The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, a regional economic forum established in 1989, with 21 member "economies," including the US, Japan, China, Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand, will be holding their third Senior Officials' Meeting in Seattle from late July through mid August.
Critics of the APEC say it actually stands for "Advancing Poverty, Endangering Communities."
Past meetings of APEC, just like those of similar free trade institutions like the World Trade Organization, have led to new laws being passed that tear apart corporate regulations protecting worker safety, wage and benefit guarantees and the right to unionize. This has had a particularly devastating effect on primarily agricultural economies of the global south, while devastating the environment and leading to military-enforced land grabs of farming and indigenous communities.
Since February, organizations with Pacific Northwest People Over Profit, a coalition of labor, climate justice, anti-war, human rights and community organizations who are committed to confronting APEC, have held a series of online and in person educational and action-oriented events to build up to a People's Summit Against APEC on July 29, followed by marches and actions in Seattle from July 30 and throughout the month of August.
Joining host Paul Roland will be anti-imperialist activist Cody Urban of Pacific Northwest People Over Profit and the national No To APEC Coalition.
https://actnowpng.org/blog/blog-entry-five-reasons-we-should-protest-against-apec
- KBOO