"You have gone beyond your original tasks," participants in the Bankgok symposium on the consequences of economic globalization in Asia told the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Most people understand your role now as being a master rather than a facilitator, interfering with the countries' national policies." The symposium, which took place from November 12 to 16 1999, heavily criticized the way in which the IMF imposed its favourite remedies on sovereign national economies in many Asian countries. Nor did it spare the World Trade Organization (WTO), which was strongly urged to impose a moratorium on the further expansion of its powers, in order to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impact of its activities. The possibility of dissolving the WTO was not excluded.

Growing impoverishment, increasing inequality in income distribution, casualization of labour, feminization of poverty, an increase in child labour and child trafficking, and widespread ecological destruction affecting the health and livelihood of the rural poor were revealed as the concrete consequences of a globalization strategy based on economic neoliberalism.

Poverty, suicide and crime rates have soared as a result of the economic crisis affecting many Asian countries and the subsequent IMF intervention. In Thailand, for example, with a total population of 63 million, the number of poor people jumped from 7 million in 1997 to an estimated 12 million today. The suicide rate increased from 10 to 14 or 15 people per 100,000 and the number of prisoners rose from 66,000 in 1997 to 170,000 in 1998.

Ironically, even as the Asian poor were terribly hit by the economic crisis, the gap between rich and poor continued to grow. The rich minority increased their share of the national income earned from 20.5 % to 22.5 % in Thailand, from 22 % to 24.5 % in Korea, and from 39.3 % to 42.9 % in the Philippines.

The symposium was jointly sponsored by the Alliance and the World Council of Churches (WCC), in cooperation with the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the Church of Christ in Thailand. It was intended as a contribution to the processus confessionis launched by the Alliance at its 23rd general council (Debrecen, 1997) and backed by the WCC at its 8th general assembly (Harare, 1998). Over 60 people took part, some from different sectors of society in Thailand, others from countries as various as Canada, China, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, The Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Uganda, the UK and Vanuatu.

Korea

Shortly before the Bangkok meeting, a two-day symposium on the same topic was held in Seoul, Korea. The meeting, from November 9 to 10, was again organized by the Alliance together with the WCC and the CCA, this time in cooperation with the National Council of Churches in Korea; and again, 60 people took part. Korean government representatives argued that the economic situation was getting better and that the government of Korea and the IMF were doing their best to improve the situation; but the majority of those attending the symposium disagreed.

On the second day of the meeting, international participants visited the Daily Workers Union and the Korean Federation of Bank and Finance Workers. It became obvious that what the IMF policy was "trickling down" to the poor was not to their benefit, but a heavy burden on their shoulders.

The IMF is asking the Korean government to change the whole economic system, in order to enable the government to repay its debt to the IMF and to allow transnational capital to move more freely. On the day of the visit, a Korean newspaper quoted the recent biography by Mr Sakakibara Eiske, a former high-ranking finance official in the Japanese Government, where he wrote that, two months before Korea was forced to ask the IMF for a rescue package, the billionaire financier, George Soros, said to him, "It will be Korea's turn next." (Chosun Ilbo, 10 November 1999). Many Koreans suspect that the economic crisis did not happen by chance, but was planned. In order to unmask the IMF, the Korean Federation took the IMF to court. They are asking the Alliance and the WCC to support this action.

Further meetings of this kind will be held in different parts of the world, with different approaches according to the different contexts. Gradually member churches have begun to respond to the 23rd general council's call for a committed process of recognition, education, confession and action in relation to economic injustice and ecological destruction. The synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary has officially endorsed this call and the Reformed Church in America has decided to tackle this issue over the next three years. The United Church of Canada already has a vigorous programme on faith and the economy (see Reformed World, vol.49 no.3, September 1999). Elsewhere on this site, we report on the October meeting of our Caribbean and North American Area churches. The Presbyterian Church (USA) and its partner churches in Korea and Brazil have decided to have a dialogue on "Reformed theology and global economy" in the three countries from 27 February to 17 March 2000. The Alliance is currently preparing a hearing in Central and Eastern Europe in March 2001. It is our hope that more and more member churches will become engaged in this process.

First published in Update 9/4 (December 1999)