Protests may mar meeting of IMF

The Convergence Space is probably the only campaign headquarters in the US with no fax machines, no telephones and no televisions. But it does have papier mache models of James Wolfensohn, the World Bank president, and a cardboard "structural adjustment machine" that crushes people. Yet this weekend it will, in all likelihood, cause severe disruption in Washington DC.

The Convergence Space, part empty warehouse and part schoolyard, is the headquarters of Mobilisation for Global Justice, an alliance of pressure groups and charities that intends to shut down the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The Convergence Space is keeping camera crews out of dance classes which, they say, foster self-expression and form an integral part of non-violent protest. The protesters sit around chatting. Many were at the battle in Seattle and this is as good a chance as any to catch up with old friends. One activist estimates that between 50 and 70 per cent of those in Washington were at the Seattle demonstrations.

From environmental groups through religious groups and trade unions to aid charities, they have all "converged" into this souk-like space to mobilise against the three things they all dislike: the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation.

These three are, they say, an "unholy trinity of undemocratic institutions", which they, the people, must democratically prevent from perpetrating their "global violence" on the people of the developing world.