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| Call To Action!!! Localize the Movement for Global Justice September 26, 2000 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 their real purpose is to force developing nations to embrace corporate globalization. The result is rampant abuse of workers' 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: * Confront a Union-Busting Employer in Your Community who is Ignoring his/her workers' Right to Organize! * Protest a Local Privatization Plan in Your City! * Hold a Forum on Canceling Third World Debt! * Target a Toxic-Waste Dumper in Your Community! * Do a Leafletting or Protest at a Store Location or Corporate Headquarters of one an Offensive Corporation! * Do an action at a CitiBank branch to pressure them to stop purchasing World Bank Bonds! 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 Only when the coercive powers of the international financial institutions are rescinded can such a society exist.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. Endorsing Organizations (Partial List): American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Jobs with Justice Witness for Peace Citizens Trade Campaign Continental Direct Action Network 50 Years is Enough Network Global Exchange Rainforest Action Network Essential Action Center for Economic and Policy Research Center for Economic Justice |