FROM READERS.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

A Case for Closing the World Bank and IMF

I found your editorial (July/August) on the IMF/World Bank protests right on target except for one point. Surely we do need strong and effective international institutions. But shouldn't we be selective? The IMF and the World Bank, along with the more recently formed World Trade Organization have consistently advanced the interests of global corporations and financial speculators at the expense of people and the planet.

Meanwhile the more democratic United Nations--whose founders intended that it would be the body responsible for global economic affairs, including the overall supervision and policy direction of the Bretton Woods institutions--has been starved of staff and funds and largely ignored by the Fund, the Bank, and the WTO. There is a reasonable and responsible case to be made for closing the Bretton Woods institutions, while building capacity within the United Nations to assist national governments in crafting and implementing necessary rules at both global and national levels to assure that international trade and investment serve the human and natural interests of all people--not just corporate shareholders.

DAVID KORTEN

President, The People-Centered Development Forum Bainbridge Island, Washington

Good Suggestion!

I think the magazine should have more articles like the one on the life cycle of a shoe. Americans especially need to know the global environmental and cultural impacts their consuming habits have. This could become a regular feature of the magazine since there are so many product life cycles to expose. Suggestions for sustainable alternatives should be included in each article.

I would like to see articles by guest writers working on the front lines of issues. I would love to see articles by scientists such as Peter Vitousek, David Pimentel, E.O. Wilson, Peter Raven, and others. I would also like to see articles by people working in NGOs such as the Nature Conservancy, and by people in U.N. and government agencies. Worldwatch Institute authors are great researchers and excellent writers, but including articles from people "in the field," so to speak, would add variety to the magazine.

Thanks for the great resource!

LANE C. SMITH

State University of New York Stony Brook, New York

As it happens, we have decided to do just what you suggested, beginning with the commentary of Wendell Berry in this

An India of Software Engineers?

Out of Africa come familiar, horrific images of...