HEALTH HAZARD: How the system makes us sick - NI 331 - Chronicle 2000

Health hazard / CHRONICLE

.WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE MAJORITY WORLD

JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC
Click a month above to read an alternative view of the key events of that month.

Media coverage of protests against the International Monetary Fund in Prague and against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne portrayed the anti-globalization movement as a Western phenomenon. But resistance also rocked the South, hit hard by the IMF’s so-called ‘economic liberalization’ programmes. For example:

In Argentina protesters likened the IMF to a ‘financial dictatorship’ and promised ‘fiscal disobedience’ by refusing to pay their taxes – which had jumped from 8 to 22 per cent. In June more than seven million workers supported a 24-hour strike against IMF-inspired labour laws. And the Argentine courts ruled that debt amassed during the military dictatorship of 1976-83 was illegitimate. Judge Jorge Ballestro said the debt had ‘forced Argentina on to its knees through various methods which tended to benefit and support private companies – national and foreign – to the detriment of society’.
In Brazil more than one million people signed a mock referendum voting to discontinue IMF reforms. Many also joined marches known as ‘The Cry for the Excluded’: in São Paulo alone 100,000 people crammed the city in protest.
In Colombia 15,000 workers went on a 24-hour strike against IMF austerity measures which included the loss of 5,000 public-sector jobs and plans to keep wage increases below inflation.
In Costa Rica a traditionally peaceful population arose in anger against IMF-prescribed privatization plans. March and April saw mass protests against plans to privatize the state telecommunications company, resulting in one death and several injuries during clashes between students and police. The Government was forced to shelve its plans.
In Ecuador, consumer prices rose more than 60 per cent and a mass movement of 40,000 people stormed Congress. But despite a change of President, IMF reforms continued and strikes started up again in June, with 30,000 doctors staging a sit-in against health cuts.
In Kenya a peaceful demonstration ended in violence when riot-police arrested thirteen nuns and two priests belonging to a church human-rights and environmental network, as they tried to deliver a letter calling for debt relief to the offices of the World Bank’s representative.
In Nigeria a nationwide strike closed down Lagos’s port and highways, disrupting national and international flights and shutting down petrol stations. The Nigerian House of Representatives responded by urging the Federal Government to suspend all activities related to an IMF loan.
In Paraguay workers went on strike for 48 hours over government plans to privatize its telephone, water and railroad companies. Riot police in Asunción attacked strikers with truncheons, injuring 20.
In South Africa the Congress of South African Trade Unions undertook mass actions. In the words of one protester outside a meeting of Government and IMF officials: ‘Many of those debts were used to buy weapons and suppress the people during apartheid. So now we are paying twice for it – once with our lives, and now with an inability to fund critical social services.’

For more information see World Development Movement’s States of Unrest: Resistance to IMF Policies in Poor Countries: www.wdm.org.uk/cambriefs/DEBT/unrest.htm

WORLD Leaders of the G8 countries gather in Okinawa to quaff lobster and caviar and discuss debt relief. The conference fails to deliver much on the debt front while Japan promotes the occasion as an ‘information technology’ event.

LATIN AMERICA Sixty-eight million people from nine Latin American cities urge governments and businesses to work together to combat pollution. In a statement called the ‘Declaration of Mexico’ nine cities and the State of Mexico call for other nations to make car exporters, oil companies and vehicle owners pay for the health costs caused by pollution.

AFRICA African heads of state meeting in Lomé, Togo, agree a draft treaty establishing an African Union. Once ratified by two-thirds of African states it will mean a common defence policy, a common market, central bank and single currency. The African Union will also have a head of state and supreme court, though further talks are needed about a Pan-African Parliament.

LIBERIA Liberian President Charles Taylor is warned to stop arming the rebels in Sierra Leone or face international sanctions. US intelligence links Taylor to the rebels, who exchange illegal diamonds in return for arms.

RUSSIA Kamikaze attacks, in which Chechen trucks packed with explosives are driven top speed at targets, exacerbate the 10-month war in Chechnya. The truck drivers are killed instantly. The suicide bombings kill or maim around 200 Russian troops, leave 42 civilians dead and 120 injured.

COLOMBIA The US Senate approves a controversial aid package of $1.3 billion to help equip and train Colombian security forces to fight drug traffickers as part of ‘Plan Colombia’. The drug trade in Colombia helps to finance the country’s long guerrilla conflict. But many criticize the US’s support for an army with a poor human-rights record.

PERU Riots erupt in Lima following the re-election of President Fujimori after a contest internationally viewed as fraudulent and unconstitutional and from which the major opposition leader withdrew. Several buildings are burned down, 6 people die and 80 are injured. More than 200 protestors are arrested.

INDIA A mudslide in Mumbai engulfs a city slum. Torrential rain has weakened a slope into which illegal dwellings were cut. Rescuers have to dig with their bare hands. Meanwhile, the Indian army announces a surprise three-month ceasefire in its battle with the large separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir.

MONGOLIA Now firmly established as a democracy, Mongolia holds its third election. The formerly communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party claims a landslide victory.

LAOS Rare unrest occurs due to economic woes left over from the Asian economic crisis. Bomb blasts, guerrilla warfare and the first political demonstration in decades dent the communist country’s sleepy reputation.

NEPAL Extra-judicial killings continue in Nepal. Six Maoist rebels take shelter in a house before police set fire to it. In the gun battle that follows, all rebels are shot dead. Attacks by the Maoist Communist Party are aimed at overthrowing Nepal’s constitutional monarchy and replacing it with a Maoist republic.

MEXICO The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), known for its corrupt and authoritarian rule, loses its 71-year grip on the presidency. Former Coca-Cola executive, Vicente Fox Quesada of the National Action Party (PAN) becomes the new president.

CONGO, DEM REP Uganda and Rwanda’s presidents hold talks to end the hostility between their soldiers in Congo. Leaders Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame reaffirm their commitment to demilitarizing Kisangani and call on other parties in the ceasefire agreement to do likewise.