Willow's Pagan Place

The World Bank Bonds 
Boycott is a new, international campaign 
using grassroots economic and political power to demand that the
 World Bank stop structural adjustment and other socially and
 environmentally harmful lending practices. The World Bank is
 a public institution which receives 80% of its financing from
 publicly-held bonds, which are partially backed by public
 guarantees. While the Bank has been largely unaccountable
 to working people in the Global South and taxpayers in the
 U.S., the Bank is concerned about its public image. Pension 
funds, labor unions, churches, municipalities, universities and 
investment funds can thus exert considerable pressure on the
 World Bank by refusing to buy its bonds.

The campaign is the financial arm of a multifaceted strategy
 against the World Bank-IMF-WTO triumvirate, which has 
included the mass mobilizations in Seattle and Washington DC,
 Congressional efforts to put conditions on funding to the IMF 
and the World Bank, and the worldwide movement to cancel 
the debts of poor countries.

Socially Responsible Investment Firms
 and the World Bank
We are asking socially responsible investment firms to exclude
 bonds issued by the World Bank (International Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development) from funds that they manage
 due to the negative environmental and social impacts of World
 Bank policies and projects. Already, several socially responsible
 investment firms, including Progressive Assets Management, 
Trillium Assets Management, Parnassus Investments, and the
 Pax World Fund family have responded to our inquiry and indicated
 that it is their policy not to invest in World Bank bonds, because
 of the World Bank’s record.

In addition to holding the World Bank accountable for its socially
 and environmentally harmful projects and policies, promoting a 
screen against the purchase of World Bank-issued bonds gives 
the socially responsible investment movement a new tool to challenge
 anti-democratic, corporate-dominated globalization.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are the two
 primary institutions forcing developing countries to integrate into
 the global economy on unjust terms, primarily through devastating
 structural adjustment programs. These programs are particularly 
harmful to the natural environment, because the World Bank and 
IMF promote a model of export-led growth and servicing external
 debt which is highly dependent on the extraction of natural 
resources.

For years the World Bank has been criticized for the environmental 
impacts of its projects and policies, its effects on the rights of indigenous
 peoples, and its role in fostering corruption in developing countries.
 Moreover, its role in the implementation of "structural adjustment" 
policies –so destructive to human rights, community development,
 and the natural environment-- has recently increased, with 63% 
of the Bank's lending now going to promote "adjustment" in 
1999.

Efforts at reforming the Bank have resulted in new rhetoric but
 little change in outcomes, as evidenced most recently by examples
 such as the "Western China Poverty Reduction Project," approved
 by the Bank’s board over the vigorous opposition of Tibet 
activists and in violation of the Bank's own procedures, and the
 recently approved Chad-Cameroon pipeline, opposed by 
environmental and human rights groups.

The lack of accountability at the Bank is due in part to the fact that
 some 80% of the World Bank's capital comes from the private
 sector, through the sale of World Bank bonds. Unlike an institution
 funded by government appropriation, little democratic or public
 oversight exists over the Bank's access to these funds
.
At the same time, this source of World Bank financing gives citizens
 and private institutions an important oversight mechanism. Our
 campaign seeks to hold the World Bank accountable by calling 
on socially responsible investors not to purchase World Bank bonds
 until the Bank ends harmful “structural adjustment” policies and
 other environmentally destructive lending. In addition to approaching 
socially responsible investment firms with this request, we are asking
 universities, trade unions, city councils, and religious organizations 
to commit not to purchase World Bank issued bonds. Already, the 
City of Berkeley and several churches and labor unions have 
passed such resolutions. Numerous other local networks across
 the country are participating in this effort and resolutions are
 currently pending before several other city councils.

Conclusion: Socially responsible investment 
networks have a critical role to play in the new movement 
against corporate (and environmentally destructive) globalization.
 With more and more people and institutions looking to invest
 responsibly, SRI networks can fulfill their mandates to support
 economic and environmental justice and while strengthening
 movements against ecologically destructive globalization by 
joining in this effort. We encourage you to adopt a policy against
 the purchase of World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction
 and Development) bonds.

World Bank Bonds boycott campaign
c/o Center for Economic Justice, 1830 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC, 20009
 Phone (202) 299-0020 * Fax (202) 299-0021*  E-mail bankboycott@cepr.net  
Web home: http://www.worldbankboycott.org/

Numerous Socially Responsible Investors Recommend
Against Purchasing World Bank Bonds

"No socially-responsible investor would touch World Bank bonds with a ten-foot pole."

“Progressive Asset Management recognizes that the crushing debt owed by the world's poorest nations to the world's richest institutionalizes a new form of colonialism that sacrifices the health and welfare of the majority of people in the world. Year after year, the nations of the South pay billions of dollars to American and European financial institutions on debts they can never hope to pay off.

The World Bank's investment policies have made the repayment of this debt paramount. The result has been environmental destruction and the deterioration in the living and working conditions of farmers and workers of nations across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

It would be socially irresponsible to participate in supporting these policies and therefore Progressive Asset Management will not purchase bonds issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.” –

"At one point we did have some World Bank debt in our fund, but we sold the securities for social reasons…we still have a policy of not investing in World Bank debt…"