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wellignton's carnival against capitalism returns!Remember such exploits as burning money outside the Business Roundtable HQ on May Day? Well, another carnival of mass subversion is being planned by Wellington anarchists on September 26.
September 26 is the next global day of action against capitalism, timed to coincide with the World Bank/IMF summit in Prague (see article in this issue). This time, the carnival will begin at about 12.00pm in Manners Mall, with music and a Food Not Bombs free food stall operating. The carnival will then march to an undisclosed location - possibly some corporate capitalist nasty of some sort. It will end at about 3pm. The carnival is still in the planning stage, so many details have not been discussed and decided yet; contact the CEC for details.
ANTI-CAPITALIST UNCONVENTIONIn an effort to encourage out of towners to come to Wellington for September 26, local anarchists have proposed to hold a one-day Anti-Capitalist Conference on Sunday September 24. The conference will be a sort of teach in about the IMF and World Bank from an anarchist, anti-capitalist perspective. Talks also might be held about anarchism and how capitalism works, and veterans of Melbourne's S11 and London's J18 might speak up about their experiences as well. The aim of the mini-unconvention is that protesters can be all clued up as to the theory behind their action on S26. So come Tuesday September 26 we will all be prepared to hit the streets ready to rumble!
Interest in the conference is already quite high and people as far away as Dunedin and Auckland will probably attend. Weekly s26 Carnival against Capitalism meetings are being held on Mondays at the Peace and Environment Centre, 2nd floor, Trades Hall, 126 Vivian St from 6pm. Come along and get involved. For further updates about the carnival and conference, check out the Committee for the Establishment of Civilisation (CEC is the name of the Wellington anarchist group) website www.tao.ca/~cec/ or e-mail cec@mad.scientist.com or write to P O Box 9263, Te Aro, Wellington.
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prague,september 26the world bankThe policies of the World Bank, IMF and other global institutions (like the World Trade Organisation, WTO) are based on the "free-market" ideology. In general, this means that the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. The main task of the World Bank is supposedly "tofight poverty and protect the environment." This is done by financing "development programs" in which loans are extended to developing countries. However, before a country is even considered for a loan, it has to meet a number of criteria which are formulated together with the IMF - the so called Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP’s). To meet these criteria, the debt of the country is decreased by reducing government financing (mainly on social programmes), increasing production for export, privatisation, and liberalising trade and investments. In many countries, using the services of the World Bank has resulted in a complete breakdown of purchasing power, famine, the closing down of hospitals and schools and the taking away of the right to basic education for hundreds of millions of children. In addition, the support of large scale hydro power and agro-industrial projects has speeded up the deforestation and destruction of the environment. |
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The S26 Carnival against Capitalism will be just as bright, fun, colourful, and noisy as the successful Wellington May Day Carnival against Capitalism - which attracted a huge turnout of over 400 people (for details, see the last Thrall). 
The conference will provide food, and probably last an afternoon. No boring politicians or academics will be present (unlike other "anti-capitalist" conferences being held in September) so come along! As well, there will probably be a Carnival against Capitalism gig on Saturday night (September 23).