Organizers announce plans to confront G20 in Pittsburgh

Organizers from the Bail Out the People Movement and the Million Worker March Movement held a news conference here on June 26 at the United Nations Church Center, along with other community organizers and some of the participants at the U.N. Economic Summit. They announced plans for protests at the next G20 summit scheduled in Pittsburgh on Sept. 24-25.

Larry Holmes, a spokesperson for BOPM, said the group wants to bring a large enough number of unemployed people to Pittsburgh so that the cry would be heard on a global scale for “the right to a job or income for all at living wages.” This would be the first step in addressing growing unemployment on both a national and international scale and would be organized in the spirit of international solidarity—jobs or income for all.

From left, Paul Quintos, Jan Loenn, Sara Flounders, Larry Holmes, Ramsey Clark, Brenda Stokely, Emelia Dorsu. WW photo: John Catalinotto

The G20 meeting had originally been set for New York in September, but the fear of major protests resulted in the capitalist summit being moved to Pittsburgh. BOPM is planning “a major mobilization on the weekend before the meeting,” said Holmes, “and will have a presence throughout the week, including on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 24 and 25. There will be many other groups—from unions to anarchist youth—who will be demonstrating.”

Human rights activist and attorney Ramsey Clark discussed the conference that wrapped up June 26 at the U.N. known as the G192. He congratulated U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto Brockman, who was the driving force in seeing that such a meeting was held at all, independent of what it was able to agree on. It was apparent that the elite powers of the G8 especially had done everything possible to sabotage the G192 conference on the economic crisis. Unable to cancel it, these big powers did their best to water down the conference’s conclusions.

Others at the news conference included Paul Quintos of the Ibon Foundation in the Philippines, Jan Loenn, secretary-general of the International Student & Youth Movement for the U.N., and Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center.

Brenda Stokely of the Million Worker March and the New York Solidarity Coalition for Katrina/Rita Survivors spoke, as did Emelia Dorsu, originally of Ghana, who is an 18-year veteran worker at Stella D’Oro in the Bronx and a strike spokesperson. Dorsu explained the struggle of her union and the workers for a decent contract.

Victor Toro, a Chilean activist and immigrant threatened with deportation, explained the connection of his personal struggle to that of all undocumented immigrants for their rights and asked people to support him in court on Aug. 26.