[DEBATE] : URGENT--Focus press release

[Shalmali Guttal]

Apologies for cross postings
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Dear all,

Pasted below and attached is Focus's press statement on the bans and
deportations from Singapore.  Pls circulate widely and also send to press
contacts.

Thank you and regards,  Shalmali

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Statement on the Ban on Civil Society 
Organizations Entering Singapore

By Focus on the Global South, Sept. 15, 2006


Focus on the Global South condemns, in the strongest terms possible,
actions by the Singapore Government to ban, hold, detain, deport, or harass
representatives of civil society organizations and social movements who
have tried to enter the island-state to participate in activities related
to the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
(IMF).

Out of Step with the Times

The Singapore Government's actions are a paranoid reaction to a
non-existent threat to public order that has been cooked up by the
imagination of a ruling party that sees any form of criticism or dissent as
a security threat.  The motivation of Singapore's security and political
elite is transparent.  It fears the effect that civil society organizations
criticizing and debating the IMF and the World Bank might have on the
citizens of Singapore.  In cracking down on organizations and individuals
with legitimate reasons to go to Singapore, however, the government has
achieved the opposite of what it intended: it has forcefully reminded its
citizens and the world of its obsolete authoritarian character.  It has
underlined how cut off Singapore is from a world where free speech, free
association, and democratic choice are the established norms of political
association.  The island-state is indeed out of step with the times and
with the world's community of nations.

Crocodile Tears from the IMF and World Bank

While the IMF and the World Bank have criticized the actions of the
Singapore Authorities, their gestures amount to little more than crocodile
tears.  The two institutions must be held accountable for their roles in
the shocking events of the past two weeks.   First of all, the IMF and Bank
deliberately chose Singapore as the venue for this year's Annual Meetings
so that they could avoid the peaceful demonstrations and other forms of
free expression that accompanied previous gatherings of the two
institutions and the ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organization
(WTO).  It is hypocritical for them to claim that they had no role in these
terrible turn of events. In fact, as soon as Singapore won the bid to host
the 2006 Annual Meetings, numerous civil society organizations warned the
IMF and World Bank about the potential dangers of this choice.  The very
fact that the two institutions did not heed these warnings shows how little
concern they really have for democratic expression.

We in Focus would go further and say that the World Bank and the IMF
actively abetted the ban and harassment of civil society representatives. 
It is no coincidence that most of the organizations banned have been the
most vocal and effective critics of the policies of the Bank and IMF. 
These organizations have consistently resisted being co-opted by the
controlled "dialogue" promoted by the two institutions and have refused to
be taken in by the Bank's rhetoric about "ending poverty" and supporting
"good governance."  We also have reason to believe that the specific
information released by the Singapore Government on Focus' representatives
is largely informed by internal World Bank-IMF sources.

Many civil society organizations, including Focus, sought formal
accreditation to the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings for the first time this
year.  But instead of an opportunity to debate Bank-IMF officials and
leadership on issues, we have been exposed to an unwarranted, unjustified
and unacceptable security risk by being blacklisted by the Singapore
Government.

The Authoritarian Axis

Hypocrisy is a commodity that is in plentiful supply in Singapore this
week. We ask:  by what moral authority do the Bank and IMF criticize the
Singapore Government when they themselves are firmly hierarchical and
non-transparent organizations, controlled unashamedly by a small clique of
rich countries headed by the United States?  These are not democratic
institutions controlled by the majority of their members. 

Not only are the World Bank, IMF, and Singapore Government similar in their
structure of authoritarian decision-making, but also, they are like-minded
in their proclivity to ignore democratic consultation and ride roughshod
over the welfare, interests, and wishes of the people they claim to serve. 
No country ever voted democratically to have a structural adjustment
program.  Structural adjustment programs were and are imposed from above by
the IMF, World Bank and isolated but powerful government elites, and have
always met with resistance by the vast majority of the population. It is
hardly surprising that Singapore is rated by the Bank as of the top places
to do business.

Indeed, throughout their history, the IMF and World Bank have had to
cultivate authoritarian regimes like Singapore's party dictatorship in
order to impose their preferred pro-corporate and anti-people policies. 
How did Marcos remain in office for 14 years?  Partly because of the
massive support he got from the World Bank and the IMF.  How did Suharto
cling to power for so long?  Again, partly because of support from the IMF
and the World Bank.  The Bank provided Suharto's family, cronies, and
corrupt underlings with an estimated $10 billion from the $30 billion that
it funneled as so-called "development aid" to Indonesia.  And in case we
think that the era of World Bank-IMF cooperation with dictatorships is
over, two of the biggest financial backers of the Musharraf military
dictatorship in Pakistan are none other than the World Bank and the IMF.

The Consequences of Repression

The events of the past two weeks and especially the last few days may,
ironically enough, have as a lasting consequence the exposure of the common
authoritarian character shared by the World Bank, IMF, and the Singapore
Government. 

They will also result in the further erosion of their legitimacy.  Indeed,
nothing that we could have done through protest could have proved more
harmful to the credibility of these three institutions than what they have
done to themselves over the last few days.

In attempting to smash peaceful civil society organizations and social
movements, the Singapore Government may have unwittingly awakened the
citizens of the island-state to how out-of-step their government is with
the global community of nation-states and provided the spark for them to
stand up to the governing elite and say, we will no longer be treated like
children that face caning or worse whenever we dissent.  In abetting the
suppression of dissent during these fateful weeks, the World Bank and the
IMF may well have lost their last shreds of credibility and paved the way
for the emergence of a critical mass of global citizens that will demand
their abolition and replacement by institutions that would truly serve the
interests of the world's people.



For enquiries please contact:

Dr. Walden Bello:  (+66) 1 9350633
Joy Chavez:  (+63) 918 9026716
Shalmali Guttal:  (+91) 9886020362

Focus on the Global South (FOCUS)
Telephone:  (66-2) 218 7363/4/5
Fax:  (66-2) 255 9976
Web Page   http://www.focusweb.org