Hey, there's no need for being serious, allegations and populism is all we need: "The comrades that be, Gerd (Chancellor) Schröder and Red Fred Gusenbauer (Austrian Socialist), realise the FPÖ/ÖVP government cannot be brought down by pressure from abroad but now try to undermine it from within Austria... ", "EU enlargement is not a matter for politicians in Brussels but the Austrian people" and more funny stuff on www.fpoe.at/english/Firstpage_english.jhtml. To make the experience complete, you should enter the site via www.fpo.at. Great story here: www.fpo.at used to be a sarcastic fake site, the owners were sued by the Freedom Party and convicted to redirect to www.fpoe.at, the real FPÖ site. They obeyed in a very special way as you can find out. Now the FPÖ is really grouchy: ...a clear attempt to smear the Freedom Party by despicable methods! And it is still going on!

Task for this week: Trying to unterstand comprehend the corpus of global economy by putting together pieces. Perceptions will be posted throughout the week.

Transcripts of two interesting Worldbank press conferences: One of the Development committee, April 30 2001, and one of the Worlbank President, James D. Wolfensohn, April 27 2001 (also available as Windows Media stream). In my opinion, transparency is one of the keys for further development in the disussion of global issues, so here's an excerpt of Mr. Wolfensohns press conference:

"QUESTION: Greg Palace, BBC News Night. Mr. Wolfensohn, the protesters say that you are the chief of a secretive, undemocratic world government which has actually made poverty worse worldwide. How do you respond?

MR. WOLFENSOHN: Well, I think it's nonsense. I mean, it's simply--I have been accused of many things, but I didn't know that that was one of the accusations. I'm not sure where this government exists. But if I could answer more seriously the question and I think what is behind it, I am very proud, actually, of the work of the Bank. We have done over $300 billion worth of projects. There have been advances on poverty. We have done a lot of things well, and we have made a lot of mistakes, but no more or no less than I think any other highly intelligent, well-meaning group of people in the most difficult area. And in some cases, I really wish I were president of a world government, because then I could make sure everything worked--knowing, as you all do, of my great skill as an administrator. But the facts are that development and poverty are not entirely in my hands. We can have an impact, which I think has been very positive, and I would say that the 10,000 people who work with me have a tremendous background, a lot of experience, and no less accountability than my critics. So I am actually not moved by that sort of rhetoric. We are just getting on with what we are doing and hopefully making a real contribution.

QUESTION: But on the secrecy point, why not, say the protesters, open the files so that people can see documents like these--the Country Assistance Strategies for nations--while you are developing them?

MR. WOLFENSOHN: Well, five years ago, none was released, and 85 percent of them are now released. If it were up to us, we would release all of them. The countries--

QUESTION: And why not?

MR. WOLFENSOHN: Well, the countries have to give agreement, because it is their document.

QUESTION: But why not make that a conditionality?

MR. WOLFENSOHN: Well, we are moving toward convincing countries, and I think we have come from zero to 85 percent. We have also opened up all the other documents. I mean, at these meetings, for example, there are no secret materials; you have everything the Ministers have. So just give us a little time, and I think we've got a pretty good chance of getting there. I am not prepared to demand from my clients, since they are also my shareholders, that they do things they don't want to do, but I am having a lot of effectiveness in trying to reach the goal, which is total transparency."

Ahahaha, but then again, i'm a little sceptical when reading the last two sentences.

Role model ABCDE conference: The meeting in Barcelona was cancelled and shifted onto the web. The net was used in a great way, by letting everybody comment and ask questions, although the whole event happened fairly unnoticed by the broad public. Good approach, hopefully seen more often in the future. As pointed out by Wolfensohn (again, but this time i agree completely) in his Q&A session: "There is a legitimate concern and a questioning. I hope that this questioning could be turned into a constructive dialogue rather than in a violent confrontation, which doesn't help anybody."