Join the Un-Welcoming party for the Fortune 500 Forum

on October 13, 2000

in Austin, Texas

http://www.o13.org

Another event in the series of anti-globalisation protests, demanding an end to corporate dominance and control.

Why Protest?

While corporations have been making unparalleled profits in the high-tech boom, the gap between the haves and have-nots has been growing. Many Austinites barely have enough money to pay their rent or feed themselves, live from paycheck to paycheck, and are finding it harder to save enough money to get ahead.

As community and activists, we need to offer an alternative vision of where Austin should be going in the future. The Fortune 500 Forum offers an opportunity for us to visibly protest AND discuss issues relevant to a changing and stressed Austin:

* Growing corporate power in international trade issues and the formation of large, bureaucratic, non-democratic bodies that manage it such as the WTO, IMF, and World Bank.

* The corporate buyoff of our politicians and Democracy itself this election year.

* Development and Gentrification on the East Side.

* The growing wage gap between those in service and high-tech industries and the need for a Living Wage standard in Austin.

* The large number of homeless and deeply impoverished who are being left out and are lacking assistance.

* The number of people, particularly children, who are hungry, malnourished, and lack health care.

* A high level of growth that is placing pressure on the environment, the expansion of freeway construction, and issues of mass transit.