Anti-War Coalition Opposes Wolfowitz Nomination to World Bank

News from UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE | http://www.unitedforpeace.org

For Immediate Release March 30, 2005

Contact: Bill Dobbs -(212) 868-5545 office, (917) 822-5422 mobile
National Anti-War Coalition Opposes Wolfowitz Nomination
to World Bank

United for Peace and Justice Condemns Bush's Choice of
Iraq War Architect, Calls on Peace Movement to Join
April 15-17 Protests In Washington, D.C.Against World Bank
and IMF

NEW YORK, NY -- United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) condemns the Bush
Administration's nomination of Paul Wolfowitz, architect of the Iraq War, to
head the World Bank. UFPJ is calling on anti-war groups and individuals to
join global justice activists for three days of protest against the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., from April 15-17.

"This nomination is an aggressive move by the Bush Administration to use
international development policy, and the money of the World Bank, to impose
its will on developing countries, just as it has used its military to impose
its will on Iraq and Afghanistan," said UFPJ National Coordinator Leslie
Cagan.

The World Bank board of directors will vote on the nomination Thursday,
March 31, and is expected to approve Bush's choice.
Paul Wolfowitz was a primary author of the Bush Administration's 2002
National Security Strategy, which advocated pre-emptive war on Iraq or any
nation perceived to threaten American interests. The strategy further called
for U.S. economic and military domination in every corner of the world.

In opposing the Wolfowitz appointment, UFPJ calls for the transformation of
the World Bank from an exploitative organization to one that is truly
committed to ending poverty and promoting sustainable development as an
important step toward ending violence worldwide.

"The U.S. has historically used its power over the World Bank to exploit the
resources of the developing world, at enormous cost to the people of the
Global South and the environment," said Orin Langelle of the Global Justice
Ecology Project http://www.globaljusticeecology.org, and UFPJ's Global
Justice Working Group. "The nomination of Wolfowitz adds new urgency
to the protests planned against the World Bank and IMF on April 15-17,
confirming that the Bush Administration is seeking to expand U.S. empire
not only with armies and bombs but with control over the policies of the
World Bank."

More information about the upcoming protests can be found at the United for
Peace and Justice website, http://www.unitedforpeace.org.

United for Peace and Justice is the largest U.S. peace and justice
coalition, with more than 1,000 groups under its umbrella. Since its
founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies
around the country, including the two largest demonstrations against the
Iraq war.