[asia-apec 581] intl sign-on against the IMF expansion

[Robert Weissman]

Below is a letter being circulated by Walden Bello and a variety of
individuals and organizations urging the U.S. Congress to deny funds for
IMF expansion. We are seeking signatures for the letter from groups and
individuals both outside of and inside the United States. Please send
endorsement information to Robert Naiman of the Preamble Center
<naimanr at preamble.org>.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob at essential.org

---------

To: Members of the United States Congress

Re: Why we Oppose the IMF Quota Increase

The undersigned organizations and individuals from around the world are 
opposed to any increase in the size, power, or funding of the International 
Monetary Fund [IMF], and in particular are opposed to any increase in the 
quota of member countries. The disastrous impact of IMF-imposed policies on 
workers rights, environmental protection, and economic growth and 
development; the crushing debt repayment burden of poor countries as a 
result of IMF policies; and the continuing secrecy of IMF operations 
provide ample justification for denying increased funding to the IMF.

Economic Growth and Development: The IMFs overwhelming preference for high 
interest rates and fiscal austerity, even in the absence of any economic 
justification, has caused unnecessary recessions, reduced growth, hindered 
economic development, and increased poverty throughout the world. There is 
now a consensus among economists that the IMFs recent intervention in the 
Asian financial crisis actually worsened its impact. Many believe that the 
Fund bears the primary responsibility for turning the financial crisis into 
a major regional depression, with tens of millions of people being thrown 
into poverty and no end in sight.

Labor: IMF policies undermine the livelihood of working families. IMF 
policies have mandated mass layoffs and changes in labor law to facilitate 
or encourage mass layoffs, as happened recently in South Korea. IMF 
policies regularly force countries to lower wages, or  often undermine 
efforts by governments to raise wages-- as, for example, in Haiti in recent 
years.

Environment: IMF policies encourage and frequently require the lowering of 
environmental standards and the reckless exploitation of natural resources 
in debtor countries. The export of natural resources to earn hard currency 
to pay foreign debts under IMF mandates damages the environment while 
providing no benefit to poor and working people in debtor countries.

Debt: IMF and World Bank policies have forced poor countries to make 
foreign debt service a higher priority than basic human needs. The World 
Bank claims that it is "sustainable" for countries like Mozambique to pay a 
quarter of their export earnings on debt service. Yet after World War II, 
Germany was not required to pay more than 3.5% of its export earnings on 
debt service. Poor countries today need a ceiling on debt service similar 
to the one Germany had. According to UN statistics, if Mozambique were 
allowed to spend half of the money on health care and education which it is 
now spending on debt service, it would save the lives of 100,000 children 
per year.

Openness of IMF operations: IMF policies which affect the lives of a 
billion people are negotiated in secret, with key conditions not released 
to the public. The people who bear the burden of these policies often do 
not even have access to the agreements which have been negotiated.

The policies of the IMF have undermined the ability of developing countries 
to provide for the needs of their own peoples. Such an institution should 
not be expanded.

Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.

Sincerely, 

Initiators:

Walden Bello, Co-director, Focus on the Global South, Bangkok; Professor of 
	Sociology and Public Administration, University of the Philippines
Carlos Heredia, Congressman, Mexico
Dennis Brutus, Jubilee 2000 Africa
Noam Chomsky, Professor of Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of 	
	Technology

Organizations-International

Third World Network, Africa Regional Secretariat
Public Interest Research Group, India
Center for Orang Asli Concerns, Malaysia
DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era) Secretariat, Fiji
Asociacisn Ecologista Costarricense-Friends of the Earth, Costa Rica
Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren (Coalition Against BAYER-Dangers), 	
	Duesseldorf, Germany
Both ENDS, Amsterdam,The Netherlands
Rettet den Regenwald e. V., (Rainforest Rescue) Hamburg, Germany
Indigenous Peoples4 Biodiversity Network, Cusco, Peru

Organizations -US

Friends of the Earth
50 Years Is Enough Network
Institute for Food and Development Policy -- Food First
FoodFirst Information and Action Network -- USA
Development Group for Alternative Policies
International Labor Rights Fund
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Interhemispheric Resource Center
Resource Center of The Americas
Overseas Development Network
Campaign for Labor Rights
California Fair Trade Campaign
Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition
United Church of Christ Network for Environmental and Economic 		
	Responsibility
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community - (UUJEC), 	
	Pittsburgh, PA
Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, IN
Alliance for Justice Network, Medical Mission Sisters, USA
Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America
Campaign for Food Safety (formerly the Pure Food Campaign)
Pesticide Action Network North America
Arizona Toxics Information, Bisbee, Arizona
Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA, Pittsboro, NC
Native Forest Council
National Forest Trust
Essential Action
WorldWise
Preamble Center for Public Policy
International Society for Gandhian Studies
Alternatives In Action!, Atlanta, Georgia
Rainforest Relief, Brooklyn, New York
Federal Land Action Group, New York, New York

Individuals-International

Patrick Bond, Senior Lecturer in Economic Policy, University of the 	
	Witwatersrand Graduate 	School of Public and Development 	
	Management, Johannesburg, South Africa
Francisco Martmnez, Instituto De Promocion Para El Desarrollo Rural, A.C., 
	(Institute for the Promotion of Rural Development) Mixico
Herbert Mujica Rojas, journalist, Peru
Dr. Maxwell Mwase, School of Veterinary Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia
Susi Newborn, Vice Chair, Greenpeace New Zealand
Paul Phillips, Professor of Economics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 
	Manitoba, Canada
Marie-Josee Massicotte, York University, Toronto, Canada
Ute Sprenger, Publicist/Consultant,  Berlin, Germany
Peter R Wills, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of 
	Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Anita Idel , Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kritische Tiermedizin, Barsbek, Germany
Stephen Morey, Department of Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne, 
	Australia
Mike Zmolek, Dept. of Political Science, York University, Toronto
Gregory Schwartz, Dept. of Political Science, York University, Toronto, 
	Canada
Floyd Rudmin, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Tromso, Norway

Individuals-US

Romesh Diwan, Professor of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 
	Troy, NY
Michael Perelman, Professor of Economics, California State University, 	
	Chico, California
David Ranney, Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, University of 	
	Illinois, Chicago
Dr. Kimberly Grimes, Director, Made By Hand International Cooperative; 	
	Anthropologist, University of Delaware
David V. Carruthers, Department of Political Science, San Diego State 	
	University
Ellen R. Shaffer, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins 	
	University