The Call to Action below is that which we discussed at the 1st International Gathering in Solidarity and for Peace in Colombia and Latin America. If your organization wishes to join the Call and/or to organize a protest in your country, please send the name of your organization and your plans to Sergio of Latinas and Latinos for Social Change ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or to Cherrene of CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). The LASC (Latin America Solidarity Conference of the US) invites Groups and Progressive Organizations of Good Will to Sign on to the Call to End US Military and Economic Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. We also invite prominent community leaders, academics and clergy to sign on. If you have contacts with such individuals, please forward this call to them. Their sign-on should include their title (ie. State Senator, Rev., Ph.D, Sr., etc.) If you have questions, contact Sergio of Latinas and Latinos for Social Change in Boston , (617) 824-4123 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or Cherrene of CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador in New York, (212) 229-1290 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]). We have not yet set up a webpage for the action, but will have one shortly. *************** INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST U.S. MILITARY AND ECONOMIC INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (as part of a weekend of protest against the neoliberal policies of the World Bank and IMF, under the title "Another World is Possible: Weekend of Solidarity) JOIN TENS OF THOUSANDS ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 TO SAY: NO to Plan Colombia No to the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) U.S. Bases out of Vieques and all of Latin America & the Caribbean Close the School of the Americas / WHISC Stop the Direct Assault Against People of Color & the Poor in the Americas through the Phony War on Drugs The U.S. government is continuing its legacy of intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean by imposing pro-corporate, anti-people economic policies, by providing military aid and training to repressive governments, and attempting to crush any movements that support alternative models. We must stop these policies and stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers throughout the Americas. They are at the forefront of opposition to these policies, and are creating alternatives that place human need above corporate greed. The U.S. government is using its armed forces to push through economic policies that only serve to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. This war system works hand in hand with the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The U.S. government is using the production of narcotics in the southern part of the American continent as an excuse to militarize the Americas. There are currently military bases in Cuba, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico and a strong military presence in Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru. Current U.S. policy towards Colombia is a failed policy which is inflaming a violent conflict and contributing to increased human rights abuses. We call for an end to all military aid to Colombia and for an end to U.S. funding of fumigation in Colombia and the Andean region. We recognize that U.S.-funded fumigation of coca crops is destroying critical biodiversity throughout the Amazon region and is creating health and food-security crises among the local populations. At the same time - with the excuses of the "drug war", and "illegal" immigration - the U.S. has militarized its border with Mexico. It is also increasingly militarizing the police forces in urban and rural areas and is brutalizing the people of color who live there. We know that all this repression has the same root and the same purpose: to maintain U.S. economic control, and to concentrate wealth in even fewer hands. Challenges to this anti-people model - especially those rising from democratic processes and civil society- are a tremendous threat to US control in the region. We support the peaceful resolution of differences in our personal lives, in our communities, in our nation and in the world. We condemn the actions of the United States government that increase economic and social inequality, undermine democratic institutions, and fund police and military violence. We uphold the right to self-determination and national sovereignty. The nations and peoples of the hemisphere have the right to pursue self-government free of external military and economic pressures. We who live in the United States must realize the responsibility of the U.S. government in creating and maintaining inequality in the Americas. We must work to end all U.S. military aid and training to the region, to stop the blockade of Cuba, to end the continued colonial exploitation of Puerto Rico and its use as a giant military base from which invasions to other countries are rehearsed. We must say no to the U.S. viewing and using other countries as their backyard. We propose alternatives to the pro-company, anti-people economic model - alternatives that overcome repressive structures in our own countries, as well as the existence of the same structures elsewhere. We propose alternatives that include real community building, fair economics, and self-determination. Therefore, we oppose the so-called "war on drugs", Presidential Fast-Track authority in trade negotiations, and NAFTA- style Free Trade Agreements between the U.S. and the other countries of the Americas. We call on people of conscience around the world to join us on September 29 in our protest against US military and economic intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are organizing a massive protest in Washington DC as part of the week of action against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. We call for people to organize local demonstrations on the same day. We are also coordinating with movements throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to make this an International Day of Action Against U.S. Military and Economic Intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Endorsers (list in formation): US - National Organizations: ACERCA-Action for Community and Ecology in the Regions of Central America; Alliance for Global Justice; CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; Colombia Action Network; Disarm; EPICA (Ecumenical Program on Central America and the Caribbean); The Fellowship of Reconciliation; Freedom Road Socialist Organization; Grandmothers for Peace International; Guatemala Human Rights Commission - USA; IFCO/Pastors for Peace; Haiti Reborn; Inter-Religious Task Force on Central America; Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Mexico Solidarity Network; NETWORK -- A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby; Nicaragua Network; NISGUA - Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala; Office of the Americas; Peru Peace Network; Quest for Peace/Quixote Center; Rights Action; School of the Americas Watch; Vieques Support Campaign; War Resisters League, Witness for Peace US - Local Organizations: Anti-War Committee, MN; Bankbusters, Boston, MA; Centro Salvadoreno, New York, NY; Chicago Nicaragua Solidarity Committee, IL; Chicago Revolutionary Network (CHIREVNET), IL; Church of Brethren Washington Office, Washington, DC; CISPES--Boston ,MA; CISPES -- New York, NY; Committee in Solidarity with the Central American People, Eugene, OR; Committee on U.S.- Latin America Relations (CUSLAR), Ithaca, NY; Dekalb Interfaith Network for Peace and Justice; 8th Day Center for Justice, Chicago, IL; Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) Instant Antiwar Action Group, Vermont Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, Massachusetts Chapter Latinos and Latinas for Social Change, Boston, MA; Marin Interfaith Task Force on Central America and Caribbean, Marin, CA; Pax Christi Metro New York, NY; Pax Christi, St. Louis, MO; Pax Christi RichmondRochester Colombia Committee, Rochester, NY; School of the Americas Watch/Northeast; Westchester People's Action Coalition (WESTPAC), Westchester, NY; Fair Trade Coalition of Lane County (Oregon); Latin American Committee of the Diocese of Phoenix; Midpoint Counseling Center Individuals: Noam Chomsky, Professor, MIT; Thomas J. Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Detroit; Catherine Maternowska, PhD, MPH; Martha Bushnell, Ph.D.; Pedro Pablo Giron _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
