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In 1994 the
World Bank and the IMF (Bretton Wood Institution or BWI) turned
fifty years old.. Nicole Wendt writes, ‘Most birth days are
occasions for celebration. For the BW’s, however, the 50th
anniversary of their existence was met with mixed emotions.
Those who support the work of the BWIs observed that the
institutions, despite their flaws, had accomplished much of what
their founders intended – increased property around the world
based on liberalized economies and a relatively moré peaceful
world. (p.49). He continues, ‘But critics of the BWIs turned the
anniversary into a rally cry of “Fifty years is Enough” to
signify their disaffection with the policies and programmes of
the World Bank and the IMF. There is no one group or region that
is alone in being critical of the BWIs, critics of the BWIs can
be found anywhere representing every conceivable ethnic,
religious, political, and socio-economic background.’ (p.49).
Then he lists out the activities
of the BWIs which have become targets of sharpest of criticism
by many all over the world. They are:
1. The World Bank and the
Environment
He writes, ‘The world Bank has
received a great deal of criticism for the adverse environmental
impact of the projects, including but not limited to, the
numerous dams they have financed and ill-conceived mining and
lagging projects. International environmental groups and other
‘green’ activists are highly critical of the Bank’s record on
the environment and its rhetoric on the issue,’ (p.49). Then he
lists out the World Bank funded projects that have contributed
to massive environmental damages. He also scrutinises how the
World Bank has advanced the interests of Industrial countries,
whose ‘environmentally destructive policies and activities have
been largely ignored’ (p.150).
Then he sharply focuses on the
following environmentally destructive activities of BWIs. He
elaborates –
‘It is the industrialized nations
that produced by far the most toxic and nuclear waste which is
increasingly being exported to developing nations where storage
and treatment regulations are either non-existent or ignored ……
there is an unspoken programme of helping companies move
environmentally harmful projects to less developed countries.
There is a simple economic reason for why this would be
considered a good idea by some, especially those companies
responsible for the polluting activities. Because wages and
standard of living are lower in developing countries than in
more developed countries, the costs of polluting are lower.
The companies and their leaders believe that people in poor
nations are more concerned with their daily struggle to survive
than with the possibility of some disease or deformity striking
in a number of years or in future generation. So they will
not complain or protest especially if there is a chance of a job
…. The World Bank uses “transfer of technology” loan or credit
to help finance the movement of older and out of date production
system and product manufacturing to the developing countries
from countries where these items are no longer in use. These are
usually the heavy polluting industries that would face stricter
regulations, thus high costs, in more industrialized countries,
or have to be disposed of in highly expensive procedures’
(p.151,emphasis added)
2. World Bank Projects Worsen
the Plight of the Small Farmers
Nicole points out, ‘World Bank
projects encourage small farmers to substitute food production
for cash crops often in areas that are ill-suited for the
farming of those crops. This reduces food availabilities for
consumption and leads to further soil depletion, increased use
of fertilizers and pesticides, and eventually, financial
difficulties for the poor farmers who are no longer growing
their traditional crops. … Poor sustenance farmers rarely , if
even, receive the irrigation benefits from large dam projects or
power from huge power projects (financed by World Bank). If the
water does reach the small farmer, it may be through the hands
of local corrupt officials who have gained control over the
local water supply…
‘Some critics go so far as to
claim that the World Bank and/or the National governments of
project countries will fully ignore inherent flaws, in the
design of, corruption surrounding projects only to blame the
“ignorant peasants” when the project fails to meet expectations
– allowing the World Bank to say that the failure and problems
were not theirs.” (p.152).
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