A16 DC Call to Action for 2005 Spring Meetings
On the five year anniversary of the first A16, we are again calling for a mass mobilization against the neo imperialistic policies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and all their cohorts. Free riders in a city where 12,000 people sleep on the streets, there is no public hospital, more people per capita have HIV/AIDS than any other U.S city, and students’ reading performances are lower than the national average in all grades beyond first. Globally, these exploitive institutions are forcing developing countries into debt as well as perpetuating the current North-South system of global apartheid, privatizing natural resources essential to everyday life, and the unequal representation that denies countries outside of the G-7 a voice in their own futures.
For these reasons and many others, we, the A16 Planning Collective, are calling for direct actions against these institutions of capitalism which promote poverty, racism, sexism, environmental destruction, and the concentration of power in the hands of the leaders of a few countries during the week of April 11-17. We ask that persons who disagree with the policies and institutions of the World Bank and IMF start to create affinity groups in which to partake in autonomous direct actions as a means to prevent “Business as Usual” as well as the Spring meetings themselves. We have planned two mass direct actions which will take place on April 15 and 16, but will not announce these actions until closer to those dates.
We hope to organize an action that is accessible to everyone who wants to participate, at many risk and experience levels. We will provide information and a framework for actions to affect the overall plans of preventing “Business as Usual” and the Spring meetings, but we will depend on individuals and affinity groups preparation and encourage everyone to come with their own ideas, supplies, and plans. This will not be a standard march and rally, and while it is coming up rather fast, we do believe that we can succeed in stopping these meetings, but it can only happen with your help.
See you on the streets,
In Solidarity, Love and Rage,
The A16 DC Planning Collective
202-885-3333
A16DC@Mutualaid.org www.A16DC.org