Calling all campaigners for peace and supporters of the global justice
movement, all critics of the Bush/Cheney war on Iraq, all opponents of
the "free trade" neoliberal agenda at home and abroad; all adversaries
of corporate abuse of the public trust right here in Wisconsin! All
those who think globally and act locally!

OLIVER NORTH is coming to Madison as the guest of the notoriously
anti-labor Wisconsin Association of Manufacturers and Commerce (WAM).
The most infamous of those perpetrators who broke the law and
circumvented Congressional prohibitions to run an illegal war against
Nicaragua from the Reagan White House during the 1980s, later revealed
as the "Iran-Contra Scandal," Ollie North will be in Madison on January
13th-14th.

Invited to mark "Business Day in Madison," this Contragate felon and
anti-democratic self-styled "super patriot" will speak at an elite
Madison Club dinner the evening of January 13th, and will deliver the
keynote address at noon on the 14th at the Monona Terrace Convention
Center.

Most remembered for his covert, illegal weapons sales to Iran,
classified at the time as a "terrorist state," the use of profits from
that deal to bankroll the CIA-run "Contra war" against Nicaragua, and
for rewarding himself and his cronies in the process, "Ollie" is now
being forwarded by the WAM as a "leading proponent of free-market
policies." Currently a major booster for the war on Iraq and other
violations of international law, he is also a cheerleader for the
conservative agenda of increased privatization, the selling off of
public assets, the ongoing erosion of social services and public
education --- all of which have led to a decline in the living standards
for everyday people across Wisconsin and elsewhere.

WAM says that North, currently a pro-war commentator on the hawkish Fox
"News", "will draw on his knowledge as a former staff member of the
National Security Council and assess the United States' role in the
world - militarily, economically, and politically." (Perhaps he'll
reminisce about his "good ol' days" with the Contra bandits, his role in
concealing their drugs-for-guns circuits, or his TOW missile deal with
Teheran's ayatollahs.) For his two meal-time chats, North will receive
$30,000 from the coffers of Wisconsin's major corporate interests, money
written-off as "tax exempt," channeled through the Wisconsin Chamber of
Commerce Foundation.

North's visit to Madison is not a fluke, a gaffe or faux pas by the WAM.
It underscores the distorted priorities of certain elements within the
corporate business community. The Association of Manufacturers and
Commerce historically has been anti-union and opposed to the interests
of Wisconsin working people at every turn. An insult to all of organized
labor, the WAM's invitation to Ollie North is also an affront to
Madison's ongoing trtadition as a center for peace and anti-war activism.

North's appearance is an insult to all those who have fought for freedom
abroad and for the betterment of people's lives here at home. It's an
insult to those communities devastated then who are still paying the
price for the US war against Central America, as well as the most recent
victims of equally unjust and aggressive US policies in places across
the global South as diverse as Iraq, Colombia, Paletine, and the
Philippines.

WAM's decision to bring this "international terrorist" to Madison must
not go unnoticed. We call upon all people of good conscience, all those
who support peace with justice, to come together to protest WAM'S
audacity and arrogance and the presence of criminal Ollie North in our city!

Joins us in preparing a welcome for Ollie!
Spread the word among your friends, groups and organizations!

To get involved, or for more information, or to forward organizational endorsements, send an e-mail to
upnortheh (at) yahoogroups.com, or call Allen @ 257-6050.

More details to come at:

madison.indymedia.org

or

www.madisoninfoshop.org

or

www.madpeace.org