May 18, 2011
When angry Argentine protesters forced their government into a record-breaking default and devaluation in 2001, many blamed an institution they said was staffed by uncaring, overpaid, foreign bureaucrats.
The ensuing financial collapse caused untold damage to the reputation of that institution: the International Monetary Fund. A decade later, and with the Fund’s managing director behind bars on explosive sex abuse charges, the same failing that undermined it then could undo it now: a lack of credibility with the people living under its policy dictates. And this time, it’s all about Greece.
Those who lead public rebellions against IMF-led austerity tend to come from the left, but with the right message and right conditions they can draw enough people from the center to force change. One tried-and-tested technique exploits a negative caricature of the institution. In 2001, some Argentines took to calling IMF Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger “Freddy Krueger,” after the gruesome character from the Nightmare On Elm Street horror films. Elsewhere, graffiti turned the “F” in “IMF” into a swastika.
It’s not hard to imagine how Greek activists will play up the news that the current IMF boss, a man paid more than $500,000 in salary and living expenses, is accused of sexually attacking a woman in an exclusive hotel suite. Already Greek commentators have segued from Dominique Strauss-Kahn‘s attempted rape charge to the IMF’s “rape” of the Greek people.
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