High-energy marches and high-level meetings mark the culmination of the World March of Women 2000, an unprecedented series of actions in 157 countries against poverty and violence against women.

At the U.S. march, October 15 in Washington, D.C., women and men will march past the White House, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and back to a rally on the Ellipse. An international delegation representing more than 80 countries will meet with officials from the World Bank and IMF on October 16 to press for pro-active steps and focused resources toward debt relief and improved international lending policies.

National Organization for Women (NOW) President Patricia Ireland, Membership Vice President Karen Johnson and the international delegation will also take their demands to a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The global campaign will culminate with an international rally outside the U.N. in New York City on October 17.

NOW President Patricia Ireland, Cheri Honkala of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, and Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal are just a few highlights in the feminist line-up of 50+ speakers and performers at the rally following the U.S. march. Virginia Williams, mother of Washington, D.C. mayor Anthony Williams, will welcome activists to the nation's capital.

Activists participating in the event bring an international flair to the D.C. march. Afghan poet Zieba Shorish-Shamley will express her response to global injustice, and the young women of the Nuevo Paraguay dance troupe will show off the traditional costumes and dances of their heritage. Also taking the stage will be Graciela Ramos de Quintana and a caravan of one hundred women who traveled from their homes in Chihuahua, Mexico to attend this Washington, D.C. march.

Christy Brzonkala, plaintiff in the recent U.S. Supreme Court case that gutted the civil remedy of the Violence Against Women Act, Josina Lawrence, survivor of the Central Park wilding attacks, Susan Watlou-Phillips of the National Coalition for the Homeless, Marian Kramer with the National Welfare Rights Union and many others will discuss how poverty and violence affect women in their everyday lives.

Musical guests at the World March of Women include BETTY, SONiA (formerly of disappear fear) and the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington, D.C., along with other activist poets, bands and performers who will rock the afternoon away and inspire the crowd.

"The World March of Women 2000 will have an unprecedented impact in this country as activists carry the enthusiasm, energy and issues from the march back to their communities and to the U.S. polls in November," Ireland said.

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