Monte Rio, Calif.
Hated imperialists can't hide among the trees
By Workers
World San
Francisco bureau
Activists from all over the West Coast are coming to the
town of Monte Rio on the Sonoma Coast July 14 to protest the
corporate globalizers and war criminals who gather at the
male-only Bohemian Grove Club each year.
Buses and carpools are departing from Seattle, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Diego, the Central
Valley and other locations to participate in the largest
demonstration ever held outside the exclusive club.
Bohemian Grove is a privately owned, 2,700-acre rare
redwood forest located 75 miles north of San Francisco. Each
July 2,500 U.S. top government officials, CEOs, bankers and
military leaders gather there for a two-week retreat. No
women are allowed into these secret discussions of future
plans for globalization and U.S. military dominance.
Every Republican president since Herbert Hoover has been a
member of this club, along with quite a few Democrats.
Executives from major military contractors, oil companies,
banks, utilities and the national media are also members.
The July 14 protest at Bohemian Grove against the Bush
agenda and corporate globalization begins at 2 p.m. in the
River Access parking lot of Monte Rio, Calif.
Speakers will include Willie Garret, former Sonoma County
NAACP chapter president; journalist and author Alexander
Cockburn; Henry Clark, director of the West County Toxics
Coalition; John Parker, Los Angeles Coalition to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal; Gloria La Riva, International Action Center;
Miguel Gavilan Molina of KPFA; Alicia Sanchez, labor
organizer; Cora Lee Simmons, Round Valley Indians for
Justice; Peter Phillips, director of Project Censored; Carlos
Padilla, Students for Justice; Charlotte Green, Death Penalty
Focus; Ramon Acevedo, Committee for a New Colombia; and
Babara Lubin, executive director of Middle East Children's
Alliance.
Richard Becker of the International Action Center and Mary
Moore of the Bohemian Grove Action Network will emcee the
rally and Native drumming groups will lead a mass march to
the gates of the enclave.
In addition, activists will take to the streets again July
18 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco to protest war
criminal Henry Kissinger. The former secretary of state and
national security advisor was the architect of death and
destruction in Vietnam, Chile, East Timor, Angola and the
Middle East. He will speak at a Commonwealth Club event as
part of his annual trip to Bohemian Grove.
Kissinger regularly gives "Lakeside Chats" at Bohemian
Grove. These chats are conducted twice daily during the
two-week July retreat. In past years they have included
Kissinger and former President Richard Nixon on "Do we need a
foreign policy," Vice President Richard Cheney on "Major
defense problems of the 21st century," former Secretary of
State James Baker on "The imperative of American lead
ership," U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on
"Church, state, and the Constitution," former Secretary of
State and Attorney General Elliot Richardson on "Defining a
New World Order," Christopher DeMuth on "The triumph of the
market and the politics of affluence," General Electric and
Utah Mining CEO Edmund Littlefield on "Enjoying the corporate
climb," and Fred Henderson III on "Commercial opportunities
in space: the next decade."
A convergence of exploiters
"Bohemian Grove is a sinister convergence of many of the
world's most dangerous and destructive individuals, from
Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and the Bechtels, to Henry
Kissinger, Edwin Meese, George Bush Sr., and the CEOs of the
Fortune 500 giants," said Nancy Mitchell, an organizer at the
International Action Center. "Their goal is to push forward
globalization, which means the freedom of
capital--particularly U.S. capital--to freely exploit the
labor and resources of the world.
"The ruling elite use the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the plans for
the Free Trade Area of the Americas to force austerity plans
on scores of developing and poor countries," Mitchell
explained. "Those who resist are subjected to war,
intervention, occupation and blockade--from Iraq to Cuba,
from Palestine to Korea, from Colombia to Angola, from China
to Mexico.
"Globalization is also visible right here in this
country," she stressed. "The slashing of social programs,
elimination of affirmative action, attacks on women's rights
and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, disabled
rights, elimination of environmental standards, the racist
death penalty and ever-expanding prison system in the
U.S.--which holds over 2 million people--are all part of the
repressive Bush agenda we are protesting at Bohemian
Grove."
Mitchell also told Workers World that the July 14 protest
at Bohemian Grove will be the West Coast launching of a
national campaign by the International Action Center, along
with other organizations, to mobilize to defeat the Bush
program.
A mass march and rally to surround the White House are
planned for Sept. 29. Hundreds of organizations and many
individuals are mobilizing for the action, which coincides
with a planned national convergence to protest the IMF and
World Bank.
For information about getting to the Bohemian Grove
protests or to join future West Coast efforts to fight the
Bush program, contact the International Action Center in San
Francisco at (415) 821-6545, or in Los Angeles at (213)
487-2368. More information is also posted on the Web site
www.actionsf.org
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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