Fw: In or near DC? Essential Action (+ others') Teach In starts today!

[Artur F. Silva]

This is the schedule for the ENDING GLOBAL APARTHEID teach in, which
starts this afternoon with a conversation about peace with Howard
Zinn, Phyllis Bennis, Sam Husseini, and Maria Ramos at All Souls
Unitarian Church, and is followed at 7 pm by the Opening Plenary. We
hope to see you there!

Tickets for tonight's opening plenary are $5, and for all three days
are $15 ($10 for students).

All Souls Church, and the National Baptist Memorial Church, where the
opening plenary is being held, are at the intersection of 16th St. and
Columbia Rd., NW. Maps and more details are available at
www.essentialaction.org/wbimf.

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ending global apartheid
a teach in for action on the World Bank and IMF
Washington, DC, September 27-29, 2001

Schedule (subject to change)
T H U R S D A Y, September 27, 2001
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
A Conversation about Peace
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies (U.S.)
Sam Husseini, Institute for Public Accuracy (U.S.)
Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
(U.S.)
Moderator: Maria Ramos, Washington Peace Center (U.S.)
Location: All Souls Church

7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Opening Plenary: Ending Global Apartheid
Salih Booker, Africa Action (U.S.)
Jonah Gokova, Ecumenical Support Services and Zimbabwe Coalition on
Debt & Development (Zimbabwe)
Aggripina Mosha, Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (Tanzania)
Cristobal Sanchez, Peasants' Association of Rabinal Maya-Achi
(Guatemala)
Moderator: Njoki Njoroge Njehû, 50 Years Is Enough Network
(Kenya/U.S.)
Location: National Baptist Memorial Church

F R I D A Y, September 28, 2001
10:00 am - 11:30 am: Plenary
Democratizing Development: The Case Against Structural Adjustment
Lidy Nacpil, Freedom from Debt Coalition and Jubilee South
(Philippines)
Trevor Ngwane, Anti-Privatization Forum (South Africa)
Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research (U.S.)
Moderator: Joanne Carter, RESULTS (U.S.)
Location: National Baptist Memorial Church

11:45 am - 1:15 pm: Action Sessions

World Bank Bonds Boycott
This session will provide information and organizing training on the
World Bank Bonds Boycott campaign. The boycott, launched at the
initiative of economic justice movements in the global South in
April 2000, is based on the fact that the World Bank raises $20
billion annually on private financial markets by issuing bonds.
Through the World Bank Bonds Boycott, people of faith, taxpayers,
working people, and students are building political pressure to end
harmful World Bank policies by getting their churches, religious
communities, municipalities, etc. to commit not to buy World Bank
bonds in the future. Dozens of municipalities have already signed on
and the Bank is growing concerned about the growing campaign. The
workshop will emphasize "how to" organize a campaign to boycott
World Bank bonds on your campus, in your city council, or in your
church or union.
Matt Feinstein, Clark University (U.S)
Vineeta Gupta, Insaaf (Justice) International (India)
Laura Livoti, Economic Justice for Africa Now (U.S.)
Moderator: Neil Watkins, Center for Economic Justice (U.S.)
Location: All Souls Church

The New Face of Structural Adjustment and "Private Sector
Development"
With structural adjustment -- the standard IMF/World Bank policy
package which calls for slashing government spending, privatization,
and opening up countries to exploitative foreign investment, among
other measures -- discredited by popular movements and a devastating
record of failure, the IMF and World Bank have dressed it in new
clothes. With structural adjustment renamed "poverty reduction and
growth" packages, the policies continue as before, now with the
pretense of public participation. With its "private sector
development" strategy, the World Bank now seeks to privatize even
the most basic social services in even the most impoverished
countries. But efforts are underway, in developing countries and in
the United States, to block the new strategy, and to eliminate or
restrict the reach of the institutions' private sector insurance and
investment arms (known as the International Finance Corporation,
IFC, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA).
Nancy Alexander, Global Challenge Initiative (U.S.)
Aggripina Mosha, Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (Tanzania)
Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth (U.S.)
Moderator: Lidy Nacpil, Freedom from Debt Coalition and Jubilee
South (Philippines)
Location: Casa del Pueblo

