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Call To Action!!!
Localize the Movement for Global Justice
September 26
The World Bank and the
IMF will hold their semi-annual joint meeting on September 26, 2000
in Prague, the Czech Republic. The World Bank and the IMF,
two of the cornerstones of the international financial system, claim
to be working to eliminate poverty, but really their real purpose
is to force developing nations to embrace corporate globalization.
The result is rampant abuse of workersâ rights and the environment
and the further impoverishment of the very people the World Bank
and IMF are supposedly there to help.
Tens of thousands will
take to the streets in Prague on September 26 to protest these harmful
institutions and their advance into Eastern Europe·
Their fight
is our fight!
Fight Corporate
Globalization Where You Stand! Localize The Movement for Global
Justice!
Here is What
Some are Planning for September 26:
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Confront
a Union-Busting Employer in Your Community who is Ignoring his/her
workersâ Right to Organize!
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Protest
a Local Privatization Plan in Your City!
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Hold a Forum
on Canceling Third World Debt!
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Target a
Toxic-Waste Dumper in Your Community!
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Do a Leafletting
or Protest at a Store Location or Corporate Headquarters of
an Offensive Corporation!
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Do an action
at a CitiBank branch to pressure them to stop purchasing World
Bank Bonds!
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___Yes! I want to be involved in an S26 Action
(Check all that apply):
___List my organization as an endorser. ___I
want to organize a local action.
___I canât organize an action, but will support
one in my area.
Name_____________________________ Organization____________________
Address/City, State, Zip_______________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Phone/Fax______________________ Email_________________________
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Return the
above form to:
Jobs with Justice
501 3rd St, NW
Washington, DC 20001
F. 202-434-1477 Email: Lcmspedon@yahoo.com
Website: www.jwj.org
S26 ö Localize
the Movement for Global Justice
Issues
we can all understand:
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The IMF and World Bank pressure
countries to increase Îlabor market flexibility.â In practice
this means opposing increases in the minimum wage, weakening
trade unions and workersâ bargaining power, and opposing any
social protections that would make workers less willing to work
for low wages. In the U.S., working people face similar campaigns
to erode their power. Thousands of workers are fired each year
by American employers for joining together to organize unions.
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As a condition of lending money to
poor countries, the World Bank and the IMF often demand that
governments privatize state-run enterprises, such as university
education, health care, electricity, and water. In Bolivia,
last year, the World Bank loan encouraged the government to
privatize the water system, the affect which tripled water rates
and water became unaffordable for many families. Local labor,
student, community, and indigenous groups fought back against
the governmentâs plan and reversed the privatization. The drive
for the privatization of health care and social security in
the U.S. reflects the same economic policies.
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The World Bank and the IMF continue to force poor
countries to pay back their debt despite the fact that many
lack the funds to properly care for their own people. The IMF/World
Bankâs control of the debt issue preserves their power to impose
unpopular austerity policies. Sub-Saharan African countries
spend more on debt payment than on primary education and health
care combined.
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Debt payments and structural adjustment
policies have a negative impact on health in both developing
and developed countries. In most Sub-Saharan African nations,
governments spend four times as much on debt repayment as on
health care, despite the frighteningly rapid spread of HIV and
AIDS. In the U.S. 42 million Americans are without health care
coverage.
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Policies of the World Bank and the
IMF have had a devastating impact on the environment. After
granting Nicaragua a loan in 1994, the IMF supported the expansion
of the logging industry, causing an increase in Nicaraguaâs
already high rate of deforestation (370,000 acres/year). At
this rate, the few forests that remain in Nicaragua will disappear
quickly. In the U.S., corporate toxic-waste dumpers also reap
financial profit from economic devestation.
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IMF/ World Bank policies have been
most successful in paving the way for US corporations to exploit
the human and ecological resources of developing countries.
