People's Voices: Challenging the G-20's Agenda of Corporate Globalization
An alliance of local, national and international organizations have come together to highlight local community struggles here in Pittsburgh, to encourage discussion and to provide five exciting programs. What is the G-20? How do their policies affect me? What can we do about it?
The G-20 promotes policies that “put profits first” through deregulation, privatization, and “free trade.” Their agenda has harmed working-class communities in the U.S. and around the world, causing job loss, lower wages, poverty, inequality, and environmental destruction. Please join us for five events that encourage participants to exchange views and information in order to build a movement to oppose these policies and provide alternatives.
Wednesday, Sept. 23
3:30 to 6:00 p.m. Location: Monumental Baptist Church, 2240 Wylie Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Panel Discussion on G-20
A panel of local, national and international leaders and experts will explore how G-20 policies affect our communities, and how we can change them. Co-sponsored with Institute for Policy Studies and The Nation Institute.
Facilitators: John Nichols, Washington Correspondent, The Nation Magazine and Tammy Bang Luu, Labor/Community Strategy Center and Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ)
Speakers include:
• Joseph Stiglitz, nobel laureate economist
• Emira Woods, Institute for Policy Studies
• Miriam Miranda, General Coordinator of the Fraternal Organization of Afro-Hondurans (OFRANEH) and representative to the Resistance Front against the Coup in Honduras.
• Carl Redwood, Jr., Hill District Consensus Group
• Rev. John Welch, President, Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN), Vice President for Student Services and Dean of Students of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
• Leo Gerard, President, International President, United Steelworkers (USW)
Thursday, Sept. 24
3:00 to 5:00 p.m. People’s Voices: A Global/Local Exchange
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 957 W. North Ave. 15233 and
Calvary United Methodist Church, 971 Beech Ave., PA 15233 (These churches are next to eachother).
Poverty, debt, neighborhood violence, lack of good jobs, and economic development that disrupts communities. These issues don’t just impact Pittsburgh – around the world, communities face similar problems. Meet people from other U.S. and world communities. Find out what we have in common and what can we learn from each other by participating in the following discussion circles:
• The G20 and the Corporate Neoliberal Agenda: Exploring the Root Causes of Migrant Labor Exploitation (Migration/Immigration).
• Who Pays? Who Benefits? Understanding Third World Debt, Economic Crises and Poverty (Debt and Poverty)
• This is What Democracy Looks Like: Economic Development and Public Participation (Economic Development and Public Participation)
• What's Happening in our Neighborhoods and Internationally: from the Barrio to Boardroom (Drugs, Crime and Violence)
• Workers on the Move: Fighting for Sustainable Jobs (Growing Unemployment and the Need for Sustainable Jobs)
• Global Well-Being: Redefining our relationship to climate and environmental justice (Climate and Environmental Crises)
• Trading Places: Corporate Globalization and the Free Trade Agenda (Cuts in Public Services and De-regulation)
• Militarization and War in the 21rst Century (Militarization and War)
• What world are youth inheriting? (Education & Youth)
• Impact of the Economic Crises on Women (Women)
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. People’s Tribunal
Calvary United Methodist Church, 971 Beech Ave., PA 15233
Building on the afternoon’s discussions, the economic development priorities of the G-20 will go on trial. We’ll hear testimony from experts and people who have experienced devastation caused by G-20 policies, and the tribunal will reach a verdict.
Friday, Sept. 25
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. David Lawrence Hall, University of Pittsburgh (Forbes Ave. on right side of skywalk). Voices from Latin America
Leaders of the Hemispheric Social Alliance and labor, indigenous and environmental organizations from Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Peru and Bolivia, will criticize G-20 policies and offer alternative models of development.
Speakers include:
• Benedicto Martinez Orozco, a national officer of the Frente Autentico del Trabajo (FAT) and Union Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), Mexico
• Alberto Arroyo, economist with the Red Mexicana Frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC), Mexico
• Miriam Miranda, General Coordinator of the Fraternal Organization of Afro-Hondurans (OFRANEH). She is also OFRANEH’s representative to the Resistance Front against the Coup in Honduras.
• Enrique Daza, Coordinator, Red Colombiana Frente al Libre Comercio (RECALCA), General Secretary Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), Colombia,
Speakers from Peru and Bolivia have also been invited but are not yet confirmed.
Organized by: Alliance for Responsible Trade/Hemispheric Social Alliance,
Center for Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh, G6 Billion, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, National Jobs with Justice, Pa. American Friends Service Committee, Pittsburgh UNITED/Northside United, Roots of Promise, Students for Radical Change, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE).
Also endorsed by (list in formation): Bail Out the People Not the Banks, Jubilee USA, Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition, Social Watch, Three Rivers Community Foundation, United Steelworkers (USW), United Students Against Sweatshops, Pittsburgh Chapter
