Milwaukee, WI – On Saturday, November 11, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) held a banner drop over a Milwaukee freeway to say “No to APEC!” The bannering was held in solidarity with the People’s Summit counter-protest on the same date in San Francisco, where the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit is being held.

The Milwaukee Anti-war Committee is a member organization of the No To APEC Coalition, a coalition fighting against the neoliberal, anti-worker framework being pushed through the summit.

APEC is an intergovernmental forum of 21 member countries who meet annually to discuss how better to push for privatization, deregulation and profit-maximizing legislation in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States utilizes APEC as an arena to assert its agenda, using the free trade region as a tool of reinforcement of trade imbalances that keep smaller nations in the region underdeveloped, in debt, and reliant on foreign powers like the U.S. APEC is also used to attack political rivals, particularly China, for the United States. The U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is meant to block China and seize control of less powerful countries, pushing us ever closer to war through economic coercion.

The Milwaukee Anti-war Committee was joined by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression as well as the Young Workers Committee to pass out information on the harmful effects of APEC, chant, and hold the banner, where cars below honked in support.

“Deregulation and privatization are inherently anti-worker, and the legislation is often enforced through violent means, both economically and militarily,” said Sam Charnon of the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee.

MAC is one of 160 endorsing organizations of the No To APEC Coalition, a coalition of working class people who are calling out APEC for what it is – a tool of the ruling class to further accumulate profit at the expense of the planet and people. The APEC summit begins on November 15.

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