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For Immediate Release: October 1st, 2004 11:00 AM EST Basav Sen, World Bank Bonds Boycott: 202-232-0200 Cell: 617-645-3028
The People of the World Auction World Bank on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3752199872
Washington DC ‹ Citing 60 years of failed polices and a track record of bankrolling projects that erode human rights and environmental standards, the people of the world have offered the World Bank for sale on the online auction house eBay.com. The posting by eBay user ³G6Billion² coincides with the G7 meeting of the leaders of the seven richest countries and the start of the World Bank¹s fall meetings. The post warns that the World Bank ³does not work² and encourages potential purchasers by saying ³the Bank will do a lot less harm to the world gathering dust in your attic.² The starting bid set, at thirty cents, is the hourly minimum wage that Haitian worker¹s receive under the World Bank/IMF structural adjustment.
Many long time World Bank watchdog groups are not surprised by the low estimate of the Bank¹s worth due to the looming crisis of defaulting debtor nations and the growing movement to Boycott World Bank Bonds. The Bank has lost over $20 billion in potential investments since the launch of the World Bank Bonds Boycott in 2000. More and more financial institutions, including the nation¹s largest private pension system, TIAA-CREF, are dropping World Bank bonds from their portfolio, citing insufficient returns and heightened financial risk. ³I don¹t expect the world bank to receive high bids on eBay. After all, with millions mobilizing around the world to oppose the Bank¹s anti-poor policies, the Bank has lost its reputational capital. World Bank Bonds don¹t belong in any financially prudent or socially responsible investor¹s portfolio,² said Katrina Abarcar at the Center for Economic Justice.
As the World Bank Group meets in Washington this weekend, a wave of protests against the Bank will ripple across the globe, from South Africa to Argentina to the Philippines. Mass protests in recent years have helped make the Bank a symbol of global poverty and corporate greed. These days, criticism of the Bank¹s policies are taking the form not only of street protests but also of divestment from World Bank Bonds by major institutional investors, such as labor unions, municipalities, and churches.
³The more people learn about the agenda of the World Bank the more people are joining the Boycott,² said Basav Sen, at the World Bank Bonds Boycott. ³From the city of Milwaukee to the University of New Mexico, from the Teamsters to the Sisters of the Holy Cross, people from all walks of life are pulling their money out of the World Bank. The combined affects of the Boycott, indebted countries in default, and the sea change in the investment community away from Bank bonds means an empty piggy bank for an unlucky eBay shopper.²
The Center for Economic Justice along with civil society organizations from over 35 countries launched the World Bank Bonds Boycott in 2000 as a new strategy to confront the destructive policies of the Bank, and has worked with grassroots groups across the country to help institutional investors pull over $20 billion out of bankrolling global apartheid. For more info: www.worldbankboycott.org
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