[act-ma] 4/9 (Friday, noon) Debate: Climate Justice & the World Bank, featuring Patrick Bond and William Moomaw

[Suren Moodliar]

Patrick Bond & William Moomaw Debate South Africa, the World Bank, and
Climate Justice
Friday, April 9, 2010, 12 noon - 2:00 p.m.
33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, Boston (Chinatown), MA 02111
Debate: Climate Justice, South Africa & the World Bank
------------------------------

*Friday, April 9, 2010, 12 noon - 2:00 p.m. *South Africa now has its 4th
post-Apartheid president... But the country is more unequal than ever! It is
also under consideration for a World Bank loan to “modernize” it ailing
electrical power infrastructure. Revamping its grid would normally be a rare
opportunity to set a new course, redress inequalities and implement a green
strategy. But activist-intellectual Patrick Bond warns that the opposite
seems likely with the Bank loan. It will strengthen the private sector and
increase the gap between rich and poor: urban residents prepay their
electricity at 4 times the discounted rate available to large corporations.
Further, the proposed loan will finance the world's 4th largest coal-fired
plant—just the opposite of what is required by our climate crisis—and raise
rates on working people.

On April 8, 2010, the World Bank will make its decision. Patrick Bond will
reflect on the outcome on Friday, April 9, 2010, from noon to 2:00 p.m. at
encuentro 5 (in Boston's Chinatown, see below for more information).

Also invited to the conversation is Tufts University professor, William
Moomaw who consulted with the World Bank and who is in support of the loan.

This Bank critic meets Bank supporter discussion allows for a
reasoned engagement of ideas.

For Patrick Bond's biography, see t he Center for Civil
Society<http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?10,24,8,55>at the
University of Kwazulu Natal. William Moomaw's biography can be found
at Tufts University <http://fletcher.tufts.edu/faculty/Moomaw/>.

This event is co-sponsored by Mass. Global
Action<http://www.massglobalaction.org>and Grassroots
International <http://grassrootsonline.org>

See: http://www.encuentro5.org for directions.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://act-ma.org/pipermail/act-ma_act-ma.org/attachments/20100408/35c712ad/attachment.html>