Posted by Jessica Rosein, Oxfam Australia

As the World Bank and IMF continue their meetings in Singapore, the International People's Forum continued with energy in Batam, although the start this morning was notably delayed after the cultural performances of the night before had turned into an all-out jamming session where everyone was able to channel some of the energy behind impassioned debates during the day into creative expressions.

The morning sessions today included one session on illegitimate debt organized amongst others by Jubilee South. Lidy Nacpil from Jubilee South gave a very concise overview of the concept of illegitimate debt which was followed by a presentation on the possibility of tackling illegitimate debt issues through existing international conventions, such as the Convention on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights and the Right to Development.

Because several sessions were going simultaneously, I tried to get an impression of each of them. Half way through the morning, another press conference took place, this time with the focus on climate change and transparency issue. The groups working on transparency, including Bank Information Center and Article 19 also launched their Transparency Charter, which lays out demands for timely information disclosure and asserts people's right to information.

There was still good press attention today, although the media seemed less interested in the thematic issues than getting reports and images of some of the protest actions that were taking place inside the venue. A group of Indonesian posed in front of the main entrance with masks as gags over the faces and a person symbolically tied up in cloth and ropes. The media today were also still interested in getting more information on the situation with blacklisted/banned/deported NGO participants. Media today included the New York Times and the Guardian.

Yesterday, those people who had been initially banned, but then declared 'unbanned' by the Singaporean government issued a statement that they did not accept the offer and today, two of the 'unbanned' people went to a press conference organized in Singapore. The media interest for this was also high. The two people returning reported that they had also had quite good outcome for a session on alternatives to IMF and World Bank.

The day ended with a wrap up session where participants of the IPF gave their impressions and reflections of the last three days. Interspersed in this were again cultural performances and impassioned songs, ending in a candlelight march around the big conference hall. All together the general feelings seemed to be that the IPF had been a success and people drew inspiration from the fact that despite all the obstacles, we had been able to go ahead with our plans, come together to discuss our concerns and strengthen our solidarity in overcoming the resistance and obstacles faced by some of our participants. The closing session also drew attention on what efforts the Indonesian national groups had taken to fight to the last minute to make Batam happen. And happened it did, indeed.