Here are 10 reasons to join the protests:
1. The IMF is clamping down on democracy in Brazil. Its loan packages are intended to lock in market fundamentalist policies, no matter which party Brazilians elect in upcoming elections.
2. User fees denying people the right to healthcare. The World Bank continues to support charges -- known as user fees -- for basic healthcare. In country after country, even small charges have been shown to deny people access to care, even as the miniscule charges raise little money to finance the healthcare system.
3. Maniacal support for privatization. As one of its current projects on the cutting-edge of privatization, the Bank is pushing for the transfer of public water services into the hands of the multinational water companies. The result: higher prices that interfere with widespread access, no improvement in service, and a profit-making bonanza for the multinationals.
4. Fueling climate change and environmental destruction. Fossil fuel corporations benefited from over $24 billion in World Bank financing between 1992 and August 2002, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The Banks' fossil fuel portfolio, IPS estimates, will generate roughly twice as much carbon dioxide (a potent greenhouse gas) as industry produced worldwide in the year 2000.
1. The IMF is clamping down on democracy in Brazil. Its loan packages are intended to lock in market fundamentalist policies, no matter which party Brazilians elect in upcoming elections.
2. User fees denying people the right to healthcare. The World Bank continues to support charges -- known as user fees -- for basic healthcare. In country after country, even small charges have been shown to deny people access to care, even as the miniscule charges raise little money to finance the healthcare system.
3. Maniacal support for privatization. As one of its current projects on the cutting-edge of privatization, the Bank is pushing for the transfer of public water services into the hands of the multinational water companies. The result: higher prices that interfere with widespread access, no improvement in service, and a profit-making bonanza for the multinationals.
4. Fueling climate change and environmental destruction. Fossil fuel corporations benefited from over $24 billion in World Bank financing between 1992 and August 2002, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). The Banks' fossil fuel portfolio, IPS estimates, will generate roughly twice as much carbon dioxide (a potent greenhouse gas) as industry produced worldwide in the year 2000.