April 18, 2005
TOPIC: Poor Nations Protest the World Bank/IMF
GUESTS: Jakoyo Midiwo, Kenyan MP
Five years after the first major Washington DC based protest against the World Bank and IMF, activists gathered once more for the annual World Bank meetings, to express their disgust with World Bank policies. The week of action began on April 11th ending yesterday. Meanwhile, inside the meetings, representatives of poor countries have been expressing their own protests. The G24, or Group of 24 as they are called, operates as an association of minority shareholders in the IMF and the World Bank – they have just said that the lack of representation of poor nations and developing countries was alienating the two financial institutions from their clients. Decision-making in the two financial bodies is undemocratically tilted toward wealthier, whiter nations. The 46 sub-Saharan African countries, for example, have only two executive directors representing them at the World Bank and the IMF, while eight northern nations have one executive director each. Directors from countries of the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized nations now control more than 60% of votes at the two institutions, while the US administration has veto power over any extraordinary vote that requires a super-majority vote of 60% or more. Meanwhile a delegation of parliamentarians from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas have come to Washington, DC, to join the protesters. The ten MPs will present a petition calling for democratic oversight of the international financial institutions. One of them joins me on the phone from DC – Jakoyo Midiwo is a Kenyan MP.
TOPIC: Oil on Ice
GUESTS: Adeline Raboff, a Gwichin Indian and resident of Fairbanks, Alaska
President Bush, increasingly apprehensive over the affect of rising oil prices, again touted his energy policy last week as what he claims is the most effective means of addressing the problem and urged Congress to move quickly. He said: "What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent. It's really important. It's an important part of our economic security and it's an important part of our national security." Left unmentioned was the president's call to permit drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, a proposal that has drawn stiff objections from environmentalists. Still, the Senate has slipped a provision to permit drilling in its budget bill and three House committees on Thursday together unveiled an energy package - containing a provision in support of ANWR drilling - that could receive a vote by the full House this week. This week there is a documentary about the Artic National Wildlife Refuge called Oil on Ice, showing in Los Angeles. For more information, visit www.oilonice.org.
Oil on Ice screenings in SoCal:
1. Friday at 3:30 at the Artivist Festival at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood – check http://www.artivistfilmfestival.org/ for more information.
2. Friday at 6:30pm at the Earth Day Film Festival -- Santa Monica College RM Art 214 FREE screening
3. Saturday at 4pm - 5:30pm at the Baldwin Hills Branch of the LAPL -- 2906
S La Brea 323-733-1196 for more information.
On April 19th and the 26th Adeline Raboff will be featured on cable channels 35, 16, and 10 from 11am to 1pm w/ hosts Peter Kreitler and Alexandra Paul -- Adeline will be speaking on the Artic National Wildlife Refuge Issue on the 19th and on the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska on the 26th.
TOPIC: Empire Notes
GUESTS: Rahul Mahajan, publisher of Empire Notes
And now this week’s edition of Empire notes, our weekly commentary by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and the New Crusade. Empire Notes, are exclusive to Uprising. Today’s commentary is about the massacre at Halabja. Visit Empire Notes online at empirenotes.org.
TOPIC: Bringing the Lessons Home: Autonomy in Practice
GUESTS: Ashanti Alston, Karl Jagbandhansingh
We end the show today with a reportback from two activists who just returned from Chiapas, Mexico. Ashanti Alston is a former member of the Black Panther Party and former political prisoner. Alston currently sits on the Board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and publishes the zine Anarchist Panther. Alston is a returning guest lecturer at the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont speaking on the Panthers and the history of Black Nationalist movements. Alston recently returned from 6 months in Chiapas spent rejuvenating, studying the autonomous structure of Zapatista communities and writing his memoirs book project. Karl Jagbandhansingh is an Asian activist born in New York City. While studying at the University of Vermont, Jagbandhansingh co-founded the Asian Student Organization. Jagbandhansingh played a pivotal role in building a multi-ethnic student movement, which led to the creation of an ethnic studies program—a major accomplishment for the time. Jagbandhansingh is a co-founder of Estación Libre, a grassroots organization that works to strengthen ties between people of color in the United States and the Zapatista communities of Chiapas, Mexico.
Karl and Ashanti will be speaking at the following venues:
Monday April 18th – Cal State LA, Basement of King Hall D 140 at 7 pm
Monday April 25th – UC Riverside, Humanities 1500 at 4 pm
Tuesday April 26th – Centro Maravilla, ELA Community Event, 4716 E. Cesar Chavez Ave at 6 pm
Wednesday April 27th – Southern California Library in South Central LA at 6120 S. Vermont Ave at 7pm.
For more information about the speaking tour call 310-815-1826.
For information about Estacion Libre, visit www.estacionlibre.org, or call 818-390-3583. Estacion Libre is accepting donations at P.O. Box 226758, Los Angeles CA 90022.
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