People’s Economic Summit is on

On May 27, Workers World received this statement from the Bail Out the People Movement involving the May 31 People’s Economic Summit.

The People’s Economic Summit WILL go ahead on schedule Sunday, May 31 - Under Tents in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.

The G20 countries’ forced postponement of the U.N. Conference on the Economic Crisis MEANS THAT THE PEOPLES STRUGGLE AGAINST THE BANKERS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER!

Although pressure and hostility on the part of some G20 governments has resulted in the U.N. Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development being postponed from June 1 to 3 until June 24 to 26, the People’s Economic Summit this Sunday, May 31 will go on as scheduled. The summit will take place from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. in a summit tent city across the street from the U.N. in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, 47 St. and 1st Ave [in New York]. The Bail Out the People Movement encourages all who have made plans to attend the People’s Economic Summit on May 31 not to change those plans. The postponement of the U.N. meeting makes it all the more necessary that we meet on Sunday.

Because of recent developments, the May 31 Summit will not only be a critical opportunity to discuss the causes of the world economic crisis, hear the voices of those who are suffering the most because of this crisis and plan mass action, it will also be a protest against the G20 governments, especially the U.S. and European imperialist powers that have conspired for six months to either derail, discredit, or weaken the U.N. economic summit.

The governments and banking establishments of the U.S. and Europe, whose greed has pushed the world into the gravest economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s never wanted the U.N. economic conference because they don’t want to listen to the poor of the world and they don’t want their imperial hegemony over the world economy challenged even in the slightest way.

The rich want to use the U.N., especially the Security Council, to legitimize U.S. occupation and war, or to condemn, isolate and starve countries like North Korea and Iran. The rich don’t want the poor using the U.N. as a vehicle to demand or implement any measures that might make the governance over the world’s economy, wealth and resources a little more democratic, or equitable, or less driven by greed and profits. The only U.N. meeting that Wall Street is interested in is one that rubber-stamps the continued globalization of poverty for the maximization of their profits.

If you haven’t done so yet, read the proposals in draft of the U.N. Economic Conference Outcome document made public on May 8 at http://www.un.org/ga/president/63/interactive/financialcrisis/outcomedoc.pdf. Amongst other reasonable measures, the document proposes that three trillion dollars, a mere 5 percent of the world’s GDP, be allocated to bail out poor countries where the scourges of hunger, disease and homelessness have been made immeasurably worst by the worldwide depression. The bankers of the world, who have insisted that they get tens of trillions of dollars of bailout money, don’t want to share any this fortune with anyone, least of all the poor of the planet.

Any measure in the May 8 document that calls for power and wealth being shared with the poor and working people of the planet will be furiously resisted by the powers that be.

The banks to which the U.S. Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have given trillions of dollars have recently demonstrated that they have the power to stop the U.S. Congress from doing anything meaningful to stop the mass eviction of millions due to home foreclosures. These very same banks believe they have the right and the power to stop the U.N. from bailing out the poor, and unless people organize and fight back, the banks will prevail.

The campaign of the rich against the U.N. conference on the world economic crisis should and must serve as a reminder that changes from above are only possible if there is mass resistance from below. It is to this understanding and this purpose that the People’s Economic Summit is dedicated. The People’s Economic Summit will be discussing such things as how can the mass movements work together, how can we elevate the organization of the unemployed in the struggle for jobs, and how do we respond to the next G20 summit meeting scheduled to take place in September in NYC. Please join us, take part in this important discussion and help realize the vision and plans that come out of it.