Charles Nailen/The Hoya
An estimated 20,000 protesters are expected to converge on downtown Washington, D.C., this weekend for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Among them will be a number of Georgetown students and students from colleges across the country.
Friday is expected to be the most disruptive day, city officials said, with the group Anti-Capitalist Convergence declaring a “People’s Strike: A Day of Non-Compliance and Resistance,” according to The Washington Post and the Anti-Capitalist Convergence Web site. The group has urged people to stay home from work and to block intersections, slow traffic and hold protests at certain government and business offices.
A number of demonstrations are planned throughout the day, from a 7:30 a.m. “Bike Against Big Oil” starting at Union Station to a Gap protest and Strip Action at 2 p.m. at the Gap store on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. Other activities include a 9 a.m. anti-war demonstration in Freedom Plaza, at 1 p.m. Also planned are a “Teach-In” for Catholic activists at St. Aloysius Catholic Church and a 4:30 p.m. panel discussion on Venezuela and resistance to globalization in Latin America at the Josephine Butler Parks Center.
The Georgetown Solidarity Committee is helping to coordinate housing for activists coming to the protests from colleges around the country. It is expecting 100 to 200 students this weekend.
GSC also plans to participate in the “Bike Against Big Oil” to promote alternative forms of transportation, GSC member Mike Wilson (COL ’04) said. He said he expects 30 to 40 Georgetown students to attend the Mobilization for Global Justice march at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the March and Rally Against the War in Iraq at 2 p.m. on Sunday. A group of students is also planning to meet at 1:30 p.m. at the Healy Gates for the Gap protest on Friday.
“Awareness raising is the greatest thing,” GSC member Eric Nazar (COL ’03) said. “The IMF and World Bank have exacerbated the economic conditions of countries in the global south. The simple facts of it are these policies have hurt the people in those countries and made those countries poorer.”
City authorities have advised commuters to use public transportation and to allow for extra travel time on Friday. Metro officials said that transportation service would not be disrupted but that some routes may be detoured because of street closings.
