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National newspaper advertisement to protest at World Bank and IMF policies

"50 years is enough" is the theme for the1994 global mobilisation against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As part of the Australian activities we will place an advertisement in a metropolitan daily newspaper at the end of July. We invite you to put your name to this advertisement. The wording of the advertisement is printed below.

WORLD BANK: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

As a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Australian tax payers are contributing to massive environmental destruction and forced resettlement in many developing countries.

In the name of overseas aid these institutions are uprooting poor communities, increasing Third World debt, causing environmental degradation and subsidising multinational corporations.

  • World Bank projects this year will evict 600,000 people, over 1,600 per day, from their homes and land, according to two Bank reports released in 1993. Ongoing projects will evict two million people.
  • Over one-third of all Bank projects are rated unsatisfactory according to the Bank's own evaluations and 78 percent of all loan conditions are not complied with.
  • July 1994 marks the 50th year of the World Bank and the IMF. We the undersigned are joining with communities and independant organisations around the world to let these institutions know that 50 years are indeed enough.

We call on the Australian Government to defer payments to the World Bank and the international Monetary fund.A new approach to development is needed which allows for more enpowerment of local people and the protection of their environments. We demand a credible commitment from these institutions to carry out organisational reforms incorporating meaningful sustainable development.

Until these changes are achieved the money that would normally go to these institutions should be redirected to Australia's overseas development programs that are community based, place emphasis on social equity, and promote environmental safeguards.

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