Posted on: Saturday, April 21, 2001

ADB critics must also be given voice

While much of the advance coverage of the upcoming Asian Development Bank meeting in Honolulu has focused on the possibility of violent protest, there is also a different story to be found among the ADB critics.

Many of those who feel the bank's lending policies support environmental, cultural and social damage have no interest in stopping the meeting here next month.

But they are interested in using the occasion of this major international meeting to raise consciousness about globalization and its impact.

Toward that end, a variety of events have been scheduled in and around the formal bank meeting. They begin with an Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Cultural Rights that starts on May 4 at the Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai'i.

Other panels include discussions on the role of nongovernmental organizations, the role of the military in globalization and a program featuring people who have experienced ADB projects firsthand.

These and other events are being organized under the umbrella group ADBwatch (955-6161, www.hawaii.indymedia.org). Clearly, they are not going to convince the ADB and its member nations to close up shop and go home.

But such protests and criticism are part of an evolving process by which the bank itself has reassessed its role in eliminating poverty and supporting sensible, sustainable growth throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Thus, they deserve to be heard.