------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 19, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- MONTE RIO, CALIF.: HATED IMPERIALISTS CAN'T HIDE AMONG THE TREES By Workers World San Francisco bureau Activists from all over the West Coast are coming to the town of Monte Rio on the Sonoma Coast July 14 to protest the corporate globalizers and war criminals who gather at the male-only Bohemian Grove Club each year. Buses and carpools are departing from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Diego, the Central Valley and other locations to participate in the largest demonstration ever held outside the exclusive club. Bohemian Grove is a privately owned, 2,700-acre rare redwood forest located 75 miles north of San Francisco. Each July 2,500 U.S. top government officials, CEOs, bankers and military leaders gather there for a two-week retreat. No women are allowed into these secret discussions of future plans for globalization and U.S. military dominance. Every Republican president since Herbert Hoover has been a member of this club, along with quite a few Democrats. Executives from major military contractors, oil companies, banks, utilities and the national media are also members. The July 14 protest at Bohemian Grove against the Bush agenda and corporate globalization begins at 2 p.m. in the River Access parking lot of Monte Rio, Calif. Speakers will include Willie Garret, former Sonoma County NAACP chapter president; journalist and author Alexander Cockburn; Henry Clark, director of the West County Toxics Coalition; John Parker, Los Angeles Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal; Gloria La Riva, International Action Center; Miguel Gavilan Molina of KPFA; Alicia Sanchez, labor organizer; Cora Lee Simmons, Round Valley Indians for Justice; Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored; Carlos Padilla, Students for Justice-Charlotte Green, Death Penalty Focus; Ramon Acevedo, Committee for a New Colombia; and Babara Lubin, executive director of Middle East Children's Alliance. Richard Becker of the International Action Center and Mary Moore of the Bohemian Grove Action Network will emcee the rally and Native drumming groups will lead a mass march to the gates of the enclave. In addition, activists will take to the streets again July 18 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to protest war criminal Henry Kissinger. The former secretary of state and national security advisor was the architect of death and destruction in Vietnam, Chile, East Timor, Angola and the Middle East. He will speak at a Commonwealth Club event as part of his annual trip to Bohemian Grove. Kissinger regularly gives "Lakeside Chats" at Bohemian Grove. These chats are conducted twice daily during the two- week July retreat. In past years they have included Kissinger and former President Richard Nixon on "Do we need a foreign policy," Vice President Richard Cheney on "Major defense problems of the 21st century," former Secretary of State James Baker on "The imperative of American lead ership," U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on "Church, state, and the Constitution," former Secretary of State and Attorney General Elliot Richardson on "Defining a New World Order," Christopher DeMuth on "The triumph of the market and the politics of affluence," General Electric and Utah Mining CEO Edmund Littlefield on "Enjoying the corporate climb," and Fred Henderson III on "Commercial opportunities in space: the next decade." A CONVERGENCE OF EXPLOITERS "Bohemian Grove is a sinister convergence of many of the world's most dangerous and destructive individuals, from Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and the Bechtels, to Henry Kissinger, Edwin Meese, George Bush Sr., and the CEOs of the Fortune 500 giants," said Nancy Mitchell, an organizer at the International Action Center. "Their goal is to push forward globalization, which means the freedom of capital-- particularly U.S. capital--to freely exploit the labor and resources of the world. "The ruling elite use the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the plans for the Free Trade Area of the Americas to force austerity plans on scores of developing and poor countries," Mitchell explained. "Those who resist are subjected to war, intervention, occupation and blockade--from Iraq to Cuba, from Palestine to Korea, from Colombia to Angola, from China to Mexico. "Globalization is also visible right here in this country," she stressed. "The slashing of social programs, elimination of affirmative action, attacks on women's rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, disabled rights, elimination of environmental standards, the racist death penalty and ever-expanding prison system in the U.S.-- which holds over 2 million people--are all part of the repressive Bush agenda we are protesting at Bohemian Grove." Mitchell also told Workers World that the July 14 protest at Bohemian Grove will be the West Coast launching of a national campaign by the International Action Center, along with other organizations, to mobilize to defeat the Bush program. A mass march and rally to surround the White House are planned for Sept. 29. Hundreds of organizations and many individuals are mobilizing for the action, which coincides with a planned national convergence to protest the IMF and World Bank. For information about getting to the Bohemian Grove protests or to join future West Coast efforts to fight the Bush program, contact the International Action Center in San Francisco at (415) 821-6545, or in Los Angeles at (213) 487- 2368. More information is also posted on the Web site www.actionsf.org - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
