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For Immediate Release
October, 06 2009, 01:58pm EDT
Contact:
Telephone: (202) 546-7961,Email:,africaaction@igc.org
Annual Fall Meetings Begin: Criticism Continues to Mount Towards World Bank/IMF Policies
Africa Action calls for Reform, Greater Civil Society Participation
WASHINGTON
As the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meet in Istanbul,
Turkey for their Annual Fall 2009 meetings, the 5th Annual Southern
Africa Social Forum (SASF) begins in Maseru, Lesotho. Activists and
civil society leaders will convene in Lesotho to discuss under the
theme of "Southern Africa peoples Unity against Economic crisis and Oppression."
Africa Action notes that the timing of SASF is meant to indicate civil
society voices objecting to macroeconomic policies prescribed by the
IMF that hurt, not help, the economies in developing nations.
Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director of Africa Action said, "While
international financial institutions might prefer to drown out African
voices, civil society is loud and clear. There are campaigns on the
ground that continue to voice objections to policies that undermine the
fight against poverty."
He adds, "A long-term poverty reduction strategy must take into account the needs of poor people, not the interests of rich countries."
According to Jubilee Debt Campaign UK, in 2009 and 2010, developing
countries will spend approximately $806 billion in debt repayments.
"Developing countries need to have expanded space and flexibility to
design and implement counter-cynical policies, including social safety
nets. In the midst of a global economic crisis, the IMF is still
prescribing perverse pro- cynical policies," said Michael Stulman, Associate Director for Policy and Communications.
He also adds, "If we are to avoid a new debt crisis, than there
must be greater reform in the IMF. International financial institutions
should restructure to reflect the changing global economy. This would
mean greater transparency and a more robust, credible, public, and
inclusive loaning process."
Africa Action endorses the SASF, which is expected to bring together
thousands of participants from community-based groups, social movements
and civil society organizations.
For more information on the SASF, visit https://www.ejnl.org.ls/sasf.htm
For more information on Africa Action's Campaign to Cancel Africa's Debt, go to https://www.africaaction.org/debt.
Africa Action is a national organization that works for political, economic and social justice in Africa. Through the provision of accessible information and analysis combined with the mobilization of public pressure we work to change the policies and policy-making processes of U.S. and multinational institutions toward Africa. The work of Africa Action is grounded in the history and purpose of its predecessor organizations, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), The Africa Fund, and the Africa Policy Information Center (APIC), which have fought for freedom and justice in Africa since 1953. Continuing this tradition, Africa Action seeks to re-shape U.S. policy toward African countries.
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Just a day after Senate Republicans confirmed U.S. President Donald Trump's Social Security Administration commissioner, Frank Bisignano, the chamber's Democrats on Wednesday announced a series of letters about outstanding questions and concerns regarding the federal agency—including one that demands an investigation into what they call attempted "financial murder."
Two of the letters unveiled Wednesday were dated April 30. Both were led by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and signed by a dozen members of the Democratic Caucus: one was to Leland Dudek, then acting commissioner of the SSA, and another was to Michelle Anderson, assistant inspector general for audit at the agency.
The latter asks the SSA Office of the Inspector General to probe reports that the administration "is taking steps to place certain categories of immigrants who have lawfully obtained Social Security numbers (SSNs) in its Death Master File (DMF)," which contains data on more than 141 million people whose deaths were reported to the agency, in an effort to make them "self-deport."
The letter to Dudek declares that "this inhumane, illegal, and unconstitutional action will inflict—and already has inflicted—irreparable harm on these individuals, undermines trust in and accuracy of the Social Security programs, and sets a dangerous precedent in allowing the government to take away Americans' access to their earned Social Security benefits."
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In addition to Wyden, the letters were signed by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
Warren and Wyden also partnered with the chamber's New York Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, for a Wednesday letter to Bisignano, who was confirmed Tuesday with a 53-47 vote along party lines.
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As the letter details:
We have not received responses to the vast majority of our questions. In fact, acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has reportedly instructed staff to not respond to public or congressional inquiries. The limited answers we have received have been unsatisfactory," they continued.
We have also requested information from you directly. Through direct inquires, your hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, and post-hearing questions for the record, we have sought to determine whether you intend to continue DOGE's disastrous efforts to hollow out the SSA. In response, you repeatedly claimed that, because you were not yet working at SSA, you did not have sufficient information to answer. You made these claims despite the fact that a former SSA employee whistleblower has reported that you have been participating extensively in high-level operational, management, and personnel decisions at SSA.
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While rural voters supported President Donald Trump by a 23-point margin in the 2024 election, the research firms posited that the heavy reliance people in far-flung areas have on the USPS helped push rural respondents to say they oppose privatization, with 58% saying they were against it.
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Fifty-six percent of Americans said privatization would result in higher prices for mailing packages and letters, while 17% said prices were likely to improve.
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The poll was released two months after Wells Fargo presented a five-step plan for privatizing USPS to Wall Street investors, including raising USPS prices by as much as 140%, selling postal real estate to commercial bidders, and imposing mass layoffs on the service's 600,000 employees.
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Trump ally Elon Musk also said in March that Amtrak and USPS were top targets for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which the president selected him to lead and which has pushed to dismantle numerous government agencies and laid off nearly 300,000 federal employees.
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"We have now reached the limits of what is possible."
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"In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination," WCK said. "We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread."
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