From: "Action Center" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 09:20:14 -0400 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [IAC] S29 ORGANIZERS CONDEMN POLICE PLANS International Action Center 1247 E. St., SE, Washington, DC 20003 202-543-2777  www.beatbackbush.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 13, 2001 CONTACT PERSONS: Richard Becker, Sarah Sloan, Mervyn Marcano 202-543-2777 HUGE MEDIA TURNOUT FOR SEPT. 29TH ANTI-GLOBALIZATION PROTEST PRESS CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, DC. PROTEST ORGANIZERS ANNOUNCE PLANS TO SURROUND THE WHITE HOUSE AND MARCH ON THE IMF AND WORLD BANK ORGANIZERS CONDEMN POLICE PLANS �TO SUPPRESS FREE SPEECH RIGHTS� SEPT. 29TH PROTEST ORGANIZERS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS � CALL 202-543-2777 TO SCHEDULE INTERVIEW The Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. overflowed with TV cameras and reporters who had come to hear representatives of the International Action Center (IAC), Latin American Solidarity Conference, Partnership for Civil Justice, Mobilization for Global Justice, and others. These groups have been organizing protests against the Bush Administration, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank for the weekend of September 29th and 30th. There were over 100 reporters from TV, radio and print including national, international and local D.C. press. This extensive media presence included the LA Times, Washington Times, NY Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, NY Daily News, Tokyo Broadcasting System, German TV, Sky News (England), Gannett News Service, Fox News, Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg News Service, Cleveland Plain Dealer, CBS, ABC, NBC, AFP, BBC, CSPAN, UPI, Al Jazeera (Arabic language TV), and the Independent Media Center, as well as virtually all local DC media. Press conference speakers included Brian Becker and Teresa Gutierrez, National Co-Directors, International Action Center; Bob Brown, Director, Kwame Ture Work Study Institute & Library; Cherrene Horazuk, Executive Director, Comm. In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES); Marianne Mollman, Executive Director, Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA); Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Attorney & Co-Founder, Partnership for Civil Justice and Matthew Smucker, Mobilization for Global Justice. The press conference came after announcements made by Washington D.C. police and other authorities to restrict large areas of the city on September 29th and 30th, interfering with permits previously granted to organizations planning marches and demonstrations against the Bush administration and the IMF/World Bank. The conference was opened by Mervyn Marcano, a youth organizer for the International Action Center, who said that �tens of thousands will protest this fall against the IMF and World Bank imposing poverty and misery on people of all continents, and the reactionary political program of the Bush Administration � both its domestic and foreign policies. We will protest in opposition to U.S. intervention in Latin America, especially concerning Plan Colombia, the FTAA and the bombing of Vieques.� Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice announced that her group would be filing a suit in federal court challenging the government�s attempts to suspend democracy and restrict the First Amendment rights of demonstrators in Washington. Brian Becker, National Co-Director of the International Action Center, said �It is our contention here today that the police decision to create an exclusion zone is a brazen attempt to replicate the Genoa-style police state, but this time in Washington DC. It is useful to remember that even at the height of the Vietnam War, large sections of Washington DC were never declared off-limits to demonstrators. �We are here to tell DC Police Chief Charles Ramsey, Attorney General Ashcroft and George Bush that it is illegal and unconstitutional to turn the streets of Washington DC into the private property of the IMF and World Bank delegates.� He went on to detail violence perpetrated by the police against demonstrators over the last year-and-a-half, including preventive detention arrests and summary punishment of prisoners after demonstrations. The International Action Center is calling on tens of thousands of people to surround the White House to �Beat Back the Bush Attack� on September 29, and then remain in DC to protest September 30 through October 4. Bob Brown, Director of the Kwame Ture Work/Study Institute and Library stated: �We are concerned about the efforts of the U.S. and District governments to erode our hard-won rights to protest and dissent. We remember all the African, Latino, Indigenous and other oppressed people who have sacrificed to win these rights. We remember Bull Connor in Birmingham, Nixon�s May Day round-up, Chicago in 1968 and 1996. �We will assemble and protest on Sept. 29th and 30th in front of the U.S. Congress, the White House, the IMF and the World Bank and no force on earth will stop us.� Teresa Gutierrez, a National Co-Director of the International Action Center, said, �Bush is carrying out globalization inside the United States to maximize profit for oil companies, mining companies and defense contractors. Globalization can be seen here in Washington in the shutdown of DC General Hospital and the threats to the UDC, the district�s university. Bush is attempting to destroy environmental protections and trade union rights, privatize social security, privatize social service programs and destroy public education while spending tens of billions to militarize outer space in the name of the so-called National Missile Defense. �We are coming to Washington DC because the mobilization of the people, not just one demonstration but the creation of a new grassroots mass movement, is the only method to defend working and poor people from the assaults carried out by Bush and the banking and corporate elites.� The Latin American Solidarity Conference, which includes CISPES, NISGUA, and more than 40 other groups, is organizing a mass march on September 29 focusing on U.S. military and economic intervention in Latin American and the Caribbean. The LASC march will merge with the �Surround the White House� demonstration. Cherrene Horazuk, the Executive Director of CISPES, said �Today, the police and security agencies in Washington DC are once again attempting to demonize a movement and violate our constitutional first amendment rights. The Latin America Conference is committed to guaranteeing that they fail in this effort. We WILL be in Washington in September and we call on people around the world to join us. We will make our voices heard, as we join the global movement that proclaims � Another World is Possible.� Marianne Mollmann, the Executive Director of NISGUA, said �We are often asked if we are worried about violent demonstrators. We are here to tell you No. � We are worried that our constitutional rights are about to be deliberately violated.� Representing the Mobilization for Global Justice, Matt Smucker said, �We are pleased to see that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are feeling the pressure of the growing movement against corporate globalization. The decision to shorten the meeting reflects the growing anxiety of the World Bank and the IMF over their public image. �It does not matter to the impoverished people of the world and our collective global environment whether the World Bank and IMF meet for six days, five days, two days or not at all. What matters is the devastating impact of these institutions� policies.� Protesters note that many are skeptical that the meetings are in fact not taking place during the week and plans are being made accordingly. Becker concluded by saying, �We will not accept the police relegating the demonstrators to a token presence. They have no right to limit the tens of thousands and perhaps more who will march because they want change. We will not accept �protest pits.� Police authorities have no right to determine where free speech can be exercised and in what numbers.� C-Span broadcast the press conference in full three times, and may re-broadcast. For further press conference, see www.beatbackbush.org and www.iacenter.org. _________________________________________________ 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] ________________
