[News] Civil Disobedience Action At APEC CEO Summit Blocks Access to Site

[Anti-Imperialist News]

popularresistance.org
<https://popularresistance.org/civil-disobedience-action-at-apec-ceo-summit/>
Civil Disobedience Action At APEC CEO Summit
By No to APEC Coalition, Popular Resistance.
November 17, 2023
------------------------------
[image: Brooke-Anderson2.jpg]

Above photo: Brooke Anderson.
Demand “People and Planet over Profits” and Ceasefire in Gaza .

* “Business as Usual” Meeting Between Heads of State and Corporate
Executives Successfully Disrupted.*

San Francisco, CA – Members of the No to APEC Coalition engaged in a civil
disobedience action by blocking access to the site of the APEC CEO Summit
at the Moscone West Convention Center in defiance of the hyper-militarized
structures erected by the local and federal government. This action is the
latest effort by the No to APEC Coalition during its months-long campaign
to highlight the global and local harms of free trade and global free
market agendas while demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“We know APEC and IPEF do not represent the interest of the people or the
planet,” said Rhonda Ramiro from the No to APEC Coalition. “We are fighting
for a different world. A world where all workers have pay and workplace
protection, where all working people have the right to unionize and
organize, where value is what you contribute to the community. We call on
the people to join us in shutting down APEC!”

Today’s scheduled APEC CEO Summit included panels on sustainability and
climate which featured Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods as well as heads of
state including Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. While
demonstrators locked themselves together to block entrances to the CEO
Summit and called for “War Criminals Out of SF,” almost 200 gathered
outside the Ritz Carlton to protest against Marcos Jr for “greenwashing”
and selling out the Philippines to foreign investors.

“They call it free trade,” said Suzanne Ali from the Palestinian Youth
Movement. “In reality, it is forced migration, it is destruction of the
environment, it is destruction of our people, it is the depletion of
natural resources, it is the fueling of war and genocide, and ultimately at
the heart of it, is bloodthirst for profit.”

Will Wiltschko from Bay Climate Action said “Young people everywhere are
angry at world leaders not taking action on climate change. The
Indo-Pacific trade deal they’re expecting to announce this week ignores the
climate reality that people around the world are facing. This ongoing
collusion between APEC leaders and huge corporations won’t be tolerated.”

Organizations are condemning the anti-worker agenda of APEC which they
claim will especially harm women. “The big tech agenda on women claims to
advance women’s equality, when in reality these jobs pigeonhole women into
low paying, exploitative jobs,” explains Katie Comfort of the International
Women’s Alliance, “all while they make record breaking profits, and expand
to new markets in these Asian countries.”

Conny Ford, a participant who risked arrest explained, “I am participating
today because many of us workers have been through the last free trade deal
for the southern hemispheres and it was a disaster. It was a disaster
because no worker organizations were there at the table, and it meant low
wages, extreme exploitation, and jobs shipped to the cheapest locations.”

Many of the corporations represented at the CEO summit including GM, Amazon
and Kaiser have recently seen massive worker strikes and walkouts demanding
better pay and working conditions. “Big tech seeks to offshore and
outsource jobs for AI generation, customer service, and development on
women so they can pay them unlivable wages and string them along with
contractual work – all while they make record breaking profits, and expand
to new markets in these Asian countries.”

“My family lost their house during Hurricane Maria and thousands of Puerto
Ricans lost their lives. Our lives are threatened by the climate crisis
that corporations like Exxon created and banks like Citi continue to
finance,” said CJ Acevedo, with Climate Defenders. “That’s why this morning
we performed a symbolic wedding to denounce the union between the CEOs of
Citibank and ExxonMobil, who are sponsoring this event.”

In the wake of President Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping,
organizers are expressing concern that APEC’s profit-driven agenda will
only breed further militarization and war in the Pacific Rim. Cody Urban
with the Resist US Led War movement warns, “Biden’s complete disregard for
the calls from the world for a ceasefire in Palestine and an end to the
genocidal Israeli assault proves the White House only serves to keep the
war industry alive.”

Over 150 organizations internationally – including unions, environmental
justice groups, and migrant communities from APEC countries, have united
under the No to APEC Coalition’s banner call of “People and Planet Over
Profit Plunder.” In the lead up to the APEC Summit, the No to APEC Coalition’s
efforts culminated in a resolution that passed unanimously within the SF
Board of Supervisors, which dedicated $10 million towards local communities
and small businesses who have been severely crippled by the APEC conference.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20231118/95c2a8bb/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Brooke-Anderson2.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 228273 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20231118/95c2a8bb/attachment-0001.jpg>