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People's Consultation on the FTAA:
Campaign Update
January 2003
Our second issue focuses on plans for 2003. You can help!
Hemisphere-wide protests and referendums are
on 2003’s agenda
The Hemispheric Campaign Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas
met in October in Quito and again in November in Havana to share information
on national and sectoral campaigns. Delegates from 34 nations developed
long-term strategies to confront the spider web of the FTAA, the World
Trade Organization, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, bilateral
trade agreements, Plan Puebla Panama, etc. With fast-track authority
in hand, the Bush administration is promoting a multifaceted strategy
to lock in this corporate-centered model of economic integration. The
Havana and Quito meetings consolidated grassroots commitments to multifaceted
campaigns, coordinated across borders whenever possible. A detailed
report is available at www.asc-hsa.org.
The Havana meeting featured Evo Morales, indigenous leader from Bolivia
who narrowly lost recent presidential elections, Fidel Castro, and 800
activists from community groups and NGOs from throughout the hemisphere.
This was the second annual anti-FTAA meeting held in Cuba, and delegates
made significant advances in terms of concrete strategies, including
a call for each country to hold a popular referendum on the FTAA. Brazil’s
successful referendum in September drew nearly 10 million participants,
and referendums are planned or in process in Mexico, Canada, and the
United States. For information on the US People’s Consultation
on the FTAA, see www.peoplesconsultation.org.
The crisis in Latin American agriculture dominated much of the Havana
meeting. Many small and medium-sized producers are unable to compete
with highly subsidized US grain production. Millions of campesinos have
been forced from their land to look for work in sweatshops or migrate
to large cities or the US. A crisis looms for Mexican campesinos in
January of 2003 when NAFTA provisions are scheduled to eliminate most
agricultural tariffs. A second potential blow may occur in September
of 2003 when the World Trade Organization takes up agricultural at the
Cancun ministerial. Campesino organizations are calling for massive
protests, including blocking borders, during both of these key events.
A hemispheric Day of Action has been called for the opening of the
WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico on September 9 or 10. There will also
be a national protest with local solidarity actions during the next
FTAA ministerial meeting in Miami, probably in November. These two protests
can make corporate trade agreements a national issue for the 2004 elections.
Locally, people are conducting "people's consultation" surveys,
passing city and state resolutions, and broadening the base of awareness
and opposition to the FTAA.
Local Actions
Here is a sampling of activity in the US. You can see more at www.peoplesconsultation.org.
If you have local activity to report, please contact mprokosch@faireconomy.org
or 617-423-2148 x 24.
California: people connect the FTAA to local
issues
In October of 2002, the Mexico Solidarity Network and Global Exchange
co-organized eight public hearings on the Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA) through the state of California. The hearings were sponsored
by the Alliance for Responsible Trade as a part of the People’s
Consultation, a strategy to educate our communities about the threat
of the FTAA and mobilize people for action.
Fela Contreras, a former Mexican maquiladora worker who was part of
the first compliant filed under the NAFTA labor side agreements, spoke
about the devastating effects that NAFTA has had on working people in
Mexico and the failure of the NAFTA labor side agreements. Herlinda
Hernandez, a displaced Colombian union organizer, spoke about the relationship
between Free Trade and Plan Colombia and the expressed concern that
the FTAA would further aggravate violations of labor rights which are
rampant in Colombia. (Since 1990, over 1800 Colombian trade unionists
have been assassinated).
In each city local people spoke about their concerns about the FTAA,
drawing local-global links in the discussion around Free Trade. These
speakers included immigrant garment workers, former maquila workers,
local and state officials, union organizers, environmentalists, solidarity
activists, and others. We spoke directly to over 500 people and thousands
were reached through the media. One hearing was recorded for cable TV,
one hearing was recorded for a local radio station, and the international
speakers did one radio interview.
-Jessica Marques
Texas: city councils say “no” to
the FTAA
Texas Fair Trade Coalition includes the Texas AFL-CIO and eight Central
Labor Councils, Texas Farmers Union, many environmental groups, religious
and other community organizations. We have passed a City Resolution
on Globalization in the Austin City Council and we are working on passing
this in other major cities as well. We are also holding meetings to
discuss the FTAA with Congressmembers in 18 swing districts across Texas.
And we’re doing grassroots education. At our Texas Student Conference
on Alternatives to Corporate Globalization, students from across Texas
met to discuss organizing on their campuses. Noam Chomsky was the keynote
speaker at this conference. We also have a Globalization Basics workshop
which trained volunteers to present a workshop on the global economy
to union locals, congregations, and community groups in their region
of the state. Only through educating and uniting as many sectors of
the community as possible will we be able to defeat FTAA!
-Megan Bobier
Chicago: a neighborhood votes on the FTAA
A coalition including the Mexico Solidarity Network, American Friends
Service Committee, and Jobs with Justice worked for two months this
fall to build an organizing campaign against the FTAA in Rogers Park.
This immigrant neighborhood is diverse in language, ethnicity, and class.
Its diversity posed challenges, as did unfamiliar concepts like “political
economy” and “FTAA.” However, organizers connected
global economic issues to the realities of poverty, joblessness, and
the lack of affordable housing which plague so many area residents.
Two public events and various workshops launched a sustainable process
of outreach and dialogue. The group feels confident that with more time
and resources they will be able to successfully expand this organizing
model to other similar Chicago neighborhoods.
New Freedom Bus Tour takes FTAA referendum nationwide!
“As families who have watched our communities be torn apart as
a result of free trade policies, privatization and welfare reform (a
form of structural adjustment) - we refuse to remain silent or invisible.
We are determined that those of us whose very lives are threatened by
these policies play an active role in the fight to stop the FTAA.”
With these words, Kensington Welfare Rights Union and the Poor Peoples
Economic Human Rights Campaign launched a 30-day bus tour from Maine
to Mississippi, the Carolinas to California. Each event connected local
issues to global injustice and let people vote on the FTAA. For detailed
descriptions and photos see www.kwru.org.
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