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A CALL for PGA BLOCS on MARCH 19

internationalist | 14.02.2005 01:43 | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | Social Struggles

An INTERNATIONAL CALL for PEOPLES' GLOBAL ACTION BLOCS on MARCH 19 and 20 to EXPOSE and TARGET WAR PROFITEERS

====> NO PROFITEERING FROM WAR AND OCCUPATION!

====> An INTERNATIONAL CALL for PEOPLES' GLOBAL ACTION BLOCS on MARCH 19
and 20 to EXPOSE and TARGET WAR PROFITEERS

On March 19th and 20th 2005, people across the world will march to commemorate the invasion of Iraq two years ago, and to oppose the ongoing occupations of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and Haiti. In Canada we will also be marching to oppose the ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas, the normalization of torture camps, Ottawa's recent shift towards deepening its diplomatic support for Israeli apartheid at the UN, as well as the massive displacement of peoples by capitalist development projects, including the demand for cheap and flexible labor and its corollary: the criminalization of migrants and the construction of Fortress North America and Fortress Europe.

We can and must go further than simply demonstrating against war and occupation. We must actively work in co-ordinated solidarity to stop the many institutions and individuals that profit from war and occupation. As global capital undermines progressive peoples' movements around the world, we assert that we can build global movements of opposition to our common enemies. In the fissures of the empire, we can pursue projects and strategies of resistance that affirm life and human dignity.

Here in North America, a regional alliance of anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist groups (CATAPULT! in Ottawa, Block The Empire in Montreal and the June 30th Organizing Committee in Toronto) has come together to unmask the "Canada as peace keeper" myth and fight against this country's real functioning here and around the world. We are now targeting SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec-based engineering firm that is one of Canada's pre-eminent war profiteers. SNC TEC, a subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin, is manufacturing 200 million bullets for sale to the US military for use by occupation forces in Iraq. SNC activities extend all over the world: from infrastructural support to the Canadian military in Afghanistan, to the privatization of energy production in Algeria, from mining projects in Mozambique, Chile and Inuit territory, to the constructions of dams and artillery testing ranges on Cree land in Quebec. SNC-Lavalin's workings
around the world are in fact Canada's true foreign policy.

As we launch this national campaign against war profiteering, we call for anti-imperialist blocs to organize on the basis of the Peoples' Global Action hallmarks (below) and to march within the anti-war and anti-occupation demonstrations that will be held around the world. We call for actions to be carried out against war profiteers on and around March 19th, and for information on war profiteers to be passed on throughout anti-war anti-occupation demonstrations.

================================>
TAKE DOWN SNC!
No to profiteering from war and occupation.
No investment in war profiteers.
No subsidies to war profiteers.
================================>

For more information about the Take Down SNC campaign, or about the blocs against war profiteers on March 19 and 20, please contact:

 bloquezlempiremontreal@resist.ca (Montreal)
 june30th@riseup.net (Toronto)
 catapult@resist.ca (Ottawa)


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PGA Hallmarks:
 http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/
==============>

1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialism and feudalism; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalisation.

2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchy, racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.

3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organizations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.

4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.

5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralization and autonomy.

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