Danielle Garcia

Eco 357L

“The Protest Against the World Bank/IMF Meeting in Berlin - an Interview,” Common Sense

*The interview was communicated to Common Sense from Berlin; it discusses the protest against the IMF meeting in Berlin from the 26th to the 29th of September 1988 from an autonomous point of view.

The groups engaged in the protest cover a wide range of political organizations and objectives. The different approaches include the autonomous and reformist, which attempts to get into dialogue with the international moneybags in order to constitute a new world economic order. However, “You cannot change exploitation and domination just by attempting to change the mode within which the destructive character of death appears.”

It is believed that the attempt by the IMF and World Bank at dialogue and the willingness to listen and to reform was a strategy aimed at undermining the protest by dividing the critics.

The autonomous spectrum had a hand in the dialogue failure. First, it was made plain that the representatives of domination and exploitation are not welcomed in Berlin and elsewhere. Secondly, discussions arose about the role of these institutions in the international system. Thirdly, a conclusion was reached that in order to represent the autonomous view, compromises were not to be made with reformist proposals and activities.

During the process, the main thesis was shared without exception: Do not make any alliances, pursue your own protest and radical criticism. A conclusion was reached: concentrate during the protest on exploitation and domination in metropolitan countries. Autonomous women concentrated in their contributions on female exploitation. The feminist approach was successful and improved the autonomous campaign as a whole.

In the attempt to act independently from other groups, the autonomous spectrum organized a May 1 demonstration for the first time ever independently from the German Trade Union movement, which proved to be strong and successful.

Four days of action were prepared, each with a different motto corresponding to the results of the discussions, and also a mobilization for a big demonstration against imperialism. “Protest must be visible: dented cars, looted cars, smashed shop windows and barricaded shops made it more than visible that the World Bank/IMF was quite unwelcome and their policies radically criticized.” (This was not part of the official autonomous protest.)

Berlin was a police state during the World Bank/IMF meeting; police control was present at every important junction, surveillance was intense, and streets were closed. Their response was further constrained by the presence of international press.

For protests of future development, contact has been made with political groups in other countries so that they can learn from the Berlin experience.