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April 2002 - Actions to Revolutionize the World

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WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK:
Women invite themselves to the "big boys" table

The actions held in the United States from October 15 to 17, 2000, were the climax of the World March of Women in the Year 2000. During these days, while women in many countries once again demonstrated in support of the March demands, a delegation of women from across the planet arrived in the United States.

On Sunday, October 15, they were in Washington, D.C., to lead the national march organized by U.S.women. They moved through the streets of the capital, angrily shouting in front of the IMF and the World Bank buildings, levelling blame at the real leaders of the world. These institutions implement the neoliberal economic policies that are imposed throughout the world, deepening the gap between rich and poor. Women are the primary victims of this distorted vision, which they experience as a form of violence.

They expressed thisin person to James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, and Horst Köhler, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, on Monday, October 16.

"We believe that your overall political and economic objectives contribute to the present disorder of the world and constitute an obstacle to women's self-determination and ability to exercise their fundamental rights," they said.

"We are particularly struck by your obsessive determination to push countries into the capitalist, neoliberal and sexist market economy, leaving no room for diversity or pluralism in models for growth and development. . . . We believe that the policies of the WB/IMF perpetuate old colonialist and imperialist policies by modernizing and reinforcing them," they added.

Violence, a concern for women and men in the United States.

Cancel the debt of the poor countries, a World March of Women demand.

Meeting with the IMF on October 16, 2000.

They denounced the impact of globalization on women, particularly women from the South: trafficking in women, unpaid work, work in export processing zones-and demanded structural transformation and the creation of a "new social program based on women's and citizens' movements, the gains of the international community-especially the human rights charters, conventions, and protocols-which must be ratified and effectively implemented-and the innovative and alternative solutions that have already been adopted in the context of the anti-poverty struggle and the movement to end violence against women."

In Washington, one woman singled out "the officials in these institutions" who "in their luxurious offices, far from everyday life in the cities and village, decide-in their ceaseless quest for profit-to globalize the economy and the markets," imposing their policies "with a few clicks of the mouse on women who are still wielding the hoe and the pen."

Other links :

Palabras Pronunciadas por la Delegada Politica Mexicana en el Banco Mundial, 16 octobre 2000 (en espagnol)

A letter to the leaders of the International Monetary Fund by Young-Hee Shim, 16 octobre 2000 (en anglais)

Présentation d'Awa Ouedraogo du Burkina Faso à la Banque mondiale, 16 octobre 2000

El impacto de las políticas de ajuste estructural sobre las mujeres en América Latina y nuestras reivindicaciones al FM, Myriam Nobre (Brasil), 16 octobre 2000 (en espagnol)

Documents de référence Attac