Bank Bonds boycott. Protestors in New York, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco will highlight Citibank's role in underwriting World Bank bonds.
Activists in Durham, NC and Ithaca, NY will target universities and other
institutions in their areas to encourage passage of a World Bank Bonds
Boycott resolution.

"From Zimbabwe to the India to Bolivia, citizen organizations are signing
onto the boycott as a way to fight back against World Bank policies. Many
groups in the U.S. are using the boycott as a way to increase their say
over how their tax and tuition dollars are being used. This campaign is
gaining power fast," said Beverly Bell, director of the Center for Economic
Justice, one of the U.S. coordinators of the boycott.

The campaign demands that the World Bank stop its devastating structural
adjustment lending and cancel debt claims it has on countries in the Global
South. The World Bank gets 80% of its financing through bond sales on
private financial markets to institutional investors and others. The World
Bank Bonds Boycott was launched in April at the time of the spring meetings
of the IMF and World Bank in Washington. Human rights, environmental, labor
and development groups in over 35 countries support the campaign. Other
U.S. coordinators of the boycott include 50 Years is Enough Network, Global
Exchange, Transnational Research and Action Center, Rainforest Action
Network, United for A Fair Economy, and Essential Action.

WORLD BANK BONDS BOYCOTT

c/o Center for Economic Justice

1830 Connecticut Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20009

Tel: (202)299-0020

Email: bankboycott@econjustice.net

Web: www.worldbankboycott.org

• 194 World Financial Institutions