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CCNY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER   OCTOBER 2000 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1

S26 in Prague: 
Stopping the IMF/World Bank Once Again

By John Olafson

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank keep having trouble holding meetings. This time they met the week of September 26 in Prague, Czech Republic. Over 10,000 people from Prague and around the world turned out to greet them. Due to the blockades preventing delegates from crossing the Vyesrad Bridge to reach the conference center, just as in Seattle ten months ago they were forced to call a halt to their meetings a day early.

During and after the demonstrations massive police sweeps rounded up and jailed almost 900 people, most of them Czech citizens. Many prisoners where denied use of toilets, a telephone call, or a lawyer. Prisoners were left without jackets or blankets all night, some outside, others handcuffed to the bars for falling asleep. Some report being denied food or water.

Very severe beatings have been reported by those released from jail, including reports of having faces repeatedly bashed against walls, being punched in the face and stomach, and being kicked and beaten while handcuffed on the floor. Some were beaten with truncheons and metal poles. Some beatings continued for more than half an hour at a time with other prisoners forced to watch or listen. In a number of cases fascist skinheads were brought into cells and allowed to beat the prisoners. There are many reports of broken bones; arms, fingers, noses and ribs; medical attention has been denied in many cases.

The mainstream press tend to report these major actions against corporate globalization as merely the irresponsible behavior of privileged First-World youth looking for something to rebel against. The fact is that massive demonstrations against the destructive policies of international financial institutions have been going on for years in the Third World and ignored by the corporate media. Now that these movements have reached the developed countries, the media try to dismiss them. It’s getting difficult to do so, however. Too many people around the world are speaking out.

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