FOR RELEASE FRIDAY, September 14, 2001 For Information: Lane Wind=
ham
202/637-5018
Statement by
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
On September IMF/World Bank Meeting
September 14, 2001
Today I have sent a letter to James Wolfensohn, president of the World
Bank, and Horst K=F6hler, managing director of the International Monetary
Fund, calling upon them to cancel or postpone the annual meeting of the
Bank and the IMF scheduled for Washington at the end of September. As I
said to them in my letter, I believe that this is a time for pause and
profound reflection, not another round of closed-door meetings behind tall
fences.
For our part, the AFL-CIO will not, in any event, continue our planning to
lead a peaceful mass protest at the meeting, nor will we participate in any
such demonstrations.
At the current time, our energies and attention are fully focused on the
massive relief effort in which our unions are involved, and on bringing
people together to begin the process of healing and renewing our sense of
community and confidence. Union members - from firefighters to
psychologists, from New York City ferryboat workers to construction workers
to nurses - are helping around the clock in the rescue and relief efforts
(update attached). This weekend, we had made plans for two days of door
knocking in Washington, with volunteers calling on 10,000 other union
activists to participate in the World Bank/IMF protests. Instead, the
volunteers will now be going door-to-door to tell 10,000 union households
how they can help relieve the suffering precipitated by this week's
terrorist attack by donating blood and by contributing to a relief fund to
assist affected families.
We remain steadfast in our conviction that the policies of the World Bank
and the IMF must change if they are to foster a fair and just global
economy that works for working families everywhere. We will continue to
call for new rules for the global economy that protect people and the
planet, not just multinational corporate interests, and to work to defeat
fast track trade negotiating authority, to win cancellation of debt for
poor nations and to develop strong global HIV/AIDS policies.
And we will continue to insist that working people around the world have a
voice in the global policy debate. The institutions that forge policy for
the global economy - the WTO as well as the Bank and the Fund - must work
with concerned citizens to re-think how global deliberations
proceed. Democratic countries cannot continue to convene closed meetings
or try to stifle voices of dissent.
This week, in the face of attacks on our democratic and open society from
those who reject our values, we are acutely conscious of the need to
embrace citizen input. No fence is tall enough to silence the voices
speaking out for the democratic, equitable, sustainable development we so
desperately need to build a genuine global community.
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