Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Miami FTAA Summit: U.S. Retreat or Trap?
Support the Anti-FTAA Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil (Dec. 12-14,
2003)
IN THIS MESSAGE (posted 12/5/03)
1)
Letter from the OWC-Coordinators: "More than ever, let's build a
movement to stop the FTAA!"
2)
Appeal to Trade Unionist and Labor Activists Across the Americas: "We
Must Not Fall for the 'FTAA Lite' Trap Set in Miami!" -- by Julio
Turra, National Executive Director of the CUT and co-convenor of the
Anti-FTAA Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil
3) Press
Clips and Commentary on the Miami Ministerial
4)
Statement of the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA Regarding the Final
Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Summit -- Excerpts from statement
issued prior to the signing of the Final Declaration by the 34 Trade
Ministers
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1) Letter from the OWC-Coordinators: "More than ever, let's build
a movement to stop the FTAA!"
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
In one week, the Western Hemisphere Workers Conference Against the FTAA
will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the initiative of central leaders of
the 9-million-member CUT trade union federation.
We are publishing below a series of texts on the outcome of the Trade
Ministerial in Miami that highlight the urgent need to step up the fight
against the FTAA across the Americas during the coming year.
The text by Julio Turra, National Executive Director of the CUT and co-convenor
of the anti-FTAA conference in Brazil, points to the dangerous trap that
has been set in Miami and warns working people across the continent not to
allow ourselves to be demobilized in the fight against the FTAA. It urges
trade unions and workers to support the Sao Paulo conference, whose aim is
to map out a fightback strategy to stop the FTAA, before it is implemented
in January 2005.
As you may have read in recent OWC postings on this conference, the
co-coordinators of the OWC pledged to the Brazilian conference organizers
that we would raise $2500 to help defray the travel expenses of Latin
American trade union delegations with scarce funds. To date, we are far
below our goal.
We urge all of you to send individual contributions to our Travel Fund,
but we also urge you to get your unions to make a pledge to this Fund.
Even if all we have is your pledge at this time, that would be great. We
can help repay the travel expenses later. Please fill out the Fund Drive
Pledge coupon below and return it to us as soon as possible, so that we
know how much money we will be able to commit to the conference travel
fund.
We also call upon you and your unions and organizations to send a
statement of greetings to the Conference in Sao Paulo. The delegates, who
will gather from countries across the continent, need to know that working
people and their trade unions in the United States fully support their
efforts to stop the FTAA.
Please send your statements to Julio Turra at <julioturra@cut.org.br>
with a copy to us at the OWC at <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>.
There is still time to stop and turn back the FTAA steamroller. With your
support, we can succeed.
Thanks in advance for your support to this effort,
In solidarity,
Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin,
Co-coordinators,
OWC Continuations Committee
San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
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SUPPORT COUPON
(Conference Against the FTAA, Sao Paulo, Brazil)
[ ] I/my union will send a financial contribution of $ ___ to help
defray the travel expenses for the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference
Against the FTAA. My check, payable to OWC, will be sent to OWC, c/o S.F.
Labor Council, at 1188 Franklin St. #203, San Francisco, CA 94109.
[ ] I/my union will send a greeting to this conference.
[ ] I plan to attend the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against
the FTAA.
NAME
UNION/ORG/TITLE
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
EMAIL
(please fill out ASAP and return to <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>)
********************
2) Appeal to Trade Unionist and Labor Activists Across the Americas:
"We Must Not Fall for the 'FTAA Lite' Trap Set in Miami!"
By JULIO TURRA
"The Miami Summit Has Moved the FTAA Process from a General
Concept to a Reality." - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoelleck
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- On November 20, one day earlier than expected,
Brazilian Minister of Agriculture Roberto Rodrigues announced that the
FTAA Ministerial Summit in Miami had concluded with the adoption of a
declaration based on a common proposal submitted by the U.S. and Brazilian
governments. Following Rodrigues's announcement, U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Zoelleck told the press that the Miami Summit "has moved the
FTAA forward from a general concept to a reality." (AFP, Nov. 22)
Much has been written about the fact this final agreement appears to be a
watered-down version of the FTAA accord. Some are calling it "FTAA
Lite." What is the reality behind this assertion?
The declaration signed by the trade representatives of 34 governments
talks about pursuing the FTAA negotiations on a more "flexible"
basis, with each country being allowed to assume whatever commitment to
the FTAA process its government deems appropriate.
Following the adoption of the Miami declaration, U.S. trade negotiator
Ross Wilson affirmed the U.S. position in favor of a full FTAA agreement.
And he moved immediately from words to deeds by announcing the imminent
signing of bilateral "free trade" accords with Peru, Ecuador,
Colombia and Bolivia -- as well as a new "Central American Free Trade
Agreement" known as CAFTA. This announcement prompted Antonio Jorge,
a professor of economics at Florida International University in Miami to
say: "The Miami declaration may not be everything the United States
wanted, but contrary to what is being said, Brazil may come out the
biggest loser." (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 20)
So the question is: Was the United States forced to retreat, or might we,
in fact, by facing a trap?
According to many commentators, Bush was forced to retreat in Miami. They
speak of a "Brazilian diplomatic victory" in Miami. Many, in
fact, have said that the new "FTAA Lite" is now more or less
acceptable. A closer look at the final declaration and at the
implementation process, however, will show this is not at all the case.
