Drama in Singapore

The month of action hasn't even begun, and already there's drama. Trisha and Caroline, JDC's crack lobbying team (and two of your bloggers-in-chief), are en route to Singapore, but it's not clear to us in London what the situation will be when they arrive. First the International People's Forum in Batam, Indonesia was cancelled, apparently following pressure from the Singapore authorities. Then, after what you could call 'a bit of a fuss', it was reinstated, although without the planned open air activities (which were to include a public concert).

Alongside that, it emerged that there is a blacklist of civil society representatives who are being denied entry to Singapore, despite being accredited by the World Bank and IMF - and JDC's own Co-Chair, Martin Powell from WDM (that's him in the picture), is on it. You can email Gordon Brown in protest.

Campaigners are saying that the Bank and Fund should have seen this coming - and shouldn't choose to hold their meetings in countries with poor records on freedom of speech and assembly. "Three years ago, we went through a similar ordeal when the World Bank chose to have its annual meetings in the Emirate of Dubai," said Sameer Dossani of the 50 Years Is Enough Network. "It seems that the only countries where the IMF and World Bank feel secure are those with no respect for human rights and civil liberties."

See the WDM site for more, plus I'm sure there'll be further updates here soon.