[stop-imf] Request for Endorsements: Call to Action against IMF/World Bank

[Robert Weissman]

ENDORSE AT: http://www.50years.org/cms/action/apr2004/signup
OR BY EMAIL: info@50years.org


Dear Friends,

I trust this finds each of you and yours well and strong in the
struggles for justice.

I am writing to send the attached Call to Action on the 60th Anniversary
of the IMF & World Bank and to invite you to endorse the demands.=A0 The
demands are specific and address a number of issues and positions that
our organizations and member groups, along with many others, have been
working on.=A0 The demands were vetted with 50 Years Is Enough Network
member organizations, allies, and colleagues in the Global South.

I am writing to you because I believe these are demands that you and
your organization support and should endorse. Please take a look and I
hope that each of will both pursue institutional endorsements and
circulate the Call to Action and invite others to endorse. Spread the
Word! Also do visit http://www.50years.org/cms/action/apr2004/signers to
see a list of current signers, we will be putting effort in gathering
sign-ons over the next couple weeks. Please let me know if you have any
questions and/or need further information.

To endorse the demands go to:
http://www.50years.org/cms/action/apr2004/signup

In struggle & solidarity,

Njoki Njorege Njehu,
50 Years is Enough

International Days of Action Against the IMF & the World Bank: April 16
=96 25, 2004
Call to Action for Mobilization
April 21 - 25 in Washington, DC


2004 is:
- the 60th anniversary of the founding of the World Bank and the IMF;

 - the 10th Anniversary of the founding of the 50 Years Is Enough
Network campaign;
  - a U.S. presidential election year; and a crucial year for the
struggles for global justice.

For six decades, the World Bank and IMF have imposed policies, programs,
and projects that:
* Decimate women=92s rights and devastate their lives, their families, and
their communities;
* Subjugate democratic governance and accountability to corporate
profits and investment portfolios;
* Trap countries in a cycle of indebtedness and economic domination;
* Force governments to privatize essential services;
* Put profits before peoples=92 rights and needs;
* Abet the devastation of the environment in the name of development and pr=
ofit;
* Institutionalize the domination of the wealthy over the impoverished =97
the new form of colonialism; and
* Facilitate corporate agendas through the economic re-structuring of
countries enduring conflict and occupation, such as East Timor,
Afghanistan, and Iraq.

In the 60th anniversary year of the IMF and World Bank, we demand the
following measures from the institutions and the governments which
control them.  Add your voice, endorse the demands:

* Open all World Bank and IMF meetings to the media and the public;
* Cancel all impoverished country debt to the World Bank and IMF, using
the institutions' own resources;
* End all World Bank and IMF policies that hinder people's access to
food, clean water, shelter, health care, education, and right to
organize. (Such "structural adjustment" policies include user fees,
privatization, and economic austerity programs.);
* Stop all World Bank support for socially and environmentally
destructive projects such as oil, gas, and mining activities, and all
support for projects such as dams that include forced relocation of people.

We furthermore recognize the urgency of the world=92s most catastrophic
health crisis, the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  We assert the culpability of the
international financial institutions in decimating health care systems
of Global South countries, and reject the approach of fighting the
pandemic with more loans and conditions from these institutions.  We
call on the world=92s governments to best deploy their resources by fully
funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.  We
demand the elimination of trade rules that undermine access to
affordable life-saving medications.

Help end global economic injustice driven by the policies, projects, and
programs of the international financial institutions!

Educate, Organize, Mobilize!  Be the change you want to see in our
world!  Organize public events to expose the use of power, veiled by
rhetoric, to enrich corporations, banks, and investors at the expense of
people and the planet.

Mass mobilization April 21 - 25, 2004 - Come to Washington! Take a
public stand in Washington DC during the IMF/World Bank semi-annual
meetings.  Help organize events in 2004 - speaking tours, coordinated
local & global actions, global justice film festivals, non-violent
direct action, street theatre, conferences & teach-ins, popular
education, vigils, etc.

Localize the movements for global justice, organize in your community!

Endorse the Demands
Visit www.50years.org, email info@50years.org; or call202/463-2265 for
details & updates