[mobglob-discuss] From SchNEWS 357, Friday 31st May, 2002

[Gordon Flett]

WOT?

On Tuesday, May 21st at a conference for Australian accountants, a
representative of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced that his
organisation was going to dissolve and reform, and begin to assist the
world's poor. The Australian accountants, after the initial shock had
worn off, soon came around to the idea of "giving something back to the
countries we've been doing so well from." Hearing of the announcement,
the Canadian government discussed it in Parliament, but couldn't decide
how they'd cope without the WTO to tell them who they could trade with.
The Canadians were therefore pleased to hear that the whole thing was a
hoax. Although the Australians thought they were listening to somebody
from the WTO, it was in fact an impostor from the now infamous 'Yes Men'
whose parody website http://gatt.org has managed to fool unsuspecting
capitalists to book them to represent the WTO delegates at conferences.
Despite being discovered, the Yes Men believe the joke's on the WTO.
"We've already demonstrated that audiences of experts will accept
anything whatsoever so long as it comes from the mouth of the WTO."

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Grain of Truth

Malawi the sixth poorest country in the world is on the verge of famine,
and if nothing is done, it is expected that at least 2 million of it's
11 million population will die. But the Malawian government are trying
to keep their problem under wraps so it "doesn't put off tourists".

The famine has been blamed on excessive rains and prolonged drought. But
this is only part of the picture. Just three months before the crisis
began the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ordered Malawi to sell off
the grain it had in storage the money they made then undoubtedly went
straight back to line the pockets of the IMF. Now Malawi are facing a
severe grain shortage and are being forced to import grain at three
times the cost of that they sold a few months ago. Doh! 70% of the
population can no longer feed themselves and are starving. A small
minority of the population though are doing very well out of the IMF's
screwed up economic policies and the country now has the second highest
disparity between rich and poor in the world. The IMF have refused to
help the Malawi government anymore, so they've been forced to plunge
themselves further into debt with another bunch of dodgy loan sharks.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/mar2002/mala-m14.shtml

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