Africa Update and NAFTA for Africa Action Alert
10/21/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Africa update and urgent action alert
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: October 21, 1999
The Africa campaign needs your help. The infamous Chad/Cameroon oil
pipeline project is on its way to the World Bank's board of
directors, a rubber stamping body that has never rejected a project
put before it. We need to press in this last hour to urge the World
Bank President to live up to his word and stop this madness.
The projected board date is November 15....5 days after the sad
anniversary of Nigerian poet and activist Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni
9's execution. With Shell's hands bloody, the World Bank is planning
to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the same damn oil company
to do the same damn thing in two of Nigeria's neighboring countries,
Chad and Cameroon.
On November 10th, we will stand with those who remember Ken Saro
Wiwa's struggle and demand that there will not be another Niger Delta
Nightmare. Keep your ears open for more news. The focus of the
activities will undoubtedly be in D.C. We need people. We need to
send a message not only to Wolfensohn, but also to those who have the
power to decide how our taxes support institutions like the World
Bank; Lawrence Summers, Secretary of the Treasury, for example. Keep
the day in mind, if you are anywhere near D.C., please contact me at
RAN.
You can also call the World Bank and ask to speak to Mr. Wolfensohn
directly. Of course, you'll be directed towards someone else, but
don't let them send you to external relations. Ask to speak to his
assistant who focuses on Africa. For more info on the project, visit
http://www.ran.org/ran/info_center/aa/aa145.html The World Bank's
number is 202 477 1234
Also, please check out the alert below about the upcoming NAFTA for
Africa bill. It has already cleared the House and we have to stop it
in the Senate! Please call your Senators and tell them NO NAFTA FOR
AFRICA!
Free Africa Not Free Trade
In solidarity,
Erick Brownstein
RAN Africa
415-398-4404/1-800-989-RAIN
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NAFTA FOR AFRICA ALERT!
This week (Oct 18th) the U.S. Senate may be considering
Clinton's "NAFTA for Africa" bill H.R. 434/S. 778, which wormed its
way through the House earlier this summer. This bill would basically
shift ALL U.S. foreign assistance to Africa into taxpayer subsidies
and incentives for corporate investment. Not only does this "trade
not aid" proposal ignore Africa's real need for debt relief and
sustainable development, but it makes U.S. corporations - not African
peoples - the major beneficiaries of U.S. foreign aid money. Unlike
NAFTA, this legislation has NO "side agreements" guaranteeing
corporate recognition of basic human rights, environmental, and
workplace standards - essentially reducing Africans to "second class
citizenship" in the global community. Worse yet, in order to even
apply for U.S. assistance, African countries must first surrender
their political sovereignty to the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) by swallowing their neoliberal structural
adjustment programs (SAPs).
Not surprisingly, some of the major corporate cheerleaders behind the
Clinton "NAFTA for Africa" bill are the worst bad actors around -
sweatshop operators like K-Mart and the GAP, petrochemical polluters
like Chevron and Shell, forest clearcutters like Caterpillar, etc.
etc. These corporations are drooling over the proposed $600 million
in taxpayer subsidies for new capital investment in Africa through
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) - an entity
notorious for disregarding the environmental and social justice
fallout of its actions.
We all need to make sure are Senators aren't siding with Clinton and
the corporations to promote "free trade" as Africa's panacea. Our
politicans need to be held accountable by progressive citizens who
see the "NAFTA for Africa" plan as just a fresh version of corporate
colonialism. Please contact your Senator's office and ask to speak
to their trade staffer. After that, Sen Trent Lott (R.Miss), 202 224
6253; Sen Tom Daschle, 202 224 2321; Sen William Roth, 202 224 2441.
DEMAND they vote against the Clinton African proposal and urge them
to support the "Hope for Africa" bill (S. 1636) instead.