Winter 2003-04
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Letter from the ED
Dear IRC Supporter, In 2004 IRC will celebrate its 25th birthday, and our country faces one of the most critical decisions in our history. The election of George W. Bush as the first U.S. president of the new millennium, together with the tragic events of September 11, 2001, helped usher in a radical right turn in U.S. politics. The hallmark of this turn has been the unfettered use of U.S. military power across the globe. Spurred on by the public’s fear of terrorism and a re-energized conservative movement, our government over the past couple of years has: Obliterated the framework of relations that had guided international politics since the end of World War II; Implemented harsh domestic security policies that infringe on basic personal freedoms; Increased its reliance on military strength as the sole guarantor of global peace & security; Charted a treacherous, go-it-alone course in its relations with the rest of the world. We are at a crossroads that calls for focused educational and outreach work by the leading policy institutes that stand outside the right’s assault on the traditional frameworks for domestic and foreign policy decisionmaking. U.S. progressive organizations like the IRC face a special responsibility to address the U.S. right’s strategy to undermine liberal and progressive achievements over the past two centuries. The right’s hold on political and economic power through their influential networks of think tanks, policy institutes, and media outlets, as well as their control of the Republican Party, has presented all center-left organizations with their greatest challenge since the early 1980s. A major contribution to this effort is IRC’s latest project, Right Web, which provides hundreds of profiles of the individuals, institutions, corporate ties, and government connections within the right-wing movement, and offers analysis of how they have succeeded in getting much of their agenda into domestic and foreign policy directives. Check out the more than 160 individual profiles, including Daniel Pipes, Condoleezza Rice, Newt Gingrich, Jeb and George Bush, and organizational profiles on such right-wing organizations as the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), by logging on to http://rightweb.irc-online.org. The Right Web project also produces a biweekly ezine, Right Web News, which you can subscribe to from the Right Web website. The IRC has worked hard to develop a global community of activists, analysts, and policy advocates intent on forging new systems of global governance. The IRC is the best resource for connecting theory with reality; for defining how global trends affect us as individuals; for communicating across cultural and geographical barriers. And the IRC is truly the best at sticking to principles that demand economic, social, and environmental justice. For all these reasons, and the fact that less than one year remains before we elect a new president, we hope that you will join the global majority today and give generously so that we may continue and expand our work. Sincerely, Debra Preusch
News from the IRC
IRC Launches Project to Unveil the Right-Wing’s Power Structure Welcome to Right Web, online at http://rightweb.irc-online.org/, which profiles more than 160 of the most powerful people of the right-wing movement and their ties to organizations, corporations, educational institutions, and government representatives in a new architecture of power that is changing not only our nation, but the world. Right Web is organized into four main sections: People Web, Org Web, Gov Web, and Corp Web. Complementing these elements is an analysis section, as well as a new IRC ezine called Right Web News that will feature news, commentary, and thoroughly researched profiles. The website is designed as a research tool for journalists, grassroots organizations and activists, as well as ordinary citizens who are concerned about America’s future. IRC at the Podium and on Capitol Hill In addition to major global conferences and meetings, IRC staff are frequent guest presenters at domestic events. John Gershman spoke at Duke University October 28. His talk, entitled “Dying for Growth: Power, Development Policy and a New(?) Washington Consensus for Healthy Economies,” was sponsored by the Duke University Center for International Studies. Laura Carlsen was the keynote speaker at a University of New Mexico conference on the U.S.-Mexico Relations on November 17. Her presentation was titled “The Fox-Bush Era and the Future of Mexican-U.S. Relations.” As part of the cross-border environmental right-to-know (RTK) movement, IRC’s Americas Program staff member Talli Nauman attended the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) annual meeting in October, as well as a meeting of environmental NGOs from Canada, the United States, and Mexico, on Oct. 29, in Washington, DC. Bilingual information packets featuring our Citizen Action in the Americas profile on the movement were distributed to attendees. IRC also proposed an action plan for the NGOs, which is currently being considered for funding by the CEC. Together with such groups as the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Latin America Working Group, the IRC in the last two months has produced policy briefings on Colombia and immigration policy that have been placed on the desks of all congressional staffers on Capitol Hill. This year we also teamed up with the U.S. point person for Hemispheric Social Alternatives, CLAES in Uruguay, and the Tuft’s Center for Sustainable Environment and Development Center. IRC in the NEWS In addition to the regular feedback we enjoy from activists and citizens organizations from all over the globe, IRC staff are constantly called on for media interviews around the world. The following is only a partial list of the dozens of media “hits” the IRC has received in the past two months: John Gershman appeared on an Australian ABC radio show, Late Night Live, on U.S.-China relations and security in Asia, along with Mohan Malik of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies. Tom Barry’s op-ed, “What $87.5 Billion in War Spending will Cost New Mexico and the Nation,” appeared November 12 in the Albuquerque Journal. Laura Carlsen’s piece, “Trade Negotiations: Divide and Conquer?” ran November 11 on Oneworld.net, highlighting the dramatic death of Korean farmer Lee Kyung-Hae, who killed himself to protest WTO agriculture and trade policies. Stephen Zunes, FPIF scholar, was quoted in several major media outlets this quarter, including an Associated Press Online story, “Bagdad Attacks Show Unmet Goals in Iraq,” which ran October 28. John Gershman was quoted in the London Financial Times in the October 17 story, “Beijing Looms Large in the White House’s Defence Strategy.”
Office Contact Information
Albuquerque Box 4506 Albuquerque, NM 87196-4506 Voice: (505) 842-8288 Fax: (505) 842-8288	Silver City Box 2178 Silver City, NM 88062-2178 Voice: (505) 388-0208 Fax: (505) 388-0619 Email: irc@irc-online.org