Any time a government makes an agreement with the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank; any time they negotiate a deal with a large multinational corporation for foreign investment; the people are sitting at the negotiating table. As a matter of fact, they are at the head of the table. But they have been made to believe that the seat at the head of the table is a spectator seat. They are told that they are not participants in the negotiations; but they are.
You are in a position to impose the terms of any agreement, you can dictate the conditions of any deal. You can make demands, and you can reject offers. In reality, all of the power is with you.
When the government agrees to impose Austerity measures in exchange for a loan; the government has accepted that condition; you have not. You can therefore make a counter offer. You can say, for instance, “if you are going to impose Austerity on us, we are going to impose Austerity on you. Your companies will not be allowed to profit. If you are going to disrupt and undermine public services for us, we are going to disrupt and undermine services in the private sector for you. Your deliveries will not pass over our roads. Your offices will not have water or electricity. Your machinery won’t work. Every operation of your business will be disabled. We will impose a poor people’s tax on your merchandise and confiscate it from your warehouses and trucks to distribute to the population. Or, you can forget about Austerity measures, forget about dominating us, forget about propping up the oppressive regime we are fighting, and instead, deal with us fairly, and support the will of the people; in which case, we can guarantee that your companies will operate here safely.”