Bay Area IMF/WB Meeting

Proposal for Bay Area Week of Action in Solidarity with IMB/WB Protests in DC

Organizing meeting:
Thursday, August 30 at 6:30pm
Global Exchange at 6:30 pm
2017 Mission street (right next to 16th St. BART)

August 29, 2001
Dear Activists,

As you may know, huge national protests are planned for the last week in September, centered around the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank\'s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Coming in the wake of the mass demonstration of 300,000 in Genoa, Italy against the G8 summit and the murder of activist Carlo Giuliani by the Italian police, the Mobilization for Global Justice in D.C. will bring the fight to cancel debt to poor countries, and for human and labor rights into George W\'s back yard.

Hundreds of community, political and student groups, N.G.O\'s and labor unions have committed to bring out 10\'s of thousands. The AFL-CIO recently issued a national statement calling on its member unions to back the protests and get their members into the streets. (for more info, go to http://www.globalizethis.org)

The D.C. protests are specifically targeting the IMF/World Bank\'s destructive policies abroad, but they are also linking the fight for global justice to local issues, like police brutality, real funding to fight AIDS, protecting the environment and defending union rights here at home.

Locally in the Bay Area, many people will be traveling to D.C., but many more of us won\'t, so we need to get busy here. Luckily, the week leading up to September 30 is shaping up to be pretty hot around here.

As things stand now, all these great events listed below are being put on by different organizations or movements. Maybe we can a way where we ca all work together to mutually publicize or support each others\' actions (for instance, with a \"action week calendar\") and, more importantly, discuss how we can start taking real steps, where possible and helpful, to concretize our solidarity and unite our struggles.

Actions/Events:

September 21 at UC Berkeley - national tour by Taco Bell agricultural workers fighting for union rights

September 21-25 @ Berkeley, Oakland, SF - the Network of Globaliphobics sponsors a tour of organizers from the maquiladora plants in Tijuana to talk about their struggle and build cross-border solidarity

September 22-29 - The Arab Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine are calling for a week of action to mark the one year anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada (many protests and teach-ins planned)

September 25 - National Day of Action against Taco Bell (mass march in LA)

September 26 - Jose Bove, the French farmer ran his tractor through a Paris McDonald\'s will speak (maybe plan a protest too?)

September 27 and 28, HERE Local 2 will lay seige to the SF Marriott for two days of mass pickets.

September 30 - Bay Area wide protest and action in solidarity with the DC protests and highlighting our local struggles for justice. Hopefully, this day can bring together people from all our different struggles and be the culmination of a great week of actions.

Also in the planning stages for this week are events and actions around:

Ongoing campaign to take over PG&E in San Francisco and win public power (MUD campaign)
Fight to restore affirmative action at UC Berkeley
Campaign to Free the Charleston 5 dockworkers
Defense of Amy Goodman and Democracy Now! from corporate Pacifica board\'s censorship
Protesting death\'s at US Mexican border
Upset the Setup Conference in Oakland, youth organizers plan the struggle against the criminal injustice system
Conference on Environonmental Justice sponsored by Berkeley Unitarians
Picket of Oakland DA (he has put more people on death row than any other acting DA in California)
Labor Immigrant Organizing Network training for activists

If you\'ve got something else that\'s already planned, or would like to plan something, then we all need to get together! We have the chance to make the week leading up to the September 30th protest really exciting and we should take it.

Organizations or campaigns that are already planning an action are especially encouraged to send a person or two to this organizing meeting to discuss potential coordination. If you or your organization cannot attend, please let us know so we can bring your ideas or plans to the meeting, or list your event in the Action Week calendar.