Call to Vermont Organizations

CALL TO VERMONT ORGANIZATIONS
ACT TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER WORLD
"MANY STRUGGLES, ONE MOVEMENT"

Social movements from around the world have called for an international mobilization on January 26, 2008. We call on Vermont organizations to be part of this international struggle against war, racism, sexism and corporate rule which produce violence, exploitation, poverty, hunger and ecological disaster and deprive people of human rights. We believe in the slogan of the World Social Forum, from which this call emerges, "another world is possible," and we call on Vermont organizations and individuals to act together for another world.

We invite organizations and individuals in Vermont to undertake throughout the week of January 21-27 creative actions, activities, events and convergences focusing on the issues of their choice, and we call for one united, public demonstration on Saturday, January 26 in Burlington, around the following three themes:

END THE WAR AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW
HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT
CLIMATE JUSTICE

We recognize that workers, veterans, people of color, women, youth and the LBGT community are disproportionately affected by these crises. The unjust war in Iraq uses working-class people and people of color as cannon fodder, and its costs starve public services and public education. Our healthcare "system" leaves 63,000 Vermonters uninsured, overworks and underpays front-line healthcare workers, and cannot even care for our returning veterans. The brunt of climate change will be born by people of color, indigenous peoples and countries of the Global South, with Hurricane Katrina being a perfect example of the lethal intersection between poverty, racism and global warming. We are committed to make sure that voices from the groups and communities most affected by these crises are heard in this action.

Initiating signers
Vermont Workers' Center
Iraq Veterans Against the War (Vermont chapter)
Global Justice Ecology Project

Central Vermont WILPF
Peace and Justice Center
Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) at UVM
Peace Vermont