Hari: It's not just Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The IMF itself should be on trial
Monetary Fund (IMF), is facing trial for allegedly raping a maid in a New
York hotel room is – rightly – big news. But imagine a prominent figure was
charged not with raping a maid, but starving her to death, along with her
children, her parents, and thousands of other people. That is what the IMF
has done to innocent people in the recent past.
To understand this story, you have to reel back to the birth of the IMF. In
1944, the countries that were poised to win the Second World War gathered in
a hotel in rural New Hampshire to divvy up the spoils. With a few honourable
exceptions, like the great British economist John Maynard Keynes, the
negotiators were determined to do one thing. They wanted to build a global
financial system that ensured they received the lion's share of the planet's
money and resources. They set up a series of institutions designed for that
purpose – and so the IMF was delivered into the world.
only one thing. How do we make sure the banks and financial institutions are
paid?... It is the IMF that keeps the [financial] speculators in business.
They’re not interested in development, or what helps a country to get out of
poverty.”
If Strauss-Kahn is guilty, I suspect I know how it happened. He must have
mistaken the maid for a poor country in financial trouble. Heads of the IMF
have, after all, been allowed to rape them with impunity for years.
posted by Ricky at 15:45
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