U.N. figures to greet NY "People's Economic Summit"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 30, 2009
Media Contacts: Larry Holmes 917-825-2302, Berta Joubert-Ceci 267-257-7742,
Sara Flounders 201-388-7428
In front of UN at 47th St & 1st Ave,
Sessions and Panels: 11am to 5pm
Main Plenary starts at 1:pm
Byron Blake, United Nations ambassador for Jamaica and senior advisor to
President of UN General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto-Brockmann, will bring
greetings from UN President d’Escoto to the People's Economic
Summit's plenary session on May 31 in New York. Ambassador Blake is
scheduled to open the main plenary session at 1:pm.
The People's Economic Summit, called by the U.S.-based Bail Out the People
Movement (BOPM) and other organizations, was first called to show solidarity
with the U.N. Conference on the Economic Crisis that had been scheduled for
June 1-3. The summit will also discuss plans to organize protests in
Pittsburgh, PA., in September to protest at the next G20 meeting.
The June 1-3 U.N. Conference was aimed at representing all U.N. members in
confronting the worldwide economic crisis and not just the restricted elite
powers of the G8 or G20. Pressure from some of the G8 countries forced the U.N.
organizers to postpone the UN Conference to June 24-26. But those organizing
the People’s Economic Summit say that the forced posponement simply means
that the peoples struggle against the bankers is more important than ever and
their summit must go on.
Hundreds of participants representing community organizations, solidarity
groups, women's, lesbian/gay/bi/trans, workers' unions and other
progressive organizations will join the Peoples Summit from 11 a.m. until 5
p.m. in a summit tent city across the street from the U.N. on May 31 under a
tent at 47th Street and Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza.
Besides Byron Blake, featured speakers include: Cynthia McKinney, Ramsey Clark,
Ajamu Sankofa, Vinie Burrows, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Nellie Bailey, City
Councilperson Charles Barron, Chris Silvera, Brenda Stokely, Larry Hamm, Lynne
Stewart, Rev. Lucius Walker, Dulphing Ogan and Curtis Doebbler.
BOPM organizer Larry Holmes said that "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 People's Economic Summit, Holmes added, "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 in specific terms
how will the movement here respond to the next G20 summit meeting scheduled to
take place in September in Pittsburgh, Penna."
Holmes concluded, "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."
#30#
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