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News Releases

  • Non-Proliferation Treaty

    As participants from around the world gather at the United Nations for a month-long conference to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the following policy analysts are available for interviews: JACQUELINE CABASSO Executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation, Cabasso is at the UN conference in New York. She said today: “The U.S. is doing a big PR blitz trying to convince the rest of the world that it is in compliance with Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires the nuclear powers to negotiate the end of the arms race and the elimination of nuclear weapons. In…

  • Perspectives on Earth Day

    In connection with Earth Day, the following people are available for interviews: KRISTEN BOYLES A staff attorney with the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund specializing in Clean Water Act litigation, Boyles said: “As we celebrate Earth Day 2000, it ‘s important to remember that all life on our planet depends on water. Unfortunately, clean water is fast becoming a scarce commodity in the United States. Despite our need for clean water, there are currently attacks on the Clean Water Act in Congress which would undermine laws protecting our rivers, lakes and streams.” More Information RICK HIND Legislative director of the Greenpeace…

  • Interviews Available on IMF and World Bank

    As protests continue in Washington against policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the following are available for interviews: CAROL WELCH International policy analyst for Friends of the Earth and coauthor of the recent report “The IMF: Selling the Environment Short,” Welch said today: “The IMF deals in environmental destruction. It pushes countries to exploit natural resources to meet short-term financial needs. In Cameroon, exports of raw logs increased 50 percent in a three-year IMF program.” More Information CHERYL PAYER Author of The Debt Trap: The IMF and the Third World and Lent and Lost: Foreign Credit and…

  • With Protests Underway, Interviews Available

    As thousands protest against the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, the following are available for interviews: QUENTIN DRISKELL An attorney with the National Conference of Black Lawyers and the National Lawyers Guild, Driskell is providing legal assistance to protesters. He said today: “There’s a complete atmosphere of repression in Washington: the illegitimate preemptive arrests, the expansion of the restricted area around the World Bank building, the storming of the Convergence Center. The authorities seem bent on not allowing peaceful protests to go forward. The tactics that they’ve resorted to almost seem as if…

  • Analysts Available on Stock Downturn

    As Wall Street ends a week of plummeting stocks, economists who have warned of a massive price bubble are available for interviews: DEAN BAKER Dean Baker has written extensively about the over-valuation in the stock market the last three years, including a recent article in Dollars and Sense entitled “The New Economy: A Millennial Myth.” In an Institute for Public Accuracy news release on March 16 of this year — as the stock market was rising — Baker, who is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, warned about elation: “The main feature of the ‘new economy’ is…

  • IMF and Debt: Analysts Available

    As thousands gather in Washington to protest the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the following analysts are available for interviews: DENNIS KUCINICH A member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kucinich (D-Ohio) said today: “Unless debt relief is delinked from a requirement of countries to follow IMF economic policies, the main beneficiary of Congressional funding for debt relief is the IMF. That’s because the IMF will receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, while poor countries will have to follow IMF dictates about government spending, health and education policy, monetary policy, privatization. But the IMF…

  • Critics — Some Unexpected — of IMF and World Bank

    Critics of the IMF and World Bank include Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development and an advisor to countries around the world. Today he told “Inside Capital” that the IMF, “with the very heavy backing of the U.S. government, really tries to run countries all over the world, and they don’t do a very good job of it.” Also, the former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz, now at the Brookings Institution, has written a New Republic piece quite critical of the IMF. Here are other critics of the IMF and World Bank, available for interviews:…

  • World Bank: Helping the Poor?

    With protests set for Washington in the next few days, these analysts on the World Bank are available for interviews. BEVERLY BELL Director of the Center for Economic Justice, Bell said today: “Throughout the global South, World Bank policies are devastating communities, environments, livelihoods, human rights, women’s status…” KEVIN DANAHER Co-editor of the new book Globalize This!, Danaher said today: “The World Bank takes our taxpayer money and uses it as collateral to issue bonds from major banks; that money is then used to create leverage over Third World elites. The World Bank lends these Third World governments money—on the…

  • Elian: Some Context

    These analysts are available for interviews on context in the Elian Gonzalez case: ELENA FREYRE Executive director of the Miami office of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, Freyre said today: “The Cuban American community is not monolithic. Returning Elian is part of broader reconciliation that needs to take place between Cubans. Part of the message that’s being sent is that if you live in Cuba, you can’t raise healthy, productive children — that’s not true.” MICHAEL RATNER Attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights and a fellow at Yale Law School, Ratner said today: “That this sad soap opera is…

  • Why Challenge the IMF and World Bank?

