Confrontation brewing in Prague

By C. Rammanohar Reddy

PRAGUE, SEPT. 20. A confrontation is brewing here with the local authorities banning all public marches on September 26, first day of the formal meetings of the 2000 IMF-World Bank conference, but the Initiative Against Globalisation (INPEG) insisted today that it will go ahead with its planed march to the Congress Centre on that day of ``Global Public Action.''

The INPEG organisers have accused the local authorities of going back on a verbal promise to give permission for the procession and an appeal has gone out to the Czech elder statesman, President Vaclav Havel, to have the ban withdrawn because it violates the fundamental democratic rights won by the Czech people in 1989.

In an attempt to win public support for its campaign, the INPEG has also compared the prohibition of the march with the post-1968 process of ``normalisation'' when the then Government sought to re-establish public control after the Prague Spring.

The INPEG said its planned protests would be non- violent and that it would not aim at preventing meetings from taking place, but it would prevent delegates from leaving the conference venue. Ms. Chelsea Mozen, a spokesperson for the INPEG, said: ``We want the bankers and ministers to meet, only then will they be able to decide to abolish the two organisations.'' She, however, admitted that there were some groups planning their own independent forms of action, which included a disruption of meetings.

`Carnival of Resistance'

The September 26 march is not the only programme for the day. It will be preceded by a ``Carnival of Resistance'' at a park in the city where independent groups will present music, dance and street theatre. In an attempt to counter media portrayal of possible violence, the organisers said the carnival ``would be a safe space for people and families to voice their opposition to the IMF and World Bank with little risk of direct confrontation with the Czech authorities.'' As of now there are not many demonstrators on the streets, though the INPEG spokespersons said participants would arrive by thousands towards the end of this week and that September 26 would see the largest assembly of demonstrators since the days of the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

While the INPEG is making its plans for next week, Mr. Horst Kohler, Managing Director of the IMF, struck a conciliatory note in his first press conference. He said making globalisation work for all should be the central theme of the discussions here. The unprecedented global growth in productivity in the past half century had bypassed a large part of the world and that the IMF should play an active role in redressing this imbalance, Mr. Kohler said, adding that he was looking forward to a dialogue between the IMF, World Bank and NGOs that Mr. Havel has convened for next week.

Ms. Mozen, however, said that while some NGOs were going to attend Mr. Havel's meeting the INPEG would stay away because a dialogue with the two institutions, which were very good at public relations, was pointless.

Mr. Kohler gave enough signs that he was going to be his own man. He said that while he would listen to the concerns of the Group of Seven countries he would continue pursuing proposals that would give the developing countries a greater say in the administration of the IMF.

The G7 countries have expressed their opposition to any redrawing of voting rights at the IMF that would lessen their power at the institution. Mr. Kohler said the industrial countries should realise that restructuring has to be ``a two-way street.'' The industrial countries could not demand that the poor countries reform their economies and yet not restructure their own markets to make them more open to exports from the developing world.

Mr. Kohler renewed his commitment to an accelerated enhancement of debt relief along with the World Bank under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. It is now widely believed that the Prague meetings will see a major announcement on the liberalisation of the HIPC.

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