Timi Gerson
The Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA)
Wed Jun 11 21:03:11 2003
208.152.73.177

*Please distribute widely!*

FAX CONGRESS TO SAY NO TO SECRETIVE FTAA MINI-MINISTERIAL:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=178&source=29

Just when we thought that nothing could be more anti-democratic than
the official FTAA process itself, the U.S. Trade Representative Office
decides to hold a secretive invitation-only FTAA "mini-ministerial."
Congress has not been notified - even our congressional allies have no
idea this is happening! Under the radar of the press, Congress and the
public, the USTR is hosting an invite-only FTAA mini-ministerial at the
exclusive Wye Center in Maryland. This is where President Clinton hosted
Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu in 1998 and where Elian Gonzalez
was housed in 1999. The Wye Center is where the White House goes when
it wants absolute secrecy and security - an impregnable meeting complex
with water on one side and a one entrance dirt road on the other.
Ironically, one agenda item for this mini-ministerial is "discussions on
the challenges of engaging the public on the FTAA!"

Of the 34 countries involved in the FTAA, only 15 are invited to
participate (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Trinidad
and Tobago, United States and Uruguay). The press also is locked out of
these closed meetings. And since they are not part of the "official"
FTAA process, there is absolutely no accountability for the USTR to
report back to Congress or the public about the proceedings.

The civil society opposition to the FTAA is growing in Latin America,
the Caribbean and here at home. The corporations and the governments
that serve them are nervous - the fate of the FTAA hangs in the balance
and this mini-ministerial is their chance to corner the key players and
bully them into pushing negotiations forward. Like the infamous WTO
Green Room process- where the powerful countries get together to make
backroom deals and then bring agreements that have already been signed,
sealed and delivered to developing countries to "approve" - the trick
that USTR pulling is the oldest one in the book.

We must force our Congressional representatives do their job by
alerting them to this meeting and insisting that they hold USTR
accountable for what happens there!

TAKE ACTION!

*CALL your Congressional Representative to alert them to the FTAA
mini-ministerial and ask for a written response about what happened at
the meeting and what their response is ! Capitol Switchboard to be
connected to your Representative - 202-224-3121

*FAX your Congressional Representative via our website at
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=178&source=29

*WRITE a letter to the editor to your local paper (you can submit
letters to most papers via the internet) - see sample letters below


TALKING POINTS FOR CALLS:

*FTAA is NAFTA expansion to 31 more countries. NAFTA has been a
disaster for U.S. working families with more than one million jobs lost
and public health and safety laws attacked by foreign corporations in
closed tribunals.

* "Mini-ministerials" are secretive and anti-democratic -they don't
even include all of the FTAA countries! Bad process leads to bad results
- a FTAA negotiated in secret will have negative impacts for working
families, democracy and the environment.

*Congress should demand NO MORE MINI-MINISTERIALS and decry this lack
of transparency on the part of the USTR

*Congress should demand a full briefing from USTR to the Congressional
Oversight Group (COG) on trade as well as relevant committees (Ways and
Means, Agriculture, etc) as well as hold public hearings on the FTAA.


SAMPLE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

Be sure to include your name and a phone number where you can be
reached

LETTER #1: FTAA = NAFTA on Steroids

Dear Editor:

In almost ten years, NAFTA has wiped out manufacturing in the U.S. with
1.8 million manufacturing lost in just the past two years including
[INSERT LOCAL MANUFACTURING PLANT DISPLACED]. Yet in Mexico, where the
government made NAFTA its centerpiece of economic revitalization, by
2000 half of Mexico's population lived on just $4 per day while 10
percent of its population today controls 40 percent of the wealth and
millions of farmers have lost their land under NAFTA. If the purpose of
NAFTA was to engage more people into the global economy and pull them
out of poverty, it has so far failed. Factories that moved from the US
to Mexico are now fleeing to China where labor is even cheaper and
environmental watchdogs are absent. It is a race to the bottom. Now
the same people who brought us this mess want to spread the NAFTA model
to 31 more countries? The Bush administration called for an emergency
invitation-only meeting of some of the countries in the proposed Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)/NAFTA expansion to the Wye River
Conference Center on the Eastern Shore. No doubt this is "NAFTA on
Steroids." Why is the U.S. pushing this? Do we want everyone in the
world to hate us?

