Results tagged “imf”

Mornin', Washington. Hope you're awake, because Montgomery County needs your help.

                

Yesterday a group of the world's brightest economists and financial leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., for spring conference meetings at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Truly, these fiscal Cassandras were the only people who predicted the current global financial crisis.

As Martin mentioned this morning, the spring meetings of the IMF/World Bank Board of Governors are this weekend, bringing with them the usual street closures and parking restrictions. We've posted the full list of closures below in case you need to refer to them this weekend, but before you read those, we thought you might enjoy a taste of the press release sent around to every local media outlet in town this morning by some of the folks who are organizing this year's protests. NB: the protesters won't reveal exactly where they'll be until early Saturday morning. Also, we're told to expect the protests to include upwards of ... 30 people. Gotta say, the promise of a group of protesters roughly the size of a second grade class doesn't make for a very impressive announcement.

An autonomous group of D.C. residents will be taking action to disrupt the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings on Saturday, April 25th. Angered by world leaders' handling of the economic crisis and the G20's recent decision to empower the IMF with $1.1 trillion in spite of their longstanding track record of ignoring basic human rights and environmental concerns, this group will engage in a variety of actions including traffic blockades, street theater, and roving street occupations.

Continue reading "IMF/World Bank Protest Details"

It's that time of year when the world's finance ministers gather in Washington and tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets to demand more transparency and accountability from the World Bank and IMF. Oh wait, that's so 2000. These days, the annual meeting of the two financial institutions doesn't draw much of a protest crowd, though the city still does shut off streets around Farrugut West just in case we all decide to spontaneously rise up against global debt and poverty. Keep the closures, which include some pedestrian restrictions, in mind over the long weekend.