World Bank Cancels Academic Meeting In Barcelona

The World Bank announced today the cancellation of its 2001 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) in Europe, originally slated to be held in Barcelona on June 25-27.

Explaining the decision, World Bank spokeswoman Caroline Anstey said, "A conference on poverty reduction should take place in a peaceful atmosphere free from heckling, violence and intimidation. Despite our efforts to reach out to some of the groups planning demonstrations, and to include them in the conference, the intention of many of the groups who plan to converge on Barcelona is not to join the debate or to contribute constructively to the discussion, but to disrupt it. We do not want to expose academics from around the world and our hosts in Spain to such a situation." Particularly, she said, "It is time to take a stand against this kind of threat to free discussion."

World Bank spokeswoman said that fortunately the internet means that academic debates can now take place on line.Papers prepared for the conference will be posted on the conference web site and plans are being made for an on-line discussion, she said.

More information:
- Press release May 19, 2001(World Bank)
- Campaña Contra el Banco Mundial, Barcelona 2001 (Rosa de Foc)

Date of publication: 20/05/2001

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