By Mirko Svoboda, Docent Judr
Prague, Czech Republic

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB), whose summit was held in Prague during September of this year, is now history. The summit ended a day earlier than expected due to the pressure exerted by thousands of demonstrators. The results of that gathering are poor and the accusations leveled against the Brentwood Institute have involved even President Havel. They, the IMF and WB, were accused of supporting dictatorial regimes and ignoring their human rights violations. Negotiations that have been carried on with these dictatorial regimes over the past fifty-five years have produced no visible results asserted the charges. Yielding to the pressures that were brought to bare on him, the IMF president J.D. Wolfensohn was forced to admit that papering over the problem of world poverty has missed its’ intended objective of hiding this problem. There is something wrong when 20% of the world’s population receives more than 80% of the global income and 10% of the world’s inhabitants is appropriated one half of the worlds income. The IMF and WB summit sessions ended with promises to stabilize the international financial systems, and institute more openness in the operations of the IMF and WB. The possibility of world economic growth, the opening up of trade with the developing nations, the struggle against corruption and the danger of aids were also mentioned in the summits’ final conclusions. Promises were made to cancel the debts of the 20 most impoverished nations by the end of the year.

The emphatic performance and interference of the nationally mobilized police forces marked the rather dubious results of the Prague summit. The police acted against both the Czech and foreign demonstrators who were demanding the scraping of the IMF and the WB both of whom are responsible for the impoverishment and depravation of developing nations. The numerous detained demonstrators complained of police cruelty and brutal behavior. Nevertheless the police were unable to prevent, after a hiatus of more than ten years following the 1989 revolution, the display of red flags on the streets of Prague. Absent from the manifestations were anti globalization and exploitation slogans and manifestations. The open question remains as to how many provocateurs were integrated into the ranks of the demonstrators. The provocateurs were the ones who instigated the smashing of storefronts belonging to global firms in the center of Prague. This however, should be considered in light of the fact that this takes place in other world centers not just Prague, because global corporations are endangering domestic firms.

More than the IMF and WB summit in Prague, Yugoslavia has captured world attention. Vojislav Kostanicu replaced Slobodan Milosevic as president, after the problematic and unreliable ballot counting following the Yugoslav presidential elections. The congratulatory messages from Russian President Putin arrived even before those of the Western statesman. Madeline Albright who represents the foreign policy of the USA made haste in providing assurances of aid to president Kostanicu. First among these was the scraping of economic sanctions. The hypocrisy of the USA towards Yugoslavia is incomprehensible when one considers that it was the USA that played a leading role in the destruction of that country by NATO. This being the bombing of civilians and the destruction of non military targets such as hospitals, power stations, bridges, factories and other infrastructures. The misrepresentation of the truth and outright lies has become the trademarks of our North Atlantic civilization. However the Yugoslav people will face even greater tests in their fight for independence and freedom these being deception and betrayal.

The explosive situation between the Palestinian people and the militaristic war like state of Israel has reached new highs. The decade old expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland is a violation of the UN charter by the state of Israel and the increasing violence against them has resulted in bitterness. Israel, whose international sponsor has been the USA, feels too strong to entertain any chance of compromise. The Palestinians on the other hand have nowhere to retreat to. Attempts at mediating this conflict have met with little success under the patronage of the USA, Russia and others. The resolution therefore of this situation leaves itself open to many dangerous scenarios.

In conclusion a curious local European dispute this time between Austria and the Czech Republic has evolved. To protest the introduction of an atomic power station in the Czech town of Temelin, Austria has blocked all border crossings affecting the transfer of both goods and passengers between Austria and the Czech Republic. This in spite of the fact that the atomic power plant in Temelin has passed all the safety requirements and from a technical point of view posses no nuclear threat to its’ environment. When compared to other countries on the European continent that have dozens of older atomic power plants, the new plant in Temelin is far superior. However when taken in the context of other unresolved world problems and painful sufferings it is easier to comprehend why the resolution of this dispute becomes so complex in a capitalist world environment which is so troubled and incongruous. It is therefore necessary to struggle tirelessly so that in the future after the temporary demise of socialism in Europe it will be possible to achieve a more just social order. This struggle should ensure that the new just system of human relations shall never again be betrayed, as was that of the USSR.

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