Calvin News

EDITOR'S NOTE: The event below has been cancelled. But Calvin will host a "Teach-In" on Friday, September 14 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in the Chapel on the events of the past days. Calvin professors from religion, history and other departments will lead the discussion.

Calvin College will be part of a national teach-in tour on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, September 13 at 7:30 p.m.

The event will take place in the Commons Lecture Hall and is sponsored by the student-led Social Justice Committee.

Speakers will include a Calvin economics professor who specializes in the World Bank and the IMF and two international experts with personal experiences with issues related to the two organizations.

Calvin professor Rick DeVries will begin the event with a brief presentation on the World Bank and the IMF, including their history, purpose and economic functions.

The speakers, Jonah K. Gokova of Zimbabwe and Carmencita "Chie" Abad of the Philippines, will discuss the impact of these institutions on society and individuals in Southern nations.

Gokova is a theologian by training. He is the Chair of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, a grouping of Zimbabwean NGOs working on debt and trade issues. Chie Abad speaks from personal experience about the hardships endured by workers in sweatshops. Chie spent six years as a garment worker on the Pacific island of Saipan, a U.S. territory. She now lives in the U.S.

The World Bank and the IMF have been in the news a great deal in recent months and made news again this week when George Washington University announced it will shut down its main campus for five days in anticipation of protests surrounding World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings later this month.

Along with canceling classes, the university will lock 5,400 students out of dormitories on its campus in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington, D.C, located blocks from where the meetings will be held Sept. 29 and 30. The D.C. police predict as many as 100,000 demonstrators will crowd the city's downtown that weekend.

Calvin Social Justice Committee members have attended previous World Bank and IMF demonstrations, but say the purpose of this week's forum is educational.

"Our group exists to build awareness of issues of social justice in both the international and local arenas," says Chris O'Brien, a senior from Detroit. "Wer want to facilitate dialogue concerning these issues and to equip and empower people to act in response to these issues."

During a typical school year the group not only holds teach-ins but also writes lots of letters advocating for pressing issues, especially in conjunction with Amnesty International and Bread for the world. This October they plan to create a cardboard shantytown, working with local organizations such as Heartside ministries to build awareness of homelessness and give students a taste of what it might be like to be homeless for a night. They will host a hunger banquet this November with Calvin's Environmental Stewardship Coalition, host a benefit concert for a local community organization in February and host Bread For the World's offering of letters conference for western Michigan next spring.