[mgj-announce] MGJ General Meeting this WEDNESDAY at 7:30

[Robert Weissman]

If You Care - Get Out Of Your Chair! Get ready for the Fall 2003 Action!
Open MGJ General Meeting on Wednesday at 7:30pm in the Flemming Center

We need to increase our organizing energy heading into the November
actions against the FTAA and SOA. Whether you're going to Miami/Columbus
or not, there are plenty of ways to contribute, and we need all the energy
we can get. We've got just over 30 days to actualize a world-historical
opportunity to seek justice - let's not allow it to pass us by.

Open Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ) General Meeting
WEDNESDAY, 10/15
7:30 pm
in the Flemming Center
1426 9th St NW @ P Street
Green Line Metro Stop Shaw Howard University or Convention Center

On November 20 and 21, the trade ministers from the countries of the
Western Hemisphere (with the exception of Cuba) are scheduled to launch
the final stages of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) at a
ministerial meeting in Miami, FL. Massive protest actions are being
planned to coincide with the FTAA meetings. People from across the country
will speak out for economic justice and against exploitative free
trade/free market plans that would further corporate control, lower labor
standards and hurt the environment. The implementation of the FTAA would
also cause an even greater militarization throughout the Americas as
repressive military forces (oftentimes trained in the United States at the
School of the Americas/WHISC) are consistently being used to suppress
dissent and the inevitable resistance to the neo-liberal policy that is
leaving so many marginalized.

That weekend (November 22 and 23), thousands will stand in solidarity with
the people of the Americas at the 13th annual November Vigil and Massive
Protest to close the School of the Americas (renamed the Western
Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) located at Fort Benning,
Georgia. Many will participate in nonviolent direct action to call
attention to the SOA and the oppressive foreign policy that it represents.

>From its beginning, the mission of the SOA has been to train soldiers to
protect the interests of multinational corporations and maintain the
economic status quo for the few rich and powerful in the US and their
cohorts in Latin America. SOA graduates use their skills consistently
against community organizers, unionists and others who are a potential
threat to corporate interests. The SOA and the FTAA are the flip sides of
the same coin.

related links:
www.StopFTAA.org
www.SOAW.org
www.LASolidarity.org
www.Zapatista.de.vu