Sign up to E-News
WDM in the media
A selection of links to recent articles by the World Development Movement (WDM) that have appeared in the UK media and news items quoting WDM.
2006
Government 'must meet water need'
Governments, not private firms, must take responsibility for getting water to their people, a new report by the World Development Movement argues.
BBC Online , 22 March 2006
Thirst for justice
Millions of people across the globe still do not have access to clean water and, despite years of promises, that is unlikely to change soon. John Vidal on the failures of privatisation and the resurgence of the public sector. Featuring WDM's Peter Hardstaff.
The Guardian, 15 March 2006
Debt relief still has too many conditions
Gordon Brown's global poverty plans still fall short of what is needed, says Benedict Southworth.
The Guardian, 17 January 2006
2005
Something to shout about
Benedict Southworth, new director of the World Development Movement, has no plans to let the organisation go soft.
The Guardian, 14 December 2005
Tanzanian water row. Who foots the bill? (Link opens as a Real Media RAM file)
DfID, Tanzania and water privatisation.
BBC Radio 4, You and Yours interview featuring WDM's Peter Hardstaff, 05 September 2005
And still he stays silent
Gordon Brown today said an agreement on debt relief for Africa was within reach as finance ministers from the G8 nations gathered in London. But The World Development Movement said the proposals would benefit only 18 out of around 60 countries.
The Guardian, 10 June 2005
Brown hopeful over Africa debt relief deal
Gordon Brown today said an agreement on debt relief for Africa was within reach as finance ministers from the G8 nations gathered in London. But The World Development Movement said the proposals would benefit only 18 out of around 60 countries.
The Guardian, 10 June 2005
Campaigners: Debt plan gives too little to too few
Debt campaigners welcomed Gordon Brown's announcement today of a "modern Marshall Plan" for Africa, but expressed concerns that the initiative was deficient and fraught with problems for poor countries.
The Guardian, 03 June 2005
Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania
According to the World Development Movement yesterday, Tanzania was forced to privatise its water as a condition of international debt forgiveness. "The International Monetary Fund forced water privatisation on one of the poorest countries in the world in order to benefit western water companies," said Dave Timms of WDM.
The Guardian, 25 May 2005
UK water company kicked out of privatisation contract
UK water company Biwater has been kicked out of a controversial water privatisation by the Government of Tanzania just two years into a ten year contract.
Public Agenda, AllAfrica.com, 23 May 2005
Tanzania ditches private water supplier
The World Development Movement welcomed Tanzania's decision to cancel City Water's contract. Peter Hardstaff called on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to stop their support for the privatisation of utilities in developing countries.
BBC News Online, 18 May 2005
Straw defends Wolfowitz bank plan
George Bush's decision to appoint his deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, as head of the World Bank, was described by the World Development Movement as "truly terrifying".
BBC News Online, 23 May 2005
Reaction to the Africa Commission report
The World Development Movement: "This has been said many times before... The UK government and other rich countries have to actually start taking action on these issues of trade, increasing aid, cancelling debt."
BBC News Online, 11 March 2005
Brown plan will cut aid by $108bn, says study
The UK's plan to increase dramatically short-term aid to the world's poorest countries will actually cut aid by $108 billion over the full 27-year span of the programme.
The Observer, 06 February 2005
2004
Africa's plight can't be explained by a pop song
Band Aid 20 "perpetuates the myth that Africa's poverty can be blamed on natural causes. It reinforces the stereotype of a continent inhabited entirely by starving children," says The World Development Movement's Mark Curtis.
The Guardian, 10 December 2004
Band Aid backlash
When the director of the World Development Movement slammed the new version of the charity recording Do They Know It's Christmas? for presenting a "patronising, false and out of date" picture of Africa, he triggered an outpouring of alternative lyrics on the WDM website from like-minded sceptics.
The Guardian, 08 December 2004
World premiere of Band Aid song
Director of the World Development Movement criticises the Band Aid 20 song for perpetuating "the myth that Africa's problems can somehow be blamed on lack of rainfall and failed harvests. It conjures up an image of a continent inhabited entirely by starving children with flies on their faces sitting in the sunbaked bed of a dried up stream."
BBC News Online, 16 November 2004
If the IMF Could Do This to Zambia
Why the Zambian economy has collapsed heavily as a result of World Bank and IMF intervention, based on WDM's Zambian report
Sanjay Suri, Inter Press Service, 24 May 2004
Cast-off UK clothes make Zambia poor
How high street charity exports help to destroy textile jobs, inspired by WDM's Zambian report
Nick Mathiason, The Observer, 23 May 2004
The last shirt maker in Ndola
Report by the BBC's David Loyn on Zambia, inspired by WDM's Zambian analysis
David Loyn, BBC News Online, 22 May 2004
Policy Made on the Road to Perdition
Article on debt, conditionality, and WDM's analysis
Larry Elliot, The Guardian, 13 October 2003
Outspoken author takes helm of poverty campaign
International anti-poverty campaign group the World Development Movement (WDM) has appointed an outspoken critic of British foreign policy as its new director.
Tash Shifrin, The Guardian, 14 January 2004
2003
Poverty lobby attacks Cancun draft
Report by the BBC on WDM's Cancun analysis
Alex Kirby, BBC News Online, 11 September 2003
2002
More business as usual: Why the Jo'burg summit was an abject failure
Barry Coates, The Guardian, 18 September 2002
The blame the victim summits
Western leaders promised so much to Africa and delivered so little. Yet the greatest scandal of last week's G8 summit is not the failure to deliver more resources but the way the world trade rules are rigged against the poorest, argues the Director of the World Development Movement.
Barry Coates, The Observer, 30 June 2002
IMF's 'one size' fits few
Stunts by a few idealistic agitators during May Day protests in London will be met with widespread disdain this Wednesday.
But in other parts of the world, resistance to fiscal policies foisted on poor countries by all-powerful, unelected institutions based in Washington, New York and Geneva has a much broader base.
Nick Mathiason, The Observer, 28 April 2002
2001
Trade piracy unmasked
Leaked British documents show how we will stitch up the developing world at the WTO
George Monbiot, The Guardian, 6 November 2001
Gats is no service to anyone
Don't sign any contract until you've read the small print. This is especially true for international trade agreements that affect the lives of millions. Their core provisions are hidden behind a welter of acronyms and legal phrases.
Barry Coates, The Guardian, 19 March 2001
Big business at your service
The United States does not grow many bananas. Yet under a virtually unknown trade agreement it won a case challenging the European Union's support for small Caribbean banana producers. The dispute was initiated under the General Agreement on Trade in Services...
Barry Coates, The Guardian, 15 March 2001
Print this page
