266/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
leaps and bounds until the mid-1970s, by which time they
total some S500 million per year.
1965 Washington, DC. The World Bank launches the Green
Revolution. Following its request for limited food aid to deal
with a drought, India is obliged to overhaul its agricultural
policy, devalue its currency and implement a series of
measures corresponding to the 'Green Revolution'. These
measures include the use of ecologically non-sustainable
agricultural techniques, mandatory export of farm products
and the importation of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. It
is only after implementing these measures that India receives
the requested aid, which it needs for only one season. The
major transformation of agriculture that results from the
Green Revolution has negative effects that are still being felt
(Shiva, 1991).
1965 South Africa. The apartheid regime receives loans from the
World Bank in spite of UN resolutions against such aid. The
World Bank persists in spite of an open reprimand from UN
Secretary-General U-Thant.
1968 Indonesia. The Bank begins loans to the Suharto military
regime, which came to power through a bloody coup d'etat in
1965 that overthrew the civilian government and killed
more than 500,000 people.
1969 Indonesia. The Bank provides financing for the
Transmigration Programmes. These programmes use more
than S500 million to shift millions of people to remote and
sparsely populated islands. The programmes have a
devastating effect on the country's forests. They have a
profoundly negative impact on the lifestyle of numerous
indigenous communities and cause serious environmental
damage.
1970 Washington, DC. For the first time, the Bank takes in more
money in debt payments than it gives out in new loans.
1973 Chile. The Pinochet dictatorship receives substantial
backing from the Bank in the wake of the overthrow of the
Allende government, which had been unable to obtain
World Bank funding.
1974 Washington, DC. Under pressure from the US Congress, the
Bank sets up the Department of Operations Evaluation (DOE)
to analyse the performance of past projects. On several