CAAAV Participates in Grassroots Global Justice Delegation to G20

Between September 22-25th 2009, we joined over 20 other members of the Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) Alliance delegation to draw attention to the impacts of G20 policies on countries of the Global South and poor and immigrant communities within the US. The GGJ delegation organized events that built local awareness in Pittsburgh about what the G20 was, and supported the rights of people to demonstrate publicly. While there was heavy military and state presence that shut down all of downtown and limited people’s movements, GGJ was able to mobilize broad groupings of people around a panel featuring Nobel Prize winner and economist Joseph Stiglitz. We also testified in a People’s Tribunal that put the G20 on trial for economic policies that create inequitable distribution of resources between Third World countries and First World countries like the United States. These political and economic policies force people to leave their countries and migrate in the hopes of being able to better provide for their families. Once here, in cities like New York City, many immigrants face unfair working conditions, live with bad housing conditions, language barriers, and are at the mercy of immigration reforms that keep people separated from their families. While there, GGJ also marched in the organized protest that drew people from all different movements for social justice.