G-20 to be Tried by International Tribunal in Pittsburgh

G-20 to be Tried

by International Tribunal in Pittsburgh

Contact: Jen Soriano, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, Center for Media Justice 415-572-7154, jensori@gmail.com, http://www.pittsburghunited.org/g20

[Pittsburgh – Sep. 24, 2009] The same day the G-20 begin their summit, grassroots leaders will be convening their own summit to examine impacts of G-20 policies on communities throughout the world.

“The G-20 is charged with promoting policies of poverty,” says Robin Alexander, Director of International Relations for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), and a member of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance.  “Here in Pennsylvania, a recent study by Keystone Institute showed that income declined for 95% of people in Pennsylvania while the top .01% saw their income double between 2001 and 2008.  This is not the kind of world we want to live in.”

While Obama has declared that the economic downturn has stabilized in the US, the World Bank has projected that 89 million people will slide into dire poverty by the end of 2010.  This together with the rising U.S. unemployment rate, the specter of 59 million jobs to be lost worldwide, and spiraling global environmental degradation indicate that the time is now for bold changes to business as usual.

Development in the Northside community of Pittsburgh is an example of what’s wrong with business as usual.  In this community of 18 neighborhoods, finance-driven city development has contributed to the construction of massive projects that have displaced local poor, working class and minority communities. 

“Corporate developers are taking our public land, our public dollars and our public privelege,” says Michael Glass, Executive Director of Northside Common Ministries. “We the people who work and raise our families here no longer have the privelege to say we want hospitals, schools, museums – institutions that bring long-term growth to our communities.  The mayor’s office is doing what’s good for big business, and this has devastated our neighborhoods. Put yourselves in our place, and you’ll see we need to change the way development is done.”

The G-20 People’s Tribunal will feature testimony from Northside community members as well as workers, students, teachers, and other community experts from around the world. Topics will include:

• Workers on the Move: Growing Unemployment and the Fight for Sustainable Jobs
• From the Barrio to Boardroom: G20’s impact on Drugs, Crime and Violence
• Global Well-Being: Redefining our relationship to Environmental Crises
• Trading Places: Impacts of the Free Trade Agenda
• What world are youth inheriting?
• Impact of the Economic Crises on Women

Following testimony, a panel of judges will reach a verdict.  Judges include Jeanne Mirer, a civil rights attorney who was just elected president of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Enrique Daza, Coordinator of Hemispheric Social Alliance, and Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice.

“We want the G-20 to see that changing their policies could mean a world where we can provide decent jobs, health care and government services while protecting the environment for all,” says Alexander.

The People’s Tribunal is a collaboration between Pittsburgh United/Northside United, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), Alliance for Responsible Trade/Hemispheric Social Alliance, Center for Latin American Studies University of Pittsburgh, PA American Friends Service Committee, the G6 Billion, the Hemispheric Social Alliance, and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), Roots of Promise, Students for Radical Change. 

It is one of 4 events in the series:

“People’s Voices: Challenging the G-20's Agenda of Corporate Globalization (September 23-25).”

For more information go to http://www.pittsburghunited.org/g20

G-20 People’s Tribunal

Thursday, September 24, 2009

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
 Calvary United Methodist Church

                                                                                                        971 Beech Ave., PA 15233