On the eve of the A16 protests and IMF and World Bank meetings, Salon brought together a round table of experts to discuss the past, present and future roles of the global organizations. As in the '60s, many of the protesters come from elite universities. For many, their first idealistic brush with the less fortunate came when they realized that their school apparel and sneakers were manufactured in global sweatshops run by or for the Nikes and Gaps of the retailing world. That still doesn't explain why domestic issues of poverty, inequality and education have not motivated young people in recent years. Perhaps it is because they appear as residual questions.
Urban poverty concerns a physical place in our society that quite literally has been left behind.
Some are, yes, but the kids who go to the University of Michigan, Berkeley and Harvard did not attend abominable schools. Yes, it's true, many protesters sport pierced noses and other hallmarks of the discontented white middle class. But just because they are the most colorful does not mean they are the majority. Most importantly, there are the poor and their allies in developing countries, who are rising up by the thousands, putting their lives on the line to resist the dehumanizing programs that result in their resettlement, social upheaval and impoverishment to make way for World Bank development projects. All of these people understand something is seriously wrong with the growing concentration of wealth, power and decision-making in the hands of the few.