As the World Bank today began its two day Washington, DC meeting, police are currently surrounding protestors from 235 groups as they engage in “creative resistance” outside the meeting to express opposition to the Bank's massive "land grabs" in developing countries.
Today's event, which highlights the role the of the World Bank in fueling the climate crisis, kicks off a week of action under the umbrella of "Reclaim Power Week
Follow the Action on Twitter at The Rules and hashtag WorldvsBank
Action: Tell the World Bank to Stop Supporting Land Grabs. Sign the petition now at Our Land Our Business.
The protest hones in on the release of the Bank's Doing Business report, which details which countries are most pliable in terms of legal and local enforceable restrictions and therefore present opportunity for huge foreign investments which result in the displacement of local farmers, refugees and indigenous communities.
“The rankings are about how easy you make it for foreign companies to set up shop in your country,” said Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the Oakland Institute, one of the groups organizing the protests. “It encourages countries to do away with things like environmental regulations, minimum wages, and public consultations to create an environment which favors investors.” (see TakePart: Is the World Bank Helping the Poor—or the World’s Banks?)
For background, listen to Dr. Jason Hickel speaking about
The truth about extreme global inequality
Tomorrow's Action
October 11: GlobalFrackdown
An international day of action initiated by Food & Water Watch to ban fracking. Find an eventnear you, and the activist toolkit (too late for this event but an example of just how spot on he global climate action network is becoming in organizing), and sample tweets:
Global Frackdown on Facebook
October 11th is also the Day of Action against TTIP (the EU-US trade deal). Possible messages include:
EU-US - Don't trade away our future to the fossil fuel corporations #ReclaimPower No #TTIP! Day of Action #O11DoA
"Free" trade kills the climate. Stop dirty energy - don't let it write our laws! #ReclaimPower No to #TTIP #O11DOA
EU-US Trade Deal - A trojan horse for the fossil fuel industry? On Oct 11 we're fighting back! #ReclaimPower #O11DOA