Normally I’m a big fan of science fiction, but I nearly swallowed my teeth when I heard America Abroad’s recent program on the World Bank on my local NPR affiliate, WAMU, last Sunday. My choppers would have been a lot easier to stomach than the show’s assertion that, in the 1980s, policies pushed by the World Bank and U.S., “had succeeded in solving the [developing world's] debt crisis.”
Tell that to the African nations today that have to spend more on debt interest payments than on health care – in the middle of the AIDS pandemic. If that isn’t a crisis, what is?
Tell it to the Jubilee activists around the world who really won the debt relief which has happened so far. Tell it to Rev. Duncombe and the other Jubilee USA activists, who are currently praying, lobbying, and participating in a rolling fast to support the Jubilee Act, which would expand debt relief to the 67 countries that need it in order to have any hope of meeting the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals.
In another apparent foray into a galaxy far, far away, America Abroad’s show claimed not only that the debt problem had been solved, but that it had been solved by the market fundamentalist “structural adjustment” policies pushed by the World Bank and the U.S. (often under the paradigm dubbed the “Washington Consensus.”) In reality, these policies not only shredded social safety nets and left millions of peasant farmers out in the cold, but also dramatically slowed economic growth.
Not to mention that market fundamentalism is not at all how China and India achieved rapid economic growth in recent decades, as one Harvard professor puts it:
With high levels of trade protection, lack of privatization, extensive industrial policies, and lax [sic] fiscal and financial policies through the 1990s, these two economies hardly looked like exemplars of the Washington Consensus.
Where did I find this radical anti-establishment propaganda? Actually, by entering the search term “Washington Consensus” into the World Bank’s own website. But you won’t hear such information on America Abroad, which attributed the Washington Consensus-driven policies’ failure largely to local corruption.
In many cases, I enjoy cheesy fantasy on the airwaves. I kind of like that new television show about a vampire who fights crime. But America Abroad’s straight-faced defense of “structural adjustment” – which has been such a resounding economic, moral, and social failure that even the IMF tried to hide it under a different name – is way too bizarre a foray into alternate reality for anyone to swallow.
Elizabeth Palmberg is an assistant editor of Sojourners.
posted October 11, 2007 at 11:04 am
Thank you Ms. Palmberg for bringing this issue back into the spotlight. With all that is going on in the Bush adminisitration, it is so easy to forget about these issues that were of concern to progressives during the Clinton years, but the poeple who continue to be victimized by these policies certianly cannot forget. And should Hillary Clinton become president one year from now, we need to hammer her on this issue.
Surprising, but not too suprising, that this is the breadth of discussion of the issue on NPR. Write in to them and express your disappointment–they do read letters on the air every Thursday.
posted October 11, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Elizabeth, thank you for your incisive piece!
The striking reality is that so many people actually believe that all countries who need debt cancellation have received it or that the World Bank’s main objective is to alleviate poverty.
So not true.
The reality is that for millions of people in impoverished countries is that their poverty is caused by debt from dictators and corrupt lending and borrowing practices that, for some people, have preceded their birth.
We’ll link to your blog later on today over at Blog the Debt (jubileeusa.typepad.com).
I agree w/ I and I. Please write that letter to NPR.
in peace and solidarity…
posted October 11, 2007 at 3:25 pm
PBS NewsHour did the same thing last night.
NewsHour introduced their story on the World Bank by stating that Paul Wolfowitz was known within the Bank for instituting anti-corruption programs; in fact, he was known for instituting and promoting corruption on both the institutional and personal levels.
posted October 11, 2007 at 3:25 pm
PBS NewsHour did the same thing last night.
NewsHour introduced their story on the World Bank by stating that Paul Wolfowitz was known within the Bank for instituting anti-corruption programs; in fact, he was known for instituting and promoting corruption on both the institutional and personal levels.
posted October 14, 2007 at 3:06 am
Well said! Greater Christian advocacy and presentation of the truth on economic issues is greatly needed. There is a tendency in religious culture today to dismiss the idea of connections between the economic policies we champion and the faith that we espouse. Truly, while the Bible does not make proscriptions on modern economic theories, its emphasis on the concern of God for the poor and the oppressed is impossible to ignore. This aspect of Christianity – the need for a Christian perspective on our economic policies – has been ignored by all political parties.
Structural adjustment reforms which eliminate protections for workers and for the environment and demand tax reductions for foreign companies and the elimination of social programs are inherently inimical to the well-being of the poor throughout the world. A Christian voice must be heard.
posted October 15, 2007 at 6:48 pm
America Abroad is not technically an NPR production, although the show appeared on my NPR affiliate. I certainly emailed the show’s Web site and WAMU with my views.
On a related note, this is the Global Week of Action on Debt – see http://www.jubileeusa.org for info.