Serbia Congress of the socialist Party Cuba Columbus and after IMF Protest marches in Washington

The Mobilisation for Global Justice has issued a call to join in the protest against IMF and World Bank policies which will see a historic march in Washington on April 16-17 to build a peaceful, people-centred, and environmentally-sound global economic
system .

The organisation, which says that it ``grew out of Seattle,’’ has blamed the IMF and World Bank , more than any other institutions, for the coercive powers which
have forced the global economy to take its present shape. They were also
instrumental in giving birth to the WTO. In a press statement issued from Washington, the organisation said that the IMF and World Bank ``semi-annual meetings will
be the occasion for a demonstration of our rejection of their rules and
their system for imposing them.’’ It said,``We are working with coalitions across the continent that are organising to come to Washington, including groups in New York, San Francisco,
Seattle,Winnipeg, Bloomington (Indiana), Chicago, and many other communities.
In the United Kingdom and South Africa, whose Finance Ministers will chair
the main IMF and World Bank committee meetings on April 16th and 17th
respectively, our partners are organising to give them a send-off. We
have also heard from activists in Haiti, Thailand, Mali, Brazil, South Korea,
Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Kenya, and the Philippines who want to
come or stage events of their own.’’
On Sunday, April 16, the highest-level architects of the global economy,
including World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn, the new head of
the IMF, and about 25 Finance Ministers and heads of Central Banks, will
come together for a meeting of the governing body of the IMF. Also likely to
be in attendance is Mike Moore, head of the WTO; he and his predecessor
have regularly attended this group's meetings, along with the heads of other
powerful international institutions. April's sessions are among the
routine high-level meetings dedicated to making the world safer and more
profitable for corporations -- and more dangerous for people and the planet. The
formal joint meetings of the World Bank Group and IMF continue through
April 17, the statement said.
Experienced activists from dozens of organisations are now meeting
regularly in Washington and have formed the Mobilisation for Global Justice
coalition.These groups have planned a week of activities, starting with a Jubilee
2000/USA mobilisation for debt cancellation on April 9. Teach-ins,
trainings, non-violent demonstrations, and lobbying opportunities will
span the week between that event and those of April 16-17.
Included in this burgeoning coalition are international solidarity
activists, faith-based organisations, artists, women's organisations,
labour groups, peace groups, environmental organisations, health rights
activists and many more. A dozen working groups (communications, logistics,
and outreach) are now meeting regularly and making concrete plans.
The organisations working on the April mobilisation locally, nationally,
and internationally include Direct Action Network, the Freedom from Debt
Coalition (The Philippines), PAPDA (Haiti), the Kenya Human Rights
Commission, the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Global
Justice, Global Exchange, Rainforest Action Network, and the 50 Years Is
Enough Network. Many of them played leading roles in organising the
Seattle demonstrations. The organisation is also receiving financial support from the United Methodist Church Women's Division.