============================================

LETTER #2: TRANSPARENCY ISSUES
Dear Editor:

When the White House wants a secluded location to roll up its sleeves,
it goes to the Wye Conference Center. President Clinton brought Yasser
Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu the for the Wye Peace Talks in 1998.
Elian Gonzalez was hidden away there in 1999. This week, select
leaders of the Western Hemisphere will brainstorm on the Free Trade Area
of the Americas, a 31-nation expansion of the North America Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). The Wye meetings are an invitation-only "mini"
Ministerial. It's not exactly a "free trade area" when just 15 of
the proposed 34 nations are invited to participated, but it is
indicative of the way trade deals are negotiated. These meetings go on
under the radar of most Americans, especially since press is not invited
to anything other than a closing photo-op. The anti-corporate
globalization protesters do win the argument when it comes to demanding
transparency and openness in trade policy process, especially as
today's trade agreements go way beyond tariffs and quotas. This
FTAA proposal is much less about trade than it is about setting
constraints on what kinds of domestic food safety, land zoning,
environmental and healthcare policies our elected officials are allowed
to establish for us. NAFTA has granted foreign businesses greater
rights than American businesses are allowed under the Constitution and
FTAA will follow suit. When the press and public are being shut out of
something, isn't it more the reason to ask questions?

Timi Gerson
Organizer/FTAA Coordinator
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington DC, 20003 USA
tgerson@citizen.org  & www.tradewatch.org
Ph: + 202-454-5103, Fax: + 202-547 7392
============================================================

Stop the FTAA!!
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more hits from: http://www.stopftaa.org/  - 10 KB

Free Trade Area of the Americas- FTAA
... of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) process. This site contains documents ... arrangement. Overview of the FTAA Process ... G uidance and Instructions to the FTAA Entities ...
Description: A process to integrate the economies of the Western Hemisphere into a single free trade arrangement, initiated in the 1994 Summit of the Americas.
more hits from: http://www.ftaa-alca.org/alca_e.asp  - 31 KB

Global Exchange : FTAA
FTAA ... FTAA ... Economic Rights > FTAA > FTAA ...
Description: Frequently asked questions, top ten reasons to oppose FTAA, alternatives, updates, and how to get involved.
more hits from: http://www.globalexchange.org/ftaa/  - 23 KB

Public Citizen | FTAA - Free Trade Area of the Americas - Free Trade Area of the...
... Africa Bill China Fast Track FTAA/ALCA Harmonization NAFTA WTO ... AFL-CIO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON FTAA/MIAMI MINISTERIAL LET'S GO TO ... The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), currently being negotiated by 34 countries ...
more hits from: http://www.citizen.org/trade/ftaa/index.cfm  - 15 KB

FTAA Working Groups
... government procurement. Make specific recommendations on how to proceed in the construction of the FTAA in this area. Meetings: First Meeting, Washington, D.C., 25-26 June 1996 ...
more hits from: http://alca-ftaa.iadb.org/eng/procuree.htm  - 6 KB

Dept. of State -- Office of International Information Programs -- The Americas
FTAA Western Hemisphere Trade Ministerial Quito ... Business Community Pleased with Progress Toward FTAA Goal of hemispheric trade zone by 2005 in ... USTR Says "Mission Accomplished" at Quito FTAA Meeting Next FTAA trade ministers meeting ...
more hits from: http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ar/ftaa.htm  - 6 KB

Calgary FTAA Committee
Calgary FTAA Featured Events | Web-Links Please join us in our efforts to challenge the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Printable FTAA Festival Poster. (PDF; about 500KB) Featured Events FTAA ...
Description: Efforts in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to counter/challenge the FTAA.
more hits from: http://ftaa.activist.ca/  - 4 KB

Straight Goods - Canada's independent, reader supported on-line source of news you...
... News of and debates about the FTAA Summit and protests are still being posted to Summit Features, Summit Letters, FTAA Citizen Journalism, and Summit Links. Check ... goods on tear gas A comment on the anti-FTAA events and the use of carcinogenic tear ...
http://www.straightgoods.com/FTAA/index.asp  - 36 KB

Regional and Bilateral Initiatives
... Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Current FTAA Negotiations Canada Makes Public ... Offers for Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Canada has made public earlier today ...
more hits from: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/ftaa_neg-en.asp  - 26 KB

Nassau Institute - Bahamas Economic Think Tank
... Comments on article 223 FTAA- Hepburn / 03/24/2002 1:51:12 PM Rather a question ... consideration the agricultural aspect and how it would be affected by the FTAA I think that agriculture should be considered, as it is a developing ...
Description: The Nassau Institute's goal is to make available to you on-line resources for understanding economic policy as it exists in The Bahamas.
http://www.nassauinstitute.org/news/article_comment.asp?223  - 12 KB

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