The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is participating in the Counter Summit to the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings. The IMF and World Bank annual meetings are taking place in Marrakech, and activists and organisations of the working class (including SAFTU) from across the world have organised their alternative meetings in Marrakech too, from the 12th to the 15th of October 2023.
The alternative/counter conference will be kick-started by protests in Marrakech and Pretoria on 12 October 2023.
In Pretoria, SAFTU and organisations of the working class are gathering at the World Bank Offices in Lynwood, at 442 Rodericks Road from 10:00 am.
In Marrakech, there will be a march from Bab Doukkala Square at 10:00 am to Koutoubi Square. Our National Spokesperson is part of the proceedings in Marrakech, and will participate in the march there.
This Counter Summit is organised to expose the true purpose of the IMF and the World Bank; that they are not acting on behalf of the working class to lift them out of poverty, but are acting on behalf of the capitalist class and imperialism. Their policy recommendations in South Africa and across the world have been about increasing opportunities for capital to expand and make profits at the expense of a people-centred development. Today, they are again recommending to our National Treasury to embark on fiscal austerity (budget cuts) and to privatise the energy provision in the process of transitioning from fossil intensive economy to renewables.
