Speech by Celestine AkpoBari, IPMSDL ICC Member
Greetings, dear comrades and friends.
I am Celestine AkpoBari. I join you on behalf of the Ogoni people of Nigeria and in representation of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL).
First and foremost, we state that, as Indigenous Peoples, we are the primary caretakers of the world’s last frontiers and are more often than not sidelined in the political and economic conversations of our countries. We have every reason to join the resounding call of the peoples of the world: SHUT DOWN THE IMF AND THE WORLD BANK!
In Ogoni land and across Nigeria, we have felt the brutal weight of this economic bondage firsthand. For decades, foreign debt and the neoliberal structural adjustment programs imposed by the IMF and World Bank have forced our governments to prioritize debt servicing over social welfare, while opening up our rich ancestral territories to ruthless extractive industries like Shell. Our rivers remain poisoned, our farmlands destroyed, and our youth left jobless; all to service illegitimate debts that never benefited our communities. The ongoing removal of subsidies and aggressive devaluation of our national currency are the latest chapters in this long history of IMF-driven austerity, sacrificing the lives and livelihoods of everyday Nigerians to satisfy foreign creditors.
Indigenous Peoples are among those most affected by these traps, loan conditionalities, and other forms of deceit. Our lands, forests, and waters are first to be targeted for plunder, while we face displacement, criminalization, and killings. Yet, we are also among the most militant, having defended our ancestral domains for generations, often at the cost of our lives.
It is a historical truth that our collective values and long tradition of struggle offer real alternatives. The global fight against plunder and war grows stronger as Indigenous Peoples join the struggle against imperialism.
The IMF and the World Bank push an economic agenda of liberalization, privatization, deregulation, debt dependency, and so-called “development” projects that serve corporations and creditor states while deepening poverty and inequality in colonized and neocolonial nations. We, Indigenous Peoples, have seen enough, and we reject the IMF’s and the World Bank’s tricks, as well as whatever else they have up their sleeves to deceive us into dependency.
We stand for the sovereignty of peoples and nations and for liberation from imperialist domination. Self-determination and sustainable development are our answers to the debt-driven, dubious, and deceitful “growth” and “development” being sold to us by the Bretton Woods Institutions.
For so long, we, Indigenous Peoples, have been portrayed as backward, barbaric, and uneducated. We repudiate these notions. We are blessed with generations of agricultural knowledge and the wisdom to care for and nurture our natural resources. We have also led our peoples in countless uprisings and acts of resistance against colonizers and land grabbers.
We are more than capable of governing ourselves, both economically and politically. The IMF and the World Bank can get out of our lives—and, most especially, off of our lands!
Shut down the IMF and the World Bank!
Down with imperialism!
Long live the struggle for self-determination and liberation!
Long live international solidarity!
The Peoples Global Campaign against IMF-WB held a press conference with leaders from different movements across the world, last Oct 12 in line with the Global Day of Action against IMF-WB. Catch the replay here.
