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CCNY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER   OCTOBER 2000 VOLUME 3, NUMBER 1

New York Activists Unite at UN Millennium Summit
By Matthew Parham

Over 100 activists marched all over mid-town Manhattan on Friday, September 8, stopping to protest in front of four consulates before proceeding to a rally across the street from the United Nations. The day of actions was organized by the New York People’s Assembly Against Imperialist Globalization (NYPAAIG), a new multi-tendency city-wide anti-imperialist coalition, and the occasion was the final day of the UN Millenium Summit.

NYPAAIG was initiated by Philippine Forum, a local progressive Filipino organization, and its allies in the Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP). It brings together such organizations as the Colombia Action Committee (CAC), International Action Center (IAC), Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru (CSRP), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Forum of Indian Leftists, Direct Action Network and Student Liberation Action Movement.

The UN Millenium Summit was the largest gathering of heads of state in history. Dan Wilson of NISPOP discussed NYPAAIG’s view of the UN: “While we believe that the UN has established some worthwhile guidelines for human rights, the rights of refugees and others, the fact is that it has no teeth to enforce these guidelines and never will while the US and its junior partners control the UN and puppet leaders like Estrada. The UN only shows its teeth when aiding a US-led military invasion as in Korea, Somalia, or Iraq.”

During the program at the Peruvian consulate, Manco Rojas of the CSRP spoke, denouncing Peruvian President Fujimori as a fascist puppet of US imperialism, calling for the release of New Yorker and journalist Lori Berenson and all of the 5000 other political prisoners in Peru.

At the El Salvador consulate, Cherrene Horazuk of CISPES spoke about the resistance to imperialist globalization in El Salvador, where health care workers recently waged a successful strike to defend public health care against the threat of privatization. Another CISPES member spoke about the importance of solidarity activism, saying “People ask, ‘Why should I care about El Salvador, what does El Salvador have to do with me?’ But if you look at the tag on the shirt you’re wearing, and it says ‘Made in El Salvador’ or ‘Made in Taiwan’, you are intimately connected to the person who made that shirt. We are connected to maquila workers and sweatshop workers, through the clothes that we wear, and through the products that we use.”

Members of NISPOP and the MAKABAYAN Youth Collective spoke at the Philippine consulate about US military and economic intervention in the Philippines, and the growing “Oust Erap!” movement to oust the current Philippine president. Robert Roy of PhilForum discussed the reasons for protesting at the Philippine consulate: “After obtaining $105 million in military hardware from President Clinton last July to continue the all-out war policy in Mindanao, President Estrada is now back to meet with the foreign investors he missed in the last trip and to attend the UN Summit. The net effect of these foreign investments is increased unemployment through contractualization schemes, lower wages and benefits, further loss of land for the peasants and increased destruction of the environment of the Philippines.”

The most distinguished guest on the tour was Dennis Brutus, professor at the University of Pittsburgh, former political prisoner in South Africa and leader of the movement to divest from Apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, currently with Jubilee 2000-Afrika and 50 Years is Enough. Brutus spoke about the need to globalize resistance to imperialism before leading chants of “Forward to a People’s Millenium!”

The final stop on the tour was the Colombian consulate. Neala Bern of the CAC spoke about the $1.3 billion in military aid granted to the death squad government in Colombia, saying “The American people don’t want to get involved in this war; we need to oppose this aid.” An environmental activist also spoke about the plight of the Uwa who have pledged to commit mass suicide if oil drilling proceeds in their traditional territory.

At the closing rally, Dan Wilson spoke for NYPAAIG, saying “One cannot help but see a pattern of US imperialism by looking at what is happening in these countries and many others. At each of the consulates we visited the issues were the same: US military bases and aid being used to enforce an economic regime favorable to US corporations. The UN is part of the picture too, and its role is not a positive one. The UN stands aside as the US violates its charter by acting as a self-appointed world policeman, even allowing the US to use it as a cover for unilateral interventions in the affairs of other countries.”

NYPAAIG can be contacted at [email protected] or 212-741-6806; check out the NYPAAIG website.

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