As delegates and protesters descend on Washington DC for this year’s IMF and World Bank annual meetings, nobody is sure quite what to expect. It’s certain that the proceedings will be overshadowed by security concerns as never before, though. This time, the familiar risk that protesters will manage to shut the meetings down is joined by the far graver threat of terrorism.
The institutions themselves play down the differences from previous years. The agenda will include the usual subjects for discussion – the state of the international economy, progress on poverty reduction and the heavily indebted poor countries initiative, and efforts to combat international terrorism and money-laundering. The usual round of speeches and seminars will go ahead and many familiar faces will be there.
The protesters look set to be as diverse as ever: NGOs, charities, anarchists, eco-warriors, monks. Mobilization for Global Justice, the umbrella group claiming to be coordinating events, promises interfaith vigils, marches, clean energy rallies and a “quarantine” of the meetings on September 28.
Steve Kretzmann of Mobilization for Global Justice says his organization has a stricter code of non-violence than ever. He refuses to speculate on protester numbers beyond predicting “several thousand”, but agrees the atmosphere may be different this year. “I don’t think we’ll see quite the same level of confrontation, but there’s just as much concern,” he says. “Hopefully this year there will be a little less rock-throwing and a little more non-violent marching.”
The Washington authorities, IMF and World Bank are tight-lipped about security plans. “We have no special insight into what’s going to happen,” admits an IMF spokesman. “The authorities certainly expect protesters – maybe a few less than in previous years. Obviously we all hope the threat of terrorism doesn’t materialize.” He argues that fewer protesters turned up to April’s spring meeting than the protesters themselves claimed, though the headcounts of officials and protesters never seem to match.
He adds that the institutions have regular contact with various NGOs, and occasional, if hardly cordial, contact with the likes of Mobilization for Global Justice. But they have no idea what is being planned by the anarchist groups that form the core of violence at these protests. “We just hope we can carry on meeting,” he says. “This is probably the only global event where financial and economic leaders from both rich and poor nations can meet. Ultimately we live in a democracy – we have our right to meet, and they have their right to protest.”
Security concerns
Last year’s plans to transfer the meetings from the Marriott Wardman Park hotel on the city’s outskirts to the IMF and World Bank campus downtown sprang from security concerns. But bankers were concerned that the smaller venue would jeopardize the private meetings and networking that many regard as the meetings’ real purpose.
This year, the meetings are again scheduled to take place at the World Bank and IMF buildings and bankers have similar concerns. “We’re not really interested in the plenary sessions and seminars,” says a senior debt capital markets banker in London. “We go primarily to meet clients. Clearly the concerns about security will have an impact and the meetings probably won’t be as well attended. But it’s still a worthwhile exercise and we expect to meet plenty of clients.”
“Nobody’s sure what’s going to happen,” says another banker. “We’ll certainly be going, although it’s open to question how much we’ll be able to get done.”
The protesters may not stop the meetings but they could make them so uncomfortable that delegates no longer want to attend. In a fragile economic climate, though, the financial community can’t afford to give the impression that it has been scared off.
