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*Please distribute* *An invitation from the Atlantic G7 Welcoming Committee to all organizations, affinity groups and individuals in the eastern provinces as well as the Northeastern United States and beyond to get involved and participate in actions against the G7 Finance Mniisters Meeting June 14 and 15, 2002 in Halifax, Nova Scotia* The Finance Ministers of the seven richest countries in the world will be meeting in Downtown Halifax, June 14th and 15th, in preparation for the G8 meetings in Kananaskis later that month. This meeting is the last ministerial before the G8 meetings. G7 economic policies shape both global and local economies and encourage decision making policies that put profit before people. For example: * Sable Island natural gas riches flow south to the US market while Nova Scotia's privatized power utility jacks up local rates, and Exxon Mobil sends oil and gas jobs to the USA * The Atlantic fishery was industrialized to maximize corporate profit leaving communities with no fishing quota, empty factories, and idle workers dependent on social assistance * Maritime forests are being stripped through clear-cutting * Nova Scotia's few remaining wilderness areas are threatened with mining * First Nations treaty rights are under assault * African Nova Scotians remain without justice for the destruction of Africville and continued oppression * Nova Scotia "enjoys" the country's lowest minimum wage, and highest university tuition * Atlantic Canadian suffer the effects of pollution from away while our cities' infrastructure fall into disrepair * Halifax Harbour is shamefully polluted, but the cleanup effort is privatized and will disproportionately impact marginalized communities * Homelessness is on the increase. Developers continue to build unafforable housing as advocates demand that the needs and concerns of the homeless and those threatened by homelessness are addressed * Nova Scotia cutbacks, especially to Women's centres, artists' funding, etc. These policies adversely affect worker's rights, degrade our environment, and increase poverty. This threat has also become apparent in recent laws such as the "anti-terrorist" legislation. These laws constitute a judicial assault on political, civil, and human rights and political organizing, have clear racist implications that create an atmosphere of the worst forms of prejudice, resulting in a new wave of scapegoating and attacks on immigrant and refugee communities. What is a change to legislation here in Canada amounts to war in other parts of the world. There have been brutal and indiscriminate assaults on the people of Afghanistan since October 7th, when the retaliation began. In Palestine, the autonomous areas are being invaded by thousands of troops backed by tanks. In Iraq, the threat of war is becoming more and more plausible. The tragic events of September 11th are being exploited as a pretext to target social movements in the Philippines and Colombia, and to expand Western control. A group of citizens are meeting as the Atlantic G7 Welcoming Committee to provide education about G7 and to plan an appropriate reception for the Finance Ministers. We are planning actions that clearly oppose the G7, work in solidarity with G8 protests and support local and regional grassroots social justice efforts. Contact hfx-g7@ziplip.com or call 902.494.6662 for more information or to find out how to get involved. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SUST-MAR TIP: to leave the list, PLEASE send "unsubscribe sust-mar" (or unsubscribe sust-mar-digest") to majordomo@chebucto.ca -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
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