Bangladesh Social Forum

Bangladesh is passing through multi-faceted challenges in the recent past propagated by its economic depression due to deregulation of the state machinery dictated from International Financial Institutions. Commoner's life and livelihood is highly suppressed from inflation, unemployment and unprecedented risks. Triple attack of food, fuel and financial crisis on the global economy is also affecting peoples' daily life as the country is a net food importing LDC and its remittance mostly comes from by exporting garments and frozen foods along with low skilled manpower.  Bangladesh needs increased investment in food, griculture, employment generation along with spending in basic services. But the govt. can not invest more as they have
to pay back more than USD 1500 million for debt servicing per annum to World Bank, IMF, Asian Development Bank and to other bi-lateral donors, which is more than 15% of it's national budget. Besides new loan programs in the name of Multi Donor Trust Fund proposed to be managed by World Bank will trap its citizens to new debt burden. Massive awareness needs to be created to
challenge this undemocratic venture of the Bank.

Many Bangladeshi campaigners are protesting the economic and ecological debt burden targeting the World Bank- IMF's AGM kicked off on October 13, 2008 in Washington in line with the spirit of Week of Global Action Vs Debt, IFI and Climate Change. On the eve of Bank and Fund's AGM, Bangladeshi civil society, NGOs, academia launched a week long campaign kicked off on October 12, 2008 styled as Bangladesh Week of Action against Hunger, Poverty and Development Disparity. The main focus of the campaign is illegitimate debt and its relation to international financial institutions and climate change.Activists from different organization and capacity under the banner of Bangladesh Social Forum stated in the press conference that, due to extreme
climate change Bangladesh and its people are exposed to high risk. Unlimited consumption and over-burning of fossil fuel by the rich countries, abusive exploration of oil-gas-mineral resources of the transnational corporation have shattered the ecological and social balance. But they did not take responsibility for this. The campaigners raised seven points demand. They
demanded compensation to the north and asked to cancel all foreign debts. The also asked World Bank-IMF-Asian Development Bank to stop imposing policy conditionality on Bangladesh govt.  The activists said, climate change adaptation fund should be kept out of ongoing pledges made to the poor countries and demanded sufficient resources to combat climate change. They
strongly opposed World Bank's control over Multi Donor Trust Fund and demanded a separate state run board to manage this fund.

VOICE, INCIDIN Bangladesh, SUPRO, Equity Justice Working Group, Angikar Bangladesh, Wave Foundation, NRDS, Unnayan Onneshan, SPS, Rupayan, Paribartan, Initiative for Right View, Humanity Watch, Muktir Alo, MKUS, Sachetan, BUP and other organizations and networks announced different programs  like seminar, workshop, human chain, protest rally, cultural program, mass gathering throughout the week to protest Bank and Funds involvement in climate financing..