On the evening before violent protesters disrupted this year’s IMF/World Bank meeting in Prague, Jim Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank joined a panel discussing globalization with some untypical guests: Hong Kong trade union leader Elizabeth Tang and Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock group U2.
The meeting was polite, if strains were evident. “I have never listened to so many financial people talk and in two days, I’ve learned a lot,” said Tang. “I’ve learned that we live in two different worlds.”
She added: “don’t think workers and trade unions dislike globalization: we think it’s inevitable. What we don’t like is the consequence of decisions made by the World Bank and IMF which cause people to lose their jobs. Outside, in the real world, trade unions are being suppressed and weakened by policies of the World Bank and IMF on privatization and restructuring. In China, 10 million workers have been displaced by privatizations. Is the World Bank listening to these people?” She urged the World Bank to attach greater conditions to its biggest borrower, China.
Bono has been campaigning for debt relief since performing at the 1985 Live Aid concert to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. “We raised $200 million and were jumping for joy until we found out that’s what Africa pays in debt service on old loans every few months.” Bono told the audience. “That makes you very angry.”
Bono has become a single issue campaigner of considerable determination. He appeals: “The idea of cancelling the debts of the poorest countries of the world to the richest countries is probably the only idea that the year 2000 will be remembered for.”
While happy to play the spoiled rock star to prick the pomposity of his co-panelists – “You’ll have to forgive me, I’m not used to speaking in front of less than 70,000 people”, he told them – Bono has clearly learned the language of the international financing institutions. He talks about conditionality for debt forgiveness, based on performance measures, for example on education and governance. And he stresses: “countries in conflict don’t get the breaks”.
But while criticizing corrupt borrowing governments, he makes the key point: “there was also some terrible lending. It would have been tougher for me to get a mortgage to buy a house than it was for Mobutu [Sese Seko, former dictator of Zaire] to take billions of dollars [of multilateral loans] and put it into Swiss banks.” And he presses the key question: “When government lenders have cancelled 100% of the debts of poor countries which have met strict conditions for debt relief, why have the World Bank and the IMF cancelled less than 40% of those debts?”
But by that time, Wolfensohn was off to another appointment.Next morning, came the sirens and the broken glass.
