|
|
PROTEST GEORGE BUSH THE FACE OF RACISM AND GLOBALIZATION SURROUND THE WHITE HOUSE ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 (the first day of the Sept 29-Oct 2 Washington DC convergence against the IMF and World Bank) The Bush attack on poor and oppressed people in the U.S. is being neatly coordinated with the forces of globalization, such as the IMF and the World Bank. The cost of heat and electricity is soaring. Schools, healthcare and other social services are threatened by privatization. Bush, who carried out more executions [legal lynchings] than any elected official in history, wants to step up the racist attack by pushing back civil rights. He is continuing Plan Colombia, the $1.3 billion aid package passed under Clinton, which is being used to aid the Colombian military in its suppression of the people’s struggle. This is the NAFTA/FTAA program being carried out with impunity right here in the U.S. against the people who did not elect him. The convergence against the IMF/World Bank in Washington, D.C. on September 29 - October 3 represents a unique opportunity in Bush’s new back yard to merge the struggle against the global domination of corporations with the fight against Bush’s right-wing policies. Together, these two fronts can unite and multiply the strength of the movement. The International Action Center, in coalition with others, is calling for day of actions on September 29 against Bush and his racist, anti-worker, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-environment program. The IAC calls on all progressive forces to SIGN ONTO THE FOLLOWING CALL TO ACTION (see below for current list of signers). TO SIGN ON, reply to this email with your name, organization, address and phone number. ********** During the week of convergence against the IMF and World Bank: A Call for Mass Action on Sept. 29, 2001: Defeat the Bush Program! Anti-People, Racist, Sexist, Anti-Gay, Pro-War: Only the Mobilization of the People Can Stop It! The reactionary administration of George W. Bush is moving at record speed to give trillions more to the rich, undermine the labor movement, rollback civil rights, women’s, lesbian/gay and disabled rights, gut environmental protections, and escalate militarism and the threat of new wars. Described as "further right than the Reagan administration," the Bush team is a collection of pro-corporate pirates and bigots who are determined to demolish all rights except those of big business to make unlimited profits. As one newspaper headline put it, "Happy Days Are Here Again for Business Lobby." There is only one force that can defeat the Bush program - the mass mobilization of the people. A united and organized campaign bringing together all those who will be hurt by the Bush program - workers-employed and unemployed, people of color, women, lesbians, gay men, bi, and transgender people, immigrants, disabled people, environmentalists, everyone who needs heat and light - can succeed in turning back this massive assault. We are the majority, but our power can only become real when we organize and take action. The Bush government poses a grave danger to the people and the planet on many fronts. In his first three months in office, Bush has: *Attacked the labor movement and all working people, throwing out regulations to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries, blocking airlines workers from going on strike, and cutting unionized workers out of federal construction projects; *Cancelled funding for international family planning and called for ending women’s right to choose; *Appointed John Ashcroft as Attorney General. Ashcroft has written of his admiration for the Confederate slaveholders and is a racist opponent of affirmative action, lesbian, gay and women’s rights. Like Bush, Ashcroft is an avid supporter of the death penalty and building more prisons. *Promoted the racist death penalty. We are demanding freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal. *Announced plans to vastly increase military spending, including building a "missile defense system," really part of nuclear first-strike strategy. Bush has bombed Iraq, broken off talks with North Korea, given the green light to Israel to launch new attacks on the Palestinian people, and escalated hostility toward Russia, China and Cuba. *While pretending to be concerned about children and education, called for cutting funding for pre-school, child-abuse and children’s health programs; *Opposed any limit on what oil, gas and utility monopolies can charge, leading to a 50% increase in rates in California, soon to be followed by rates in the rest of the country; *Proposed opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and other federal parks and lands for oil and gas drilling, mining and logging; *Threatened to start a new Vietnam-type war in Colombia; *Rejected the Kyoto treaty to stop global warming. Bush has broken his campaign pledge to reduce global-warming carbon dioxide from power plants, and rejected lowering the level of arsenic in drinking water. *Pushed for a tax cut plan that would make the rich much richer while giving working people almost nothing. Initial signers: David Dinkins; Howard Zinn, Historian and Author; Ramsey Clark, former U.S. attorney general; Ossie Davis; Ga.State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, President, Ga. Association of Black Elected Officials; Ruth Holbrook, President, Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO*;Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treas., San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO*; Maudelle Shirek, Vice Mayor, Berkeley, CA; Maggie Coulter, Sacramento-Yolo Peace Action*; Professor Richard C. Lewontin, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University; International Action Center; Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement; Martha Grevatt, National Secretary, Pride At Work-AFL-CIO ; Zachary Wolfe, National Vice President, National Lawyers Guild; Dave Sole, President of UAW local 2443; Rosario Morales, Puerto Rican Writer; Lucius Walker, IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Auxilery Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit; United American Indians of New England; Leslie Feinberg, Co-Founder, Rainbow Flags for Mumia; Student Activist Network, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA; Abayomi Azikiwe, editor, Pan-African Newswire; Moroccans for Peace and Justice-Boston chapter; Simmons College Feminist Union; Richmond Action Center; RightWatch Project; The Caribbean and Latin America Support Project; Mid-Hudson National People’s Campaign; Writers for Mumia; Professor Richard Levins, Harvard School of Public Health; The San Diego Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia; Dr. Janet Collett, U of Sussex; Dr. David Walsh, Dept of Philosophy, U of Edinburgh
Signed Elements ©
Individual Authors
|