1: 15 pm - 2:30 pm: Lunch Break

2: 30 pm - 4:00 pm: Action Sessions

Jubilee & Reparations
Poor countries, including those that have passed through the IMF and
World Bank's debt relief program, routinely spend more money
servicing foreign debt than they do on health care or education.
The IMF and World Bank have sufficient funds and assets in their
coffers to undertake debt cancellation without additional money from
rich country taxpayers, and the powerful international Jubilee
movement is demanding they do exactly that. Meanwhile, developing
country movement are also demanding that the Bank and IMF pay
reparations for the harms they have inflicted in the Global
South, compensating those directly injured by Bank and IMF policies.

Jonah Gokova, Ecumenical Support Services and Zimbabwe Coalition on
Debt & Development (Zimbabwe)
Lidy Nacpil, Freedom from Debt Coalition and Jubilee South
(Philippines)
Moderator: Marie Clarke, Jubilee USA Network (U.S.)
Location: All Souls Church

Legislative
The IMF and World Bank are multilateral agencies, owned by the
governments of the world. The U.S. government has by far the most
influence, having both the greatest number of votes and the
homefield advantage of having the institutions in Washington. While
the Treasury Department is the lead agency in dealing with the IMF
and World Bank, and most Presidents have been content to use their
power at the institutions to extend the reach of their foreign and
economic policy, the U.S. Congress also has an important voice. It
must authorize and appropriate the financial contributions upon
which U.S. influence rests. Conditioning Congressional allocations
has been one of the few paths through which the public can have
influence over the policies of the institutions. This session will
look at what has been accomplished through the U.S. Congress, what
current strategies are afoot, and what might be possible in the
future.
Jaron Bourke, Congressional Staffer (U.S.)
Joanne Carter, RESULTS (U.S.)
Moderator: Soren Ambrose, 50 Years Is Enough Network (U.S.)
Location: Casa del Pueblo

S A T U R D A Y, September 29, 2001
9:00 am - 10:30 am Plenary
Our World is Not for Sale!
Bertha Caceres, COPINH (Honduras)
Vanessa Dixon (U.S.)
Thea Lee, AFL-CIO (U.S.)
Chatinkha Nkhoma, Global AIDS Alliance (Malawi)
Virginia Setshedi, Anti-Privatization Forum (South Africa)
Location: National Baptist Memorial Church

10:45 am - 12:15 pm: Action Sessions

HIV/AIDS & Intellectual Property Rights
For all but a lucky few of the 30 million people in the developing
world who are HIV+, and HIV diagnosis is a death sentence. Even
though existing drug treatments enable people with HIV in rich
countries to survive, the drugs are priced out of reach for people
in poor countries. This session will discuss what people in the
United States can do to respond to the humanitarian nightmare: how
activism can lower drug prices, provide funding for treatment and
prevention in developing countries, and end IMF/World Bank policies
that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Salih Booker, Africa Action (U.S.)
Chatinkha Nkhoma, Global AIDS Alliance (Malawi)
Asia Russell, Health GAP and ACT UP (U.S.)
Moderator: Robert Weissman, Essential Action (U.S.)
Location: All Souls Church

Labor & Sweatshops
Privatization jeopardizes the jobs and lives of electrical workers
in Haiti; labor and gender exploitation compound each other in the
sweatshops of Saipan and Mexico; and workers, recently emigrated
from countries suffering from structural adjustment, are denied the
right to collective bargaining in the fields of Florida.  Hear about
these cases and about ongoing projects in the US that allow
consumers and activists to get organized in support of workers'
campaigns around the world.
Chie Abad, former sweatshop worker in Saipan (Philippines)
Lucas Benitez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers (U.S.)
Harry Clerveau, Haitian Platform for Advocacy for Alternative
Development-PAPDA (Haiti)
Norma Guillermina Solís Torres, Coalition for Justice in the
Maquiladoras (Mexico)
Moderator: Daisy Pitkin, Campaign for Labor Rights (U.S.)
Location: Casa del Pueblo

