Not a hint of a hiccup

It’s my last day in Singapore, and I’m writing from an internet café as the facilities at the conference centre have all closed. We were very well looked after there and generally in Singapore – except in the crucial issue of some of us being harassed at immigration, with some not being allowed in at all. Once colleagues have been deported and you have been taken to one side at immigration, you begin to feel paranoid and are aware that many of those around you – for example among the prolific attendants whisking away your plates as you ate your last mouthfuls of a snack – were secret police keeping a check on what you were up to.

Speaking to us, the UK authorities all claimed to be outraged at some of the accredited delegates (such as our Co-Chair, Martin Powell) being excluded from Singapore. But, at a lavish (sponsored, apparently) reception the British High Commissioner kindly gave for all the Brits attending the meetings, both he and the Governor of the Bank of England, were fulsome in their praise of how well Singapore had run the events. In fact the Governor suggested they should always be held here. Not a hint of a hiccup and certainly not a mention that excluding and harassing people had occurred, destroyed many plans and badly tarnished Singapore’s image.

Our Cut the Strings! Protest (with us all tied up in strings and shuffling to the 20 square foot ‘protest pen’ in the conference centre) had tremendous media interest and coverage all over the world. Our Cut the Strings! Report, and the research report behind it, have both been very popular among civil society people at the Annual Meetings. I hope our campaigners will find them equally useful.

It was good to hear from the Finance Ministers of Ghana, Niger and Honduras at the press conference of the Finance Ministers of the Heavily Indebted Poor countries. They described some of their experiences. They noted, too, that the debt cancellation agreed at Gleneagles last year has been watered down so that the delivered cancellation excludes World Bank debts after the end of 2003 and they hoped this can be changed to at least those up to the end of 2004.

Yesterday Sustainability Watch launched their 2006 report. It was fascinating to hear firsthand accounts of the environmental damage linked to some World Bank and IMF debt. It was also a great chance to talk to Southerners who will give us some case studies for our Debt and the Environment paper due out later this year.

And my final social event in Singapore was a MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY ‘banquet’ run by ONE (SINGAPORE). I was one of those (the majority) chosen randomly to sit on the floor and eat a small bowl of porridge. During the meal, some were promoted (from the poorest to the middle; no one moved up to the rich top table) and more moved down (from rich to middle and from middle to poorest), with good stories being told to highlight the issues causing poverty, which seemed new to many of those present. I think this awareness raising event was the first of ONE(SINGAPORE).

To join, one has to pledge 12 hours of voluntary community work per year and to learn more about global poverty (including on trade, aid and debt) and to “take action to make poverty history worldwide”. But it was clear that such action is not likely in the foreseeable future to include any demonstrations, stunts, nor even petitions or letters. Once again, we were reminded of the repressiveness of this society and how cautious everyone is not to rock the boat. But the ‘banquet’ was a start and it is good that they feel part of the global movement marking White Band Day on 17th October: even if the only ‘Standing Up Against Poverty’ they can do is in groups of less than six, probably in their own homes!