BECHTEL MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, NOT MADE MORE PROFITABLE!
Stop Bechtel's war profiteering. Stop the Bush Administration from taking money from our schools and communities to subsidize Bechtel - leaving desperate human needs unmet in Iraq and the U.S. Lend your voice and activism to on-going community struggles against Bechtel.
Join us in San Francisco, Washington DC, or host action in your community! For more info and to organize Bechtel actions outside of the Bay Area, e-mail
bechtel@riseup.net FOUR DAYS OF ACTION
Sunday, June 1: Day of Religious Outreach and Teach-In
Outreach at churches and other places of worship during the day and a teach-in in the evening to provide greater details on the issues outlined above. Gather at places of worship to distribute information on Bechtel's human rights abuses.
Tuesday, June 3: Day of Direct Education and Outreach
Using creative street theater, educational materials, listening actions, etc. we will spread out throughout the Bay Area (nationally and internationally as well) to share information on Bechtel and the issues described above.
Wednesday, June 4: Day of Direct Action at Congressional and Federal Offices
Demand legislation opposing the rebuilding contract process of the Bush Administration and proposing positive alternatives that provide for Iraqi self-determination and humanitarian needs and redirecting money to address the "war at home." We imagine every form of peaceful activism including a national phone and fax day; visits to congressional offices; taking over congressional offices with sit-ins that may turn into on-the-spot teach-ins; protests at Federal Buildings and the White House and other forms of non-violent direct action.
Thursday, June 5: Day of Direct Action at Bechtel's World Headquarters, Offices and Sites
In San Francisco, we'll peacefully SHUTDOWN Bechtel's offices, around the nation and the world non-violent direct actions will take place at other Bechtel locations.
GOALS:
Each of these events will advance the following goals:
1. Expose Bechtel's record of human rights, environmental, health and safety and tax-payer abuses and links to the ongoing community campaigns against Bechtel;
2. Stop the Bush Administration's system of awarding contracts in Iraq that put the profits of U.S. corporations over the humanitarian needs and self-determination of the people of Iraq;
3. Explore and support positive alternative rebuilding proposals put forward by Iraqis, the United Nations and Members of Congress;
4. Stop the flow of billions of dollars from our schools and communities to subsidize the corporate invasion of Iraq, starting with the $680 million for Bechtel;
5. Stop the Bush Administration from using a military invasion to impose an economic globalization agenda on Iraq without the consent of the Iraqi people;
6. Stop the Bush Administration's Empire-Building agenda;
7. BUILD ON THE POWERFUL GLOBAL RESISTANCE TO THESE ABUSES AND SUPPORT THE POSTIIVE ALTERNATIVES THAT ALREADY EXIST!
BACKGROUND:
Two wars and over a decade of sanctions have crippled Iraq's infrastructure. It is imperative that the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people - particularly the right to self-determination - take precedence in the rebuilding effort.
Unfortunately, the Bush Administration is putting U.S. corporate profits over humanitarian needs, awarding a $680 million 18-month contract to the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation - a company with one of the worst human rights and environmental abuse records in the world, far more likely to line its own pockets than meet the needs of the Iraqi people, a company with intimate ties to the Bush Administration, and a company that helped bring us into the war in the first place and is now profiting from it. This type of crony capitalism underscores the need to remove the control of Iraq's resources and reconstruction from the Pentagon and the Bush Administration and put it into the hands of the Iraqi people, humanitarian relief organizations and the United Nations.
This Modern World Cartoon - Tom Tomorrow
Bechtel's contract includes rebuilding the drinking and wastewater systems in Iraq. A Bush Administration plan for "a broad-based Mass Privatization Program" of state-owned industries in Iraq may also include water ˆ raising the specter of Bechtel seizing Iraq's water to increase profits at the expense of the Iraqi people.
A few samples from Bechtel's record of putting profits over people provide reason for concern:
- Just over a year ago, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors canceled a contract with Bechtel for the management of the city's water systems upgrade. Bechtel was doing unnecessary and overpriced work and charged the city for tens of thousands of dollars worth of personal expenses. Many also feared that Bechtel had its eye on privatizing the city's water.
- After privatizing the water systems in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a Bechtel subsidiary made the price of water so expensive that many, particularly the poorest users, could no longer afford it. Bechtel then, at best, sat still while the Bolivian government met mass public protests with deadly force. In the end, the people of Cochabamba prevailed and the government canceled Bechtel‚s contract. In response, Bechtel is suing Bolivia for $25 million in lost profits.
- In the 1980's, with the help of then Middle East envoy Donald Rumsfeld, Bechtel aggressively lobbied the Iraqi government to allow Bechtel to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan, while Hussein was simultaneously bombarding his own people and the people of Iran with chemical weapons. Hussein called off the deal. Now Hussein is out and Bechtel is in - this time, pumping water instead of oil.
For more on Bechtel, including ongoing community struggles, see upcoming DASW fact sheets at
http://www.actagainstwar.org. The corporate take-over of Iraq must be stopped. The needs of the people of Iraq and the U.S. must be met. It is time to act. Please join us.
You don't have to wait until June. Keep the pressure on Bechtel NOW! Hold your own teach-ins (we'll help), create art and street theater, contact elected officials, hold press conferences, write letters to the editor, join local communities in struggles against Bechtel and the war at home, join the global peace movement and help us organize the week of action!
bechtel is in your town!
For more information:
http://www.actagainstwar.org (415) 820-9649
bechtel@riseup.net for more background info on bechtel, see:
http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=6532