Wendy Sherman: “tomorrow the World Bank meets. We will not have the huge demonstrations of a month ago. No one will be comparing this…”

“tomorrow the World Bank meets. We will not have the huge demonstrations of a month ago. No one will be comparing this meeting here in Washington, D.C., to the events in Seattle. But they may play a more important role on whether the World Bank and its sister organization, the IMF, continue to have the support, precarious as it is, of the American people, and whether the World Bank continues to exist and foster in its present form. Mr. Speaker, I am among the strongest advocates in this House of our foreign aid program, our involvement in the world, and, up until now, our support for the World Bank and the IMF. Mr. Speaker, just a year-and-a-half ago over $500,000 was spent in a campaign designed exclusively to vilify me personally for supporting the IMF and the World Bank. I continue to support those organizations, yet I am not sure that that support can continue for long, because while I am a proud supporter of world development and of our foreign aid and of our efforts to try to have all of humanity live in dignity, I do not know if I can continue to be a proud supporter of the World Bank. You see, the World Bank garners its support from the community here in America that supports human rights and the dignity of men and women, and yet it will make a decision tomorrow that will indicate whether it deserves the support of those who are concerned with human rights.”