Where there is oppression, there is resistance...

Who Controls the World Bank and IMF?

The World Bank and IMF headquarters are in Washington, D.C. The president of the World Bank is always a North American. The managing director of the IMF is always a West European. The U.S. has effectively had the power to veto any decision the IMF takes.

The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors has power and responsibility for decisions on policies and approval of all loans. Five wealthy countries--U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany and Japan--dominate the Board. Voting rights are proportional to a country's share of the Bank's annual contribution and the U.S. has the biggest share.
The decision-making body of the IMF is dominated by countries with the largest Gross National Products. Votes in the IMF to set policy and approve loans are determined by a country's donation to the fund, so rich countries can literally buy voting power. The U.S. contributes about $115 billion, or roughly 18 to 19 percent of the total fund, and has the biggest voting power.

Enforcing Imperialist Domination
Debt is a political, not just an economic or financial, phenomenon. And institutions like the IMF and World Bank that administer debt on behalf of creditors have political power.
All kinds of strings are attached to loans. And by putting conditions on aid, the IMF and World Bank exert a great deal of control over the economic and social policies of Third World countries. IMF conditions aim to create a more favorable foreign investment climate and typically include the privatization of government-owned operations, cuts in social services, and tax increases. Such "reforms" fall hardest on the poor.
Poor countries get IMF loans to try and get out of debt. And the "restructuring" reforms the IMF makes these countries carry out are supposed to help them pay their debts and get back on their feet. But in reality, this restructuring only causes deeper debt and poverty. The IMF and the World Bank now operate with reverse capital flows--they take more money out of the Third World than they put back in. In the past four years Brazil has paid the World Bank $5.3 billion more than it has received.
The total Third World debt now equals about half their combined GNP and nearly twice their total annual export earnings. Meanwhile, wealth continues to flow out of Third World countries. Between 1982 and 1990, Third World countries transferred $418 billion to rich capitalist countries.

As Mao Tsetung said, "Where there is oppression, there is resistance." And there is a long history of mass protest and resistance against the IMF and World Bank.

In Venezuela in 1989, at least 250 people died in three days of street protests against the IMF. That year, what have come to be called "IMF riots" also erupted in Argentina, Peru, Jordan, Egypt, Zambia and the Dominican Republic.

In 1994, the World Bank and the IMF imposed a currency devaluation on 14 West African countries. About 80 million people woke up one morning to find that basic goods had doubled in price. Protests and "IMF riots" broke out in Senegal.

In 1985, the World Bank lent India $450 million to build a giant dam along the Narmada River that would uproot 200,000 people and harm hundreds of thousands more. People were evicted, put in temporary shacks on unfarmable land. In October 1992, the Bank Board voted to continue funding. Mass protests broke out. There was bitter resistance from thousands of people who vowed not to move from their homes. A study by the Bank warned that opposition to the dam was so strong that the authorities would have to use "unacceptable means" to get the dam built. Six months later, the World Bank was forced to withdraw its support of the project.

IMF and World Bank loans don't improve the quality of life for people in the Third World. The Rainforest Action Network put it this way: "Staggering levels of Bank debt impoverish countries already poor. The gulf between a privileged few and those clinging to survival has widened. And, nearly everywhere, the seething unrest and desperation of displaced millions are increasingly beyond the containment of urban shantytowns."

The World Bank and the IMF are tools of imperialist domination that intensify poverty, environmental destruction, and economic dependency in the Third World. Despite their rhetoric and promises, these imperialist institutions have greatly contributed to the growing gap between rich and poor countries over the last several decades. Fifty years is more than enough!
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