[Organize] Reminder: August 9 Street Protest of the Bechtel Group

[Monika Szymurska]

Dear Friends -

 

This is a reminder of our Bechtel action tomorrow, Wednesday, August 9th
from 12-1:30pm.  We are meeting on the northwest corner of 40th Street and
Madison Ave.  Hope to see you there!  Bring signs on the Bechtel Corporation
- one of the world's leading nuclear weapons contractors, war profiteers and
violators of indigenous rights.  See www.august6.org
<http://www.august6.org/>  for more info.

 

Peace, Monika

 

 

On August 9th in New York City, local anti-nuclear and peace & justice
groups will be participating in a day of coordinated national actions
targeting nuclear and war profiteer the Bechtel Group.

Bechtel is the world's #1 nuclear profiteer and a leading beneficiary of the
Iraq war and corporate globalization policies in general. 

Bechtel "connects the dots" for the anti-war, anti-nuke and global justice
movements. Through its sordid corporate history and 100 years of
revolving-door relationships with government, Bechtel illustrates the
connections between profiteering and war, between nuclear power and nuclear
weapons proliferation, between "free trade" and the exploitation of
indigenous peoples, and between corporate power-brokers and decision-makers
at the highest levels of government. (To read more about Bechtel go to
www.august6.org <http://www.august6.org/> ) 


Who: Abolition 2000 NY Metro, CODEPINK NYC, Peace Action New York State,
United for Peace & Justice, War Resisters League, and other local groups

What: Street protest of nuclear & war profiteer The Bechtel Group

When: Wednesday, August 9th (Nagasaki Day) from 12-1:30 p.m.

Where: outside Bechtel's New York offices at 21 East 40th Street at Madison
(Northwest corner)

Contact codepinknyc at hotmail.com for more information.



*********************

A few facts about
BECHTEL

THEY'RE BIG

With 40,000 mostly non-union employees, Bechtel has completed 22,000
projects in nearly 140 countries. They're America's biggest contractor and
one of the largest in the world. 

THEY'RE DANGEROUS

They claim to have built over half of the developing world's nuclear power
plants, and are responsible for 40% of U.S. nuclear power capacity,
including the failed San Onofre plant. Bechtel co-managed the infamously
botched Three Mile Island clean-up.

THEY'VE GOT FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

George Schultz, a Bechtel president for eight years, and currently on the
company's board, was Reagan's Secretary of State. Other Bechtel alumni
include John McCone (CIA), Caspar Weinberger (Defense Secretary), and
General (ret.) Jack Sheehan (Defense Policy Board).

THEY HAVE VERY INTERESTING BUSINESS PARTNERS

Just four months after Hussein's government gassed the Kurds, Bechtel helped
construct a petrochemical plant for the Hussein regime using dual-use
technology that many fear was used in the production of chemical weapons. On
May 5, 2003, The New Yorker ran an article revealing that the Bin Laden
family have invested $10 million in The Fremont Group, a private equity fund
owned by the Bechtel family (the fund was formerly called Bechtel
Investments).

THEY STEAL FROM THE POOR

Bechtel is one of the top-ten water privatization firms in the world. In
2000, the government of Bolivia privatized its water industry and awarded a
large water contract in the city of Cochabamba to a Bechtel subsidiary. When
water rates were instantly tripled major protests and riots ensued, the
government withdrew from the contract, and Bechtel sued South America's
poorest nation for $25 million in lost profits. They don't limit their
corporate thievery to the developing world, however: they were also in
charge of Boston's notorious "Big Dig," which went 5 years and $ 1 billion
over budget. This summer shoddy construction in one of the Boston tunnels
resulted in a 2-ton concrete panel falling on a passing car and killing its
passenger.

AND THEY'RE BIG WINNERS IN IRAQ

Bechtel's postwar contracts in Iraq are worth about $2.8 billion. Bechtel
was tasked with rebuilding power generation facilities, electrical grids,
water and sewage systems, airport facilities, roads and schools. The
contracts guaranteed Bechtel a fixed percentage of costs, generally eight to
ten percent. But the "reconstruction" of Iraq's infrastructure has been a
disaster. In late July of this year the United States dropped Bechtel from a
project to build a high-tech children's hospital south of Basra because the
project was nearly a year behind schedule and had already exceeded its
projected cost by %150.

For more information visit:  <http://www.corpwatch.org/> www.CorpWatch.org;
www.august6.org <http://www.august6.org/> ; www.codepinkalert.org
<http://www.codepinkalert.org/>   




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