    With protests planned in mid-April for Washington, D.C., when the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund meet in the nation’s capital, the following analysts are now available for interviews about those institutions: DENNIS BRUTUS Now professor emeritus of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Brutus was a political prisoner with Nelson Mandela. A member of Jubilee 2000 South Africa, Brutus said today: “The record of both the World Bank and IMF over a period of more than 50 years shows that they serve the interests of the corporations rather than of people. Their policies have led to increased…

  • As Missiles Hit Yugoslavia, Interviews Available

    MICHAEL SIMMONS Director of European Programs for the American Friends Service Committee, Simmons said: “The conflict in Kosovo should have been anticipated and need not have happened…. On the one hand, in Iraq, the U.S. is calling for [internal] opposition to Saddam Hussein. But in Yugoslavia, there has been all kinds of opposition, but the…

  • Interviews Available on Kosovo

    DAVID HARTSOUGH Executive director of the Peaceworkers organization, Hartsough has gone to Kosovo several times in support of nonviolent resistance and conflict-resolution efforts. Last March, he was detained by Serbian authorities, who jailed him and later expelled him from the country. “Diplomatic efforts should have been underway more than a year ago, before the place…

  • Missile Defense?

    In the aftermath of the congressional vote to deploy a missile defense system — just days before the Russian prime minister is set to arrive in the United States — some analysts are questioning the feasibility, prudence and legality of such a system. Among those available for comment are: WILLIAM HARTUNG Senior research fellow at…

  • Is The Heritage Foundation Credible?

    The Heritage Foundation is one of our country’s most influential and oft-quoted think tanks. But its claims often seem to be based more on ideology than solid research. U.S. POOR NOT REALLY POOR: Heritage Foundation poverty analyst Robert Rector has issued widely trumpeted reports arguing that the poor aren’t so poor — for instance, “The…

  • With Clinton in Guatemala, Analysts Available for Interviews

    KATE DOYLE Director of the Guatemala Project at the National Security Archive, which worked with the Commission for Historical Clarification, Doyle said: “Though not all the relevant material was turned over to the `truth commission,’ the U.S. took the Commission’s requests seriously and produced some critical documents. I hope this is a harbinger for support…

  • As Welfare Ends, Overlooked Issues Emerge

    While states across the country reach deadlines to end welfare for large numbers of people, some policy analysts contend that both the White House and the Republican congressional leadership are dodging substantial evidence that many Americans who have been dropped from the welfare rolls are worse off as a result. Among the researchers available for…

  • Legislative Priorities: Other Views

    President Clinton went to Capitol Hill today to talk about his administration’s legislative agenda. Interviews are available with these analysts: NANCY SNOW Snow, assistant professor of political science at New England College, is executive director of Common Cause in New Hampshire. “The other Y2K problem is the money chase in the presidential campaigns of 2000,”…

  • Holes in New Report of Economic Growth: Analysts Point to Big Gaps in Prosperity

    Despite new figures showing rapid growth in the U.S. economy, some economists said Friday afternoon that many Americans are not getting much benefit from the nation’s overall prosperity. While the Commerce Department has just reported that the economy grew at an annual rate of 6.1 percent during the final quarter of 1998, independent economists cautioned…

  • Kosovo Crisis

    DAVID HARTSOUGH Director of the Peaceworkers organization from 1993 through 1998, Hartsough made several extended visits to Kosovo in recent years in support of nonviolent resistance and conflict-resolution efforts. Last March, he was detained by Serbian authorities, who jailed him and later expelled him from the country. “For more than eight years, the Kosovo Albanian…

  • Perspectives on Social Security

    DIANA ZUCKERMAN Director of the Social Security Project of the National Association of Commissions for Women, Zuckerman said: “Privatization would be a double whammy for women: Privatized personal accounts primarily benefit the highest earners, who tend to be men, and many of the proposed benefit cuts would harm our lowest earners, most of whom are…

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