[mgj-announce] Only Hours to Go: Race to the Bottom TODAY

[Robert Weissman]

Protest Against the World Economic Forum (WEF)!
Protest Against Poverty at Home and Abroad!

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

4 pm...Rally  @ CT Ave and H St. NW,=20

Katy-Corner of Lafayette Park and the WEF Meeting @ the US CHamber of
COmmerce.

5:30  Race Line-Up

6 pm...RACE , 3 BLocks to Murrow Park

7 pm....Finish: at 18th and H St, NW, at Murrow Park across from the
IMF/WB headquarters, Washington DC

Be there for the First 1K Race to the Bottom -- Details follow



**We need spectators, participants, folks willing to play along and
carry puppets, you name it!! Come one and all!!!
---------------------------------


ATTENTION ALL RUNNERS! -- ATTENTION ALL RUNNERS!

Join Thousands of People From Across the Economic Spectrum for the FIRST
EVER 1K RACE TO THE BOTTOM!  Whether you're an MBA in the Rat Race or an
underemployed activist with the Human Race, this Race to the Bottom is a
can't-miss event for anyone trying to get ahead *or* left behind.

--Watch CORPORATIONS GROAN under the weight of billions of dollars in
tax-free profits as immigrants are denied basic services!
--Feel the HEAT OF COMPETITION as it drags down workers, environmental
protection and human rights!
--See the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM SLITHER its way from one five star hotel
to the next!
--Hear the THUNDER OF THOUSANDS of the working poor pound the asphalt!
--Watch Corporate EXECUTIVES BRIBE THEIR WAY into new markets!

Awards immediately after the race in the categories of:
     --Most Depraved Workfare Boss
     --Country That Busted the Most Unions to Please Multinational
Corporations
     --Politician Quickest to Blame Poor Women for Society's Problems

So Where's it all Happening?

The 1K RACE TO THE BOTTOM Starts at the World Economic Forum (WEF),
meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Congress on Tuesday, May 21 Washington,
DC and ends at the  World Bank and IMF

When: Tuesday, May 21, 4-7 PM

Where: Starts across from the WEF Meeting, CT Ave & H Sts. NW,
Wash., DC, ends at 18th and H St, NW, at Murrow Park

Who: National Coalition for Jobs and Income Support and the Mobilization
for Global Justice

For more background and contact information, visit www.globalizethis.org

and www.nationalcampaign.org.  And don't forget your running shoes!

For more details, read on:

In a new alliance between the global justice movement and the
anti-poverty movement, the Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ) and the
National Campaign for Jobs and Income Security (NCJIS) are joining
forces to confront the world's privileged and elite as they gather for a
regional meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

We call on all those who care about ending poverty at home and abroad to
join us in this event, which promises to fill the streets outside the
closed doors of the WEF with a loud, boisterous rally and theatrical
Race to the Bottom. Help us send a clear message to the world's wealthy
and to the politicians they control: We demand an end to policies that
impoverish people everywhere. We demand an end to the policies that
concentrate wealth, income and power in the hands of the WEF members and
a select few, while leaving one in six children in the United States in
poverty, and billions around the world struggling to survive on less
than two dollars a day.

With the collaboration of NCJIS, whose members are predominantly those
living in poverty directly affected by the regressive "Welfare Reform"
of 1996, the MGJ hopes to launch a strong, enduring coalition to link
local and global poverty issues and to immediately impact President
Bush's proposed welfare legislation, which only further penalizes the
poor while doing nothing to end poverty.

NCJIS is a coalition of more than 1000 grassroots community groups
composed primarily of and led by low-income people.  It believes that
people most affected by public policies must develoup solutions and
speak in their own voices.  NCJIS is spearheading a national effort to
transform TANF into a meaningful anti-poverty program. In March of 2002,
NCJIS held a day of events in DC, that involved rallies, lobbying and
two separate direct actions involving over 1000 people and two notorious
enemies of poverty reduction: the Heritage Foundation and the Democratic
Leadership Council. For more information, see www.nationalcampaign.org

The Mobilization for Global Justice is a Washington, DC based
organization of groups and individuals focused on the growing problem of
corporate globalization in today's world.  It sponsors educational
events, rallies and demonstrations that serve to highlight the harmful
neo-liberal economic policies carried out by unaccountable, undemocratic
international financial institutions.  Visit our web site at
www.globalizethis.org

P.S. Remember to bring your running shoes!