MEDIA ADVISORY
IMF-WORLD BANK MEANS
SUPPRESSION OF BASIC RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL DELEGATES EXPOSE DIVIDE-AND-RULE TACTICS
Washington, DC - The People’s Assembly Against the IMF/World Bank denounced the suppression of basic democratic rights of speech and assembly, and the use of strong-arm military and police tactics against those peacefully protesting the anti-people policies of the IMF/World Bank.
The police have cordoned off a section of the Ellipse for what they have called the ‘permitted rally.’ “Freedom of assembly and freedom to express opinions is a fundamental right guaranteed by the first amendment. It is superior to the regulatory power of the state. There is no such thing as ‘permitted protest’ and ‘illegal protest.’ These are public places, these are our streets,” said Arnedo Valera, Esq, of DIWA, the local group hosting the People’s Assembly.
Atty. Valera warned, “The military and police are preparing to criminalize anyone outside the small area where they say we can protest. The designation of specific places for us to exercise our right to peaceful assembly and expression produces a constitutional chilling effect of actually prohibiting and curtailing these rights.”
“This is a psywar tactic to divide protesters into ‘good’ and ‘bad’: those who inadvertently accept the police framework of setting limits on basic democratic rights and those who want to assert the right to peaceful protest without undue restrictions and overzealous guarding by the police of the IMF/World Bank,” said Carol Pagaduan-Araullo of BAYAN-Philippines. “Outside of the so-called ‘permitted area’ will be a virtual free-fire zone, where protesters are subject to mass arrest and violent attacks by the police with pepper spray, teargas, water cannons and rubber bullets. The police say they don’t want a repeat of Seattle—meaning the militant protests that shut down the WTO meeting. We say we don’t want a repeat of the brutal display of state fascism.”
“The media and authorities are showing video clips of the Seattle protest highlighting the isolated incidents of vandalism. This is meant to justify the police offensive to isolate the creative and peaceful ways people will be expressing their opposition to the IMF/WB,” said Ace Saturay, convenor of the People’s Assembly Against the WTO in Seattle. “The police didn’t grant the People’s Assembly a permit in Seattle but we still militantly asserted our right to have a march and rally. Here in DC we are re-claiming our basic democratic rights to free speech and assembly and urging people to not allow the authorities to confuse and divide us.” ###