Corporate Globalization & Indigenous Rights
Ever since the European encroachment on this hemisphere, indigenous
peoples have been subjected to the plundering of their lands and
culture.  In this world of corporate globalization this trend
continues with indigenous lands deforested, large scale
hydroelectric dams developed and privatization that forces
indigenous peoples from their traditional homes.  Multinational
corporations, along with institutions like the World Bank, are
responsible for this continuing onslaught and pose an extreme threat
to indigenous peoples' rights and self-determination. One of the
newest threats to indigenous peoples is Plan Puebla Panama.  This
plan will effect the entire isthmus of the Americas from Puebla,
Mexico to Panama.  Fortunately, there are many forms of indigenous
resistance to corporate globalization; the Zapatista uprising in
Chiapas, Mexico is one example.
Bertha Caceres, COPINH (Honduras)
Ernesto Ledesma, Global Exchange (Mexico)
Ibe Wilson, Kuna Youth Movement (Panama)
Moderator: Orin Langelle, ACERCA (U.S.)
Location: National Baptist Memorial Church

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm: Lunch Break

1:15 pm - 2:45: pm Action Sessions

Privatization
The IMF and the World Bank have required developing countries to
privatize an amazing array of government-owned assets and
government-provided services, including mines, oil refineries,
electricity utilities and banks. IMF/Bank mandated privatization
frequently involve mass layoffs and union busting, giveaways to
wealthy elites or foreign investors and diminished service for
consumers. Also on the IMF/Bank privatization hit list are many
services which frequently remain in the public sector in rich
countries, such as water and sanitation, healthcare, airports, and
even customs and tax collection; the privatization record in these
areas is: private profits up, public access down.
Harry Clerveau, Haitian Platform for Advocacy for Alternative
Development-PAPDA (Haiti)
Vineeta Gupta, Insaaf (Justice) International (India)
Virginia Setshedi, Anti-Privatization Forum (South Africa)
Moderator: Sara Grusky, Global Challenge Initiative (U.S.)
Location: All Souls Church

Land & Environment
The World Bank has a decades-long record of financing development
disasters ­ megaprojects that offer huge rewards to multinationals
but despoil the environment and displace rural and indigenous
populations. New Bank initiatives to support land reform programs
threaten to further
disrupt the rural sector, and corrupt the concept of land reform.
This session will provide cutting-edge reports on Bank projects and
policies, and explore how public opposition -- in the United States
and around the world -- is beginning to turn back the Bank's
momentum.
Tania Arosemena, Civil Society Initiative for the Environment
(Panama)
Bertha Carcares, COPINH (Honduras)
Katia Grams de Lima, Landless Workers Movement ­ MST (Brazil)
Moderator: Daphne Wysham, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network
(U.S.)
Location: Casa del Pueblo

Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), currently being
negotiated by 34 countries of the Americas, is intended by its
architects to be the most far-reaching trade agreement in history.
Although it is based on the model of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), it goes far beyond NAFTA in its scope and power.
Corporations are now trying to push fast track -- a procedural rule
that would limit Congress's ability to debate or amend the
legislation to implement the FTAA -- through the U.S. Congress, but
U.S. citizen opposition is gathering steam and poised to defeat the
corporate power grab.
Carrie Biggs-Adams, Communication Workers of America (U.S.)
John Cavanaugh, Institute for Policy Studies (U.S.)
Evelyn Larrieux, Solidarité Famn Ayisen (Haitian Women's Solidarity)
SOFA (Haiti)
Manuel Perez Rocha, Mexican Action Network Against Free Trade ­
RMALC (Mexico)
Moderator: Margrete Strand Rangnes, Public Citizen (U.S.)
Location: National Baptist Memorial Church

3:00 pm - 4:00 pm: Closing Plenary
Ending Global Apartheid: Another World Is Possible
Reflections on the state of the movement against corporate
globalization, and of campaigns to shrink the power of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank. An inspirational call to
action.
Marie Dennis, Religious Working Group on the World Bank and IMF
(U.S.)
Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange (U.S.)
Luis Gilberto Murillo, former governor of Chocó State (Colombia)
Moderator: Robert Weissman, Essential Action (U.S.)
Location: National Baptist Church

Tickets for tonight's opening plenary are $5, and for all three days
are $15 ($10 for students).

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