Activism

The protest caravan comes to town

by Laura A. Siegel

Brazilian villagers from the northeastern district of Bahia huddle together on the street. Suddenly, International Monetary Fund representatives descend and, without warning, impose structural adjustments upon them. But fear not -- the capoeiristas, martial artists, sweep the intruders' feet out from under them, kick them in the head, and eject them from the village.

Street theater, a parade, and (notwithstanding the above playacting) training in nonviolent direct action: it's all part of the East Coast IMF/World Bank Roadshow, which is coming to the Boston University campus this Saturday afternoon.

The road show, made up of artists, performers, and activists, has already traveled from Florida to Burlington, Vermont, and is passing through Boston on its way to Washington, DC, for a week of protests against the IMF and World Bank, from April 8 to 16 (see "Capital Dissent," News and Features, March 17). "Our goal is to creatively educate communities about the role of the World Bank and the IMF in the global corporate takeover, and offer skills in activism to mobilize thousands to make the trip to DC to create a festival of resistance," says the group's Web site (www.a16.org/caravan).

The IMF and World Bank "control the purse strings of the global economy," explains Denis Moynihan, a carpenter who belongs to the theater group that stages the Brazilian-village drama. "They withhold credit to poor countries until those countries accept their structural-adjustment programs -- which force recipient countries to slash health care and social services."

Speakers at the road show will include a union organizer from Colombia -- "in the last year over one hundred of her colleagues have been murdered," says Moynihan -- and a Boston welfare-reform activist. "The welfare reform here parallels the structural adjustments in other countries," Moynihan explains. "Strip away social services and scapegoat the poor."

But with welfare reform, the capoeiristas may not be around to help.

The East Coast IMF/World Bank Roadshow will be at Boston University, 725 Comm Ave, from noon to 5 p.m. this Saturday, April 1. Admission is free. From 9 p.m. until midnight the same day, there will be a fundraiser for the road show at 45 Danforth Street in Jamaica Plain, near the Stony Brook T stop. Suggested admission is $5. For more information on either event, call (617) 524-6373.