|
Dear IRC Supporters,
As President Bush recently stated, “Great events will turn on this election. The man who sits in the Oval Office will set the course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy. The security and prosperity of America are at stake.” If history be our guide, that was certainly true four years ago. The Bush administration did set the nation on a new course—instituting a radical policy agenda at home and abroad. There is every reason to believe the president when he says that the “security and prosperity of America are at stake.” But he understated the impact of his administration’s policies. The security and prosperity—and environment—of the entire world, not just America, are at stake.
Southwest Global-Local Links
If you believe President Bush, then particular attention should be given to a few statistics about our democracy. In the 2000 election, only 55% of the voting age population voted. In the Southwest—where the victory of electoral college delegates was determined by just a few percentage points—the voter turnout was below the national average in the so-called swing states of New Mexico (51%), Arizona (47%), and Nevada (54%). On March 1 the IRC officially launched its Southwest Global-Local Links Project, whose slogan is: “Making the connections that make democracy work.” Project director Sherry Tippett had two op-eds published in the state’s leading daily newspapers last week: on the global-locals links of the administration’s energy policy and on New Mexico’s right-wing congressional representative Heather Wilson, who routinely receives zero ratings from groups such as Peace Action, ACLU, and Human Rights Campaign while achieving a 96% favorable voting-record rating from the Christian Coalition. See our new project, which is working collaboratively with regional and national groups, at: www.swglobal-local.org.
Right-to-Know in the Americas
Talli Nauman of the IRC’s Americas Program is causing ripples in Mexico (and throughout Latin America) with her advocacy of Right-to-Know (RTK) legislation. Talli is a member of the volunteer PRTR (Pollutant Release and Transfer Register) Advisory Group of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). On February 3, Talli (along with representatives of other U.S. and Mexican nonprofit organizations) conducted a briefing for members of the media in Mexico City about the RTK legislation sitting on the desk of Mexican president, Vicente Fox. Now other efforts throughout Latin America are asking for IRC assistance in RTK workshops and conferences.
Designed to facilitate collaboration between journalists and activists in the interest of increasing public access to environmental information in the Americas, the event drew the attendance of Sergio Sánchez of the Mexican government’s ministry of environment. Sánchez announced that the president’s approval of regulations for the Mexican Pollutant Release and Transfer Register can be expected no later than March. That revelation prompted articles in the national daily newspapers La Jornada, El Universal, El Independiente, and The Herald. The event also resulted in an interview February 12 on the Planeta Azul radio-tv program for co-organizer Marisa Jacott of our Mexican partner Fronteras Comunes.
Focusing on U.S. Foreign and Military Policy
Foreign Policy In Focus co-director John Gershman attended the World Social Forum in Mumbai (Bombay) India from January 16-21 that brought together 100,000 people from 130 countries to celebrate and strategize on a range of issues. The World Social Forum provided a valuable opportunity for IRC to network with a whole host of organizations, including participating in meetings planning the upcoming day of actions on March 20 to support an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and support self-determination for Iraqis, as well as the formation of a global network to combat the expansive network of U.S. and other foreign military bases. FPIF has produced A Unified Security Budget for the United States, which outlines an alternative agenda for U.S. military policy and military spending [http://www.fpif.org/protected/securitybudget.html]. The report’s authors argue that a disproportionate share of the cumulative $240 billion increase in U.S. security spending from 2001 through 2004 buttressed a force structure and weapons systems poorly matched with today’s most urgent security threats.
A special report published by the FPIF on Afghanistan is being closely read by members of the country’s governing council. Our expert, who travels frequently to Afghanistan, just wrote to say that he has been stunned—and elated—to see that the report edited and produced in New Mexico is the topic of political debate at the highest levels of government in Kabul.
Last fall FPIF initiated its new PetroPolitics project. Petropolitics probes the influence that the oil industry has on policy and politics—particularly in the United States today. Our collective addiction to oil is at the root of at least six fundamental issues facing our nation, and our planet, today: corporate-driven globalization, global warming, poverty, war, terrorism, and the undue influence of money on the political process. On January 6-8, over 300 people attended the first summit on PetroPolitics organized by FPIF in Washington, DC.
Right Web
Jim Lobe, a Washington, DC journalist who is an expert on neoconservatives, said that the IRC’s Right Web project “is probably the most comprehensive and integrated effort yet to link the various connections and relationships that have given the ‘Right’ its power and influence.” Because of the IRC’s Right Web project, IRC’s Policy Director Tom Barry has been invited to speak at the Brussels Tribunal in mid-April on the right-wing architecture of power—one that is changing our country and our world.
It’s an exciting and personally rewarding time to be working at the IRC—which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Never before has the outreach and impact of the IRC been so great. If you are not an IRC member, I invite you to join. If you are already a member, please consider increasing your contribution this year—a time in our history when, as our president reminds us, so much is “at stake” and “great events” are in the offing.
Peace, Justice—and Hope,
Debra Preusch |