The WB/IMF encourage "Free Trade Zones," or "Export
Processing Zones," where a countriesâ tax and labor laws
are suspended to attract foreign corporations. Companies like
Nike and the Gap benefit enormously from such programs. Oil
companies like ExxonMobil have benefited from World Bank- sponsored
pipeline projects that harm the environment and displace longtime
residents.
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Universities, faith-based organizations,
unions, governments, and other institutions that we control
buy the bonds that finance the World Bank. The World Bank Bonds
Boycott is an international campaign using grassroots economic
power to demand an end to structural adjustment lending and
other environmentally and socially destructive World Bank policies.
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Extensive data from around the world show that
IMF-imposed austerity and economic reform programs have stripped
many women of what meager health and education benefits were
once available to them. Women's formal sector unemployment has
increased due to IMF-induced recessions, privatizations, and
government cutbacks. |
In cities across
the country coalitions of labor, community, student and faith-based
activists will organize actions against local targets to highlight
the same issues that our sisters and brothers will be protesting
in Prague. Activists will also release a new report, "Changing
the Rules of the Game: How Corporations benefit from WB/IMF lending."
For more information or to get involved contact Jobs with Justice
at 202-434-1106 or email LMCSPEDON@YAHOO.COM.
Endorse the
September 26 Day of Action!
On the
occasion of the fifty-fifth annual meetings of the governing bodies
of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, we call for
the immediate suspension of the policies and practices that have
caused widespread poverty and suffering among the world's peoples
and damage to the world's environment. We oppose those policies
that have encouraged the suppression of basic human rights and freedoms,
especially those specific to women, workers, and the poor. We assert
the responsibility of these institutions, together with the World
Trade Organization and multi-national corporations for an unjust
world economic system.
We issue
this call in the name of global justice, in solidarity with the
peoples of the Global South struggling for survival and dignity
in the face of unjust economic policies. We seek to create just
societies, where governments are accountable first and foremost
to the will of their peoples for equitable economic development.
Only when the coercive powers of the international financial institutions
are rescinded can such a society exist. Only when international
institutions are no longer controlled by the wealthiest governments
for the purpose of dictating policy to the poorer ones shall all
peoples and nations be able to forge bonds - economic and otherwise
- based on mutual respect and the common needs. Only when the well-being
of all, including the most vulnerable people and ecosystems, is
given priority over corporate profits shall we achieve genuine sustainable
development and create a world of justice, equality, and peace.
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Organizations (Partial List):
AFL-CIO
Communications Workers of America
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Essential Action
50 Years is Enough Network
Jobs with Justice
Witness for Peace
United Students Against Sweatshops
Alliance for Global Justice
Rainforest Action Network
Global Exchange
Center for Economic Justice
Nicaragua Network
Campaign for Labor Rights
Citizens Trade Campaign
Continental Direct Action Network
United for a Fair Economy
Alliance for Democracy
Mexico Solidarity Network
The Shalom Center
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Cities Planning Actions:
Albany, NY
Atlanta, GA
Asheville, NC
Baltimore, MD
Blacksburg, VA
Bloomington, IN
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Burlington, VT
Chapel Hill, NC
Chicago, IL
Cleveland, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Durham, NC
Erie, PA
Greenville, SC
Indianapolis, IN
Ithaca, NY
Knoxville, TN
Lancaster, PA
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Miami, FL
Helena, Montana
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
Oakland, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Orange County, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, ME
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Raleigh, NC
Richmond, VA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Diego, CA
San Fernando, CA
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Syracuse, NY
Trenton, NJ
Tucson, AZ
Washington, DC
Wilmington, DE
Springfield, MA
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ENDORSE! JOIN THE DAY OF ACTION!
| Organization:
________________________________________
Contact Person/People:
_______________________________
Address: ____________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Phone: _______________________________________________
Fax: _________________________________________________
E-mail: _______________________________________________
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Return this form to:
Jobs with Justice
501 3rd St., NW
Washington, DC 20001
Fax.
202-434-1477
Email. Lmcspedon@yahoo.com
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