WASHINGTON: CODEPINK organizers Olivia DiNucci and Nancy Mancias both disrupted the Debt Restructuring meeting at the IMF/World Bank annual gathering in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
The two were ejected from the meeting after they unfurled a banner that read "IMF/World Bank: CANCEL ALL DEBTS." They continued to shout "Cancel all debt, reparations now!" as they were escorted out of the meeting and building. The disruption and demand comes at a time when financial and climate crises are devastating and destroying vulnerable countries in the Global South.
“The IMF and World Bank are loan sharks trapping countries into debt. We need localization and ecological sustainability for the people, planet, and peace,” states Nancy Mancias, CODEPINK campaign organizer. “We are calling on the IMF and World Bank to end its debt trap monetary practices which are causing countries to sink further down into economic crises. We are calling on them to cancel all debts.”
The solution to stabilizing the global economy is not going to be found in debt restructuring but rather from debt cancellation. The path to economic sovereignty for the Global South is not through the predatory loans offered by the IMF/World Bank, but instead through reparations of all wealth and resources that have been stolen from countries through colonization, illegal invasions, occupations, and extraction of oil, gas, and coal.
CODEPINK joins an international coalition of organizations who commit to “disrupting business as usual” at this year's annual IMF/World Bank meetings. The coalition also includes ShutDownDC, Arm in Arm For Climate (Washington DC), Debt for Climate, Extinction Rebellion (Washington DC, Philadelphia, New York City), Democratic Socialists of America-Metro DC, GreenFaith, Justice is Global, and Public Citizen Trade Watch. Among calls for climate-change denier and World Bank president David Malpass to step down, the coalition also demands that these institutions end their investment in fossil fuels, cancel the debt they claim Global South countries owe, and pay climate reparations.
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