A recent gathering of two global financial institutions provided an opportunity to raise again the voice of civil society against the global acceleration of increasing poverty, inequality, unemployment and environmental destruction in the world.

Around 350 NGOs gathered in Prague, in the Czech Republic last September to hold their own events as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) met for their annual meeting in the country’s capital.

The Czech Republic helped establish the World Bank and IMF, and was a member until 1951 when the country became a socialist nation and resigned its membership.

A wide variety of NGOs went to Prague, including The Bankwatch Network, Friends of the Earth International, Initiative Against Economical Globalization, Jubilee 2000CZ, the Jubilee 2000 Coalition, and the Christian Peace Conference (CPC).

Havel brings sides together
The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclaw Havel, hosted a discussion in Prague Castle between various civil society groups, inter-governmental officials and the top leadership of the Bretton Woods institutions.

During the encounter, NGO representatives accused the IMF and the World Bank of enforcing policies, actions and projects which increased poverty, inequality and environmental destruction.

In response, World Bank and IMF officials claimed they worked to reduce poverty by promoting growth through structural adjustment programs.

The audience quizzed the panel on the democratization of the global financial institutions and suggested a review was needed of the means and methods used by these institutions to resolve global economic problems.

President Havel said the meeting of the two sides in the argument was not a dialogue but an exchange of views prepared in advance. Some NGOs questioned the effectiveness of such meetings and said the finance institutions did not take civil society seriously. Others believed the gathering had allowed them to challenge the institutions. Many NGOs said that today’s world economic woes could not be solved by the deregulation of markets alone, based on an assumption that poverty will diminish through liberalized markets and more growth.

Christian Peace Conference
Also in Prague at the same time, the Christian Peace Conference organized a consultation to discuss the structures and trends of world finances, and to analyze the transformation process taking place in eastern Europe by comparing it with similar processes in countries of the South.

World Council of Churches’ (WCC) staff took part in the consultation and offered alternatives to economic globalization. At a worship service, organised by Jubilee 2000, Rev. Dr Sam Kobia of the WCC and vice chairperson of the ECLOF Board of Directors, said globalized economics was nothing but "global apartheid". He cited the World Bank’s own annual report, released in Prague, which showed that the gap between the rich and the poor countries was now 10 times wider than 30 years ago, and that 100 million more people lived in poverty than a decade ago.

Message received?
NGO observers in Prague claimed the discussion in the castle created a new way of looking at the problems and believed the finance leaders had listened and taken note. During the event, the head of the World Bank asked the NGO representatives not to consider the bank as evil; he and his staff thought they were doing good, and shared the demonstrators’ desire to fight poverty.

Role of churches
The churches were not much visible in Prague apart from a statement by representatives of Christian churches in the Czech Republic. Civil society groups expressed concern that churches should get involved more in dealing with the structures of injustice.