50 Years Is Enough Network cancels protests
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The following message was circulated electronically by the 50 Years Is Enough network on Sunday, September 16, 2001.
The 50 Years Is Enough Network is shocked and deeply saddened by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We unequivocally condemn these heinous actions. Our hearts and prayers are with the victims, survivors and their families.
The 50 Years Is Enough Network has consulted with colleagues around the U.S. and the world in the days since the September 11. We regret not being able to announce our plans regarding the events scheduled for the end of September before today.
We are changing our plans for the mass mobilization in Washington, scheduled for September 25 to October 4, to coincide with the scheduled annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. We are in agreement with other coalition partners that this is not an appropriate time for street demonstrations against these institutions. We will, however, go ahead with planned educational activities.
Last night we joined with our allies in the Washington-based host coalition for many of the September events, the Mobilization for Global Justice, in agreeing to cancel all street actions – protests, demonstrations, civil disobedience, direct action – focused on the IMF and the World Bank. This decision does not encompass any actions that may be planned in response to military or other aggressive actions taken by the U.S. government.
All reports indicate that the IMF and World Bank will be canceling or postponing their joint annual meetings. The U.S. Treasury Department is the official host of those meetings; it is expected to coordinate with the boards of the two institutions to announce such a course of action as early as tomorrow. We agree with the view expressed by the AFL–CIO that this is not the time for “another round of closed-door meetings behind tall fences,” and hope that the institutions will not now magnify the lack of accountability and transparency that have already done so much damage to their performance and reputation.
The “traveling teach-in” sponsored by the 50 Years Is Enough Network together with Essential Action, the Center for Economic Justice, and Jubilee USA Network was already underway at the time of the September 11 attacks. Speakers from South Africa, Haiti, Zimbabwe, India, and now Panama, are addressing audiences interested in the IMF, World Bank, and corporate globalization around the United States. Most of the communities hosting events have indicated a desire to proceed as planned. We hope that our current speakers will soon be joined by others from Senegal, Ghana, and Tanzania, but that depends on the capacity of airlines to catch up with their disrupted schedules. For more information on the traveling teach-in, see or contact Monica Wilson at 202/387-8030 or .
The “Ending Global Apartheid” teach-in, sponsored by the same organizations as the tours as well as Global Exchange and International Rivers Network (which has announced its intention to pull out of most events), will likewise go on as scheduled, beginning with an opening plenary the evening of Thursday, September 27, and continuing through Friday and Saturday, September 28-29. The reduced number of speakers who will be able to attend, together with the anticipated drop in attendance, have prompted us to abbreviate and re-structure the schedule. The price of tickets will correspondingly drop (with refunds offered to those who have already purchased tickets). Please visit for further details, or contact Monica Wilson (see above).
The changes in our plans in no way reflect a shift in the positions of the 50 Years Is Enough Network or its members or partners on the policies of the IMF and World Bank, nor on the imperative to challenge and change those policies. Our eight demands of the institutions (see www.50years.org/s28/demands.html).
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