Communist Web Friday 31st March 2000 9.30pm gmt Thousands gear up for April protest in Washington By Tim Wheeler Not just tulips are blossoming this April as thousands of protesters head for Washington for a weeklong "Mobilization for Global Justice." Hundreds of labor, environmental, peace, and social justice organizations have signed on to the month of protest activities inspired by the "Battle in Seattle" last December that forced cancellation of trade talks by the World Trade Organization. The focus in Washington will be the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a case of "everybody getting in on the act," literally dozens of different groups will stage joint protests during this spring offensive in Washington and in scores of other cities and campuses across the country. Matthew Smucker, a community organizer from Minneapolis who has come to the nation's capital to work full-time on the mobilization, said, "What brings all these groups together? We have been working on our own issues for many years. Now we understand that our issues are not separate. We face a common enemy, the global financial institutions that make decisions that degrade our local economies, cultures and environments. They are totally undemocratic, unelected, and unacccountable to the people." The coalitions, he added, "also share a common vision. We believe that our communities and communities all around the world are more qualified to determine our futures than unelected financial institutions that work only in the interests of transnational corporations." Smucker said the kickoff event will be the Sunday, April 9 Jubilee 2000 rally on the Capitol Mall demanding cancellation of Third World debt. Rally speakers include AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez- Thompson and Oscar Rodriguez, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The plan is to encircle the Capitol Building with a human chain representing the chains that the foreign debt place on debtor nations. So far, 17 million petition signatures have been signed in 120 countries demanding debt cancellation. A week later, tens of thousands are expected to converge on Washington for the April 16 protests. It will include peaceful, sit-down protests early in the morning. At 11 a.m., there will be a legal protest rally in the Ellipse behind the White House. In reality, the protests begin this weekend. Here is a partial listening (for details check the Mobilization for Global Justice web site at http://www.a16.org/action.html). Sun.-Mon., April 2-3 protests in front of the White House demanding the closing of the... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/thousands/thousands.html
