HELEN LENSKYJ Lenskyj is author of Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and Activism and the forthcoming The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts of Sydney 2000.She is professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Lenskyj said this afternoon: “How much do the Olympics really cost and who ends up paying? The International Olympic Committee continues to do things in much the same way despite negative effects at each Olympics. Repeated attempts to inject social conscience into how the games are run have fallen on deaf ears. When the inspection team came to Toronto, it was clear that they had…

ANDREW WHEAT Wheat is the research director for Texans for Public Justice, a non-profit policy and research organization which tracks the influence of money in politics. Wheat said today: “President Bush’s explanation of his relationship to Enron is at best a half truth. He was in bed with Enron before he ever held a political office…. Although Enron is George W. Bush’s No. 1 career donor, the president also is heavily indebted to the professional firms that aided and abetted the greatest bankruptcy and shareholder meltdown in U.S. history. Enron’s ‘independent’ auditor and ‘outside’ law firm — whose own questionable…

VAN JONES The World Economic Forum, meeting in New York City, has named Jones as one of the “100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow.” Jones, who founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in 1996, said today: “I think it is a grudging admission on their part that the growing movements against corporate-led globalization and the incarceration industry must be taken seriously. I will accept the award — not for myself, but for the thousands of activists and concerned community members who will be locked out. The WEF meeting is essentially a gathering of 3,000 economic royalists, who dominate decision-making…

WALDEN BELLO JOY CHAVEZ Bello is the executive director and Chavez is a research associate for Focus on the Global South. Bello said today: “Porto Alegre, site of the World Social Forum [WSF] last year and again this year, has become the byword for the spirit of the burgeoning movement against corporate-driven globalization. Galvanized by the slogan ‘Another world is possible,’ some 70,000 people are expected to flock to this coastal city. The WSF has been established as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum [WEF], in timing as well as in spirit.” More Information More Information NJOKI NJOROGE NJEHU…

GREG PALAST Palast is an internationally recognized expert on regulation of power markets and author of Regulation and Democracy, an upcoming U.N. study. On a Jan. 24, 2001 news release by the Institute for Public Accuracy, he said: “The California blackouts are a simple case of greed run amok…. The big winners in this monstrosity are Enron — the largest career contributor to George W. Bush — and other energy companies who have strangled the market. ‘Deregulation’ is a lie — it is simply moving regulation from democratic government agencies to an unelected circle of market manipulators.” Palast said today:…

GWENDOLYN MINK Author of the newly-revised Welfare’s End and a political scientist at Smith College, Mink said today: “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families reauthorization is Congress’s opportunity to undo some of the damage of the 1996 welfare law. The first step toward TANF reform must be to repeal TANF’s current goal of abolishing single motherhood, which makes meddling in women’s intimate lives the surrogate for dealing with the causes of mothers’ poverty. The progressive TANF Reauthorization Bill (H.R. 3113) does just that by rededicating TANF’s statutory purposes and provisions to reducing poverty — through education, work supports, caregiving support, child…

MATT ROTHSCHILD Editor of The Progressive, Rothschild recently wrote the article “The New McCarthyism.” The Progressive is offering a regular feature called “McCarthyism Watch.” More Information SARAH HOGARTH Director of the National Lawyers Guild Post 9-11 Project, Hogarth said today: “The government is talking out of both sides of its mouth about the detainees. It is claiming that the detainees held on just immigration charges have no connection to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, yet it is denying them bond and is holding secret hearings. We need to know who is in jail, who wants a lawyer and that they…

On Jan. 31, the annual World Economic Forum — a gathering of the “1,000 most powerful corporations in the world” which has been held in Davos, Switzerland for three decades — will get underway in New York City. Meanwhile, the World Social Forum, bringing together tens of thousands of activists from human rights, environmental, labor and other organizations, will convene in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The following analysts are available for interviews: EMILY LABARBARA-TWAROG An organizer with Chicago Jobs with Justice, Labarbara-Twarog said today: “Trends in world economic policies have an impact not just in the global South, but the driving…

For several days beginning Jan. 31, two global summits — one in Manhattan, one in Porto Alegre, Brazil — will offer dramatically different visions for the future of the world economy. The World Economic Forum in New York City: According to its website (www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Annual+Meeting+2002%5CAbout+the+Annual+Meeting), the WEF was established in 1971 as a “member-based institution comprised of the 1,000 most powerful corporations in the world.” Annual meetings — billed as “the world’s global business summit” to “shape the global agenda” — have taken place in the Alps in Davos, Switzerland, where they faced growing protests. This year, sessions have been relocated…

Quotes from speeches and sermons of Martin Luther King, Jr. (full texts available at www.stanford.edu/group/King) From “The Drum Major Instinct”: Nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. “I must be first.” “I must be supreme.” “Our nation must rule the world.” And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/sermons/680204.000_Drum_Major_Instinct.html From “The Most Durable Power”: If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in your struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will…