Spivak at the World Bank

Russell Grinker grinker at mweb.co.za
Fri Nov 12 12:15:06 PST 1999


Doug wrote


>Unlike the IMF, the World Bank is extremely clever about dealing with
>its critics. It listens to them, parrots back their rhetoric, and
>give the tamer among them consulting contracts.

How true this is. The story is yet to be written of how various former lefties and NGO activists caucused to prepare for early WB mission visits to South Africa. There was much rhetoric about having nothing to do with them but of course a compromise was eventually reached, the argument being, "If we don't do it, more right wing elements certainly will." A number of delegations eventually met them with carefully agreed common positions. Only later did it transpire that a number of "comrades" had taken their money and lucrative research consultancies on the quiet and helped smooth their way into the country. In no time at all they were using NGO rhetoric about empowerment, sustainability, etc. But then many of our "best" people had become theirs. Perhaps it isn't that they're so clever at coopting people but rather that they can just afford to buy the smartest operators.

Russell



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list