Activist urges economic equality, IMF changes

Many people travel to the Caribbean and Africa each year to sit on the beach, sip a drink and soak in the rays. Kevin Danaher visits the same places with groups of Americans, but drinks or tans are not the motivation.

Danaher, founder of Global Exchange, leads trips to these nations to show their true conditions in an effort to promote global equality.

Danaher spoke to nearly 50 people last night in the Michigan Union about the problems with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and the prospect of a strong world economy.

Danaher and his organization work in the United States and abroad promoting economic equality and fair treatment.

Congress is currently considering almost $18 billion in funds for the IMF, which Danaher said will not help the problems in any part of the world. Members of the crowd circulated a petition urging Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) to vote "no" on the p

PAUL TALANIAN/Daily Kevin Danaher, founder of Global Exchange, speaks about problems with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the Michigan Union last night.

roposal, although she has said she will vote for the plan.

The way to help nations is to build grass roots organizations, not fund the power elite of the country, Danaher said.

The IMF says "we will give you a goo-gob of money, and you will implement our policies," Danaher said.

The IMF takes money from member-nations and redistributes it to countries in need. But some people, including Danaher, say it only serves to prop up and bail out large corporations and banks, instead of helping the citizens of a nation.

He said the Golden Rule for corporations is "he who has the gold makes the rules." But IMF funding discussion is an "opportunity for us to intervene," Danaher said.

"Our leaders ... must keep the people in the dark. Our job is to educate," Danaher said.

Danaher, who studied in southern Africa and worked in countries around the world, talked about the elite power structure of the world. He said the "transnational elite alliances" cause many of the problems the world economy and the world's poor face.

The economic interests of those in power make the policy, even though they do not always coincide with what the people want, Danaher said.

"If broccoli were the major export of the Middle East, would there have been a war?" Danaher asked.

A child dies every 4.5 seconds in the world, and Danaher said people do little to try to save them.

"If one billion people die in one year, will we rise up and change the world," Danaher asked.

He said the problem of inaction lies in the self-centered attitude of Americans and others, citing the work of past groups that fought and won change as examples of the payoffs for hard work.

"It's not about you; it's about the big picture," Danaher said. "There was no weekend a few hundred years ago. People fought for it and won," Danaher said.

"Solidarity" should be the goal of the people so that there can be "bottom up globalization" and a fair distribution of resources and money, Danaher said.

"Capital is like horse shit," Danaher said. "If you build it up in one place, it stinks. If you spread it out, it makes stuff grow."

04-17-98