Kyrgyzstan president resigns
What brought this about? Why did the people rise up? Left Coaster has an excellent background piece on why the populace revolted.
The World Trade Organization is at it again, trying to force a dogmatic one-size-fits-all privatization scheme onto every people in every place. As The Yes Men so aptly describe the WTO dogma, it’s —
“Eat, destroy, swallow, devour, gobble, despoil, maraud, munch, slay, smash. Hurrah, cheers, kudos, honor, exalt, extol, salute.”
Among the joys brought to Kyrgyzstan by the WTO and the forced ‘liberalization’ of their economy are
Almost all of the government-owned enterprises have been transferred to private hands.
WTO-mandated budget cuts diminished the resources of the government and balooned its debt
The value of the nation’s currency fell by 50%
Exports of gold, antimony, mercury, electricity, dead animal skins, and other natural resources have increased while —
“There is a tendency of slow but consistent displacement of Kyrgyz goods” with imports
“Depreciation of the domestic currency rendered foreign debt unserviceable”
This same pattern has happened over and over again. Forced WTO policies destroy the economy of a country they are pretending to help, leaving the country hugely in debt to wealthy bankers who just get richer. Until, of course, the country revolts and cancels their debt payments. Capitalists are nothing if not short-sighted.