WASHINGTON DC, October 21, 2007 – Delegates from the World Bank and IMF met this week in Washington DC. The meetings were greeted by protests and group actions throughout the city. Although mostly peaceful, there are reports of some incidents with police and injuries. Arrest numbers are believed to be low and there are no reports of any mass arrests by the police. Corporate media is playing up the image of an injury of a bystander to portray the protesters as violent. From the DC-IMC Newswire: It's a World, World, World, World Bank! Video Highlights from O20 by Mike Flugennock || Photos From This Weekend's Protests Part 1 by IsisStatement by some Georgetown March participants: "For a brief period, people in Georgetown, playing host to delegates from the IMF and World Bank, who force poverty on millions across the world, were hopefully forced to stop, if only for a second, and think about the suffering that they perpetrate, both abroad, and right here in Washington, DC, in their exclusive enclave. DC residents in working class communities of color are consistently denied access to public services, including health care, education, and the right to basic human dignity. Meanwhile, the desires of well-connected, largely white, wealthy residents of Georgetown are consistently prioritized over the needs of hundreds of thousands of low-income DC residents.
We appreciate that the fear generated by the Metropolitan Police Department forced many large, corporate, exclusive stores in Georgetown to close, but recognize that the World Bank and IMF continue to force poverty on millions around the world...Yet, no matter how successful we could have been in forcing Georgetown residents to think about the consequences of their actions on working class people in DC, Georgetown unquestionably still remained a far safer place than those places on which the IMF and World Bank force their policies of poverty, misery, and destruction."
Infoshop Article | Youtube Video: "october rebellion -imf/wb - georgetown 10/19/07"
D.C. Indymedia '07 IMF/WB protest page | calendar of events | Georgetown Protestors Threatened With Arrest on M Street | Georgetown is Boarding up windows! | URGENT UPDATE-Georgetown is Boarding up windows! | IT BEGINS! Over 150 protest at ICE | http://octoberrebellion.org | DC Demands "Justice for DeOnté Rawlings" at MPDC HQ, inJustice Dept.
Protesters from Ceasefire-Don't Smoke the Brothers were reinforced by about 150 IMF protesters marching over from the ICE rally. The legal lynching of 14 year old has provoked a firestorm of rage in DC communities, and staging this protest during the World Bank/IMF Weekend sends a powerful message.Radio coverage via WSQT 87.9FM
Video highlights by Mike Flugennock streaming from YouTube
A public library building sold at a discount to a developer to build luxury condominiums, without community input. A wealthy sports team owner subsidized by the city with future tax revenue through a complicated scam called Tax Increment Financing. A public hospital with world-class expertise in treating trauma injuries – so much so that even U.S. military doctors went to this hospital to learn trauma treatment – closed down because of alleged financial drain. A parasitic system of schools that receive generous public funding but have zero public accountability, being aided by the government to supplant the long-neglected public schools, using the admittedly poor state of the public schools as an excuse, but without ever seriously addressing the question – why did the public schools get to this state in the first place?And all of this occurring in a city that is simultaneously home to some of the world’s most powerful institutions, and to some of the worst poverty nationwide. Furthermore, these powerful institutions pay no taxes to the city, constraining the municipal budget... Read More>>
Info on this weekend's actions: octoberrebellion.org | Organizing Update #1 | Organizing Update #2 | Organizing Update #3
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