All the main goals and themes contained in the U.S. government's FTAA
proposals are maintained and legitimized in this new Brazilian-U.S. Miami
Summit declaration.
What about this so-called diplomatic victory of the Brazilian government?
A careful look at the facts shows that the Lula government in fact
salvaged the continuation of the FTAA negotiations process - a process
that has been denounced with great passion all across the continent, with
mass general strikes, such as the one in Bolivia that brought down a
government, and mass demonstrations, such as the ones in Miami that were
savagely repressed by the police forces. [For more details about the Final
Miami Declaration, see the documents below.]
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick is fully justified when he
states that the Miami Summit "has moved the FTAA process forward from
a general concept to a reality, from a situation of positive opportunities
to a new practical stage of implementation."
It is a fact that without the help of the Lula government -- a government
which this past summer, at the request of the IMF and World Bank,
implemented the deeply anti-worker Pension Reform plan -- the United
States may not have been able to get agreement on any sort of FTAA pact.
It should also be pointed out that at the very moment the Brazilian Trade
Minister was in Miami, an IMF official delegation was in Brasilia, where
it signed with the Lula government an extension of the Cardoso
government's reactionary "debt repayment" agreement. It should
come as no surprise that the Brazilian government is being touted widely
in international financial circles as "the IMF's best pupil."
At the very moment many in the press -- and, alas, in the very movement
against the "free trade" pacts -- are heralding the
"diplomatic victory of Lula," or the major "retreat"
imposed in Miami -- representatives of the U.S. government and of the
international financial institutions in its service are actually
implementing, country by country, the draconian policies of the corporate
"free trade" agenda.
"FTAA Lite" or "FTAA Original" -- these are two sides
of the same coin of the multinational corporations' "free trade"
agenda: massive layoffs, destruction of entire sectors of national
industry, and the privatization/destruction of public services and
enterprises, to name but a few of the policy guidelines that flow from
these accords.
We must not fall into the trap they have set in Miami -- one which would
have us believe the FTAA threat has been removed, or that a more-or-less
acceptable regional "free trade" agreement is in the works. We
must not allow ourselves to be demobilized while they continue to
implement their destructive policies, country by country, and while they
put into place an agreement which, under any guise, is totally
unacceptable.
In Miami, at the initiative of the AFL-CIO, tens of thousands of people
chanted in the streets: "Stop the FTAA!"
And to Stop the FTAA there is only one road forward -- that which has been
charted by the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against the FTAA (to
be held December 12-14 in Sao Paulo, Brazil), that of the unity of workers
and peoples across the continent behind the demand that their respective
governments withdraw, pure and simple, from all FTAA negotiations!
That is what millions of working people, in North and South America, are
clamoring for!
********************
3) Press Clips and Commentary on the Miami Ministerial
- "The Washington Post editorialists noted that the
agreement reached in Miami may have been slightly less ambitious than
expected, but it congratulated the negotiators for avoiding the failure of
the WTO meeting in Cancun last September." (AFP, Nov. 22, 2003)
-----
- "'The failure of the WTO Ministerial in Cancun has opened up new
opportunities to pursue the 'free trade' agenda on a regional
basis'," stated Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue, in
a report following the FTAA Ministerial. ...
"For the past week, as Trade representatives meet in Miami, the Bush
administration has invited government representatives from 16 countries in
the Western Hemisphere to Washington to constitute a sub-committee to
advance this agenda either through the FTAA process, through bilateral
agreements with the United States, or through specific agreements via the
WTO itself.
"The sub-committee is led by the United States and Brazil, which,
despite appearances to the contrary, have agreed to put aside their
differences." (AFP, Nov. 22)
-----
- "The new compromise declaration presented by the United States and
Brazil, the two countries presiding over the last round of the FTAA
negotiations, in fact salvaged the FTAA process. ...
"Despite changes made to the original draft, the fundamental
framework of liberalized free trade and the basic neoliberal precepts
aimed at creating a regional area of free trade for the Americas remain in
place." (ALAI-AmLatina, Nov. 20)
-----
"The Trade Ministers from the 34 countries of the Americas have
committed to have their vice ministers meet again in February 2004 in
Brazil, prior to another Ministerial meeting in the summer of 2004. The
aim is to maintain the calendar of establishing the FTAA by January 2005.
"Of course, this agenda may be somewhat modified given the resistance
to this accord that has been expressed in streets across the hemisphere.
At the very moment the Trade Ministers were meeting behind fortress walls
to save the FTAA, 20,000 people were protesting in the streets to demand
an end to all FTAA negotiations." (ALAI-AmLatina, Nov. 21)
-----
- "The truth of the matter is that the United States emerged from the
Miami Summit with 75% of what it wanted." (Folha de Sao Paulo, Nov.
22)
********************
4) Statement of the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA Regarding the
Final Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Summit
(excerpts from statement issued prior to the signing of the Final
Declaration by the 34 Trade Ministers)
In Miami we are witnessing the failure of the original FTAA proposal --
but at the same time we must take notice of the emergence of an even more
dangerous negotiating proposal. The United States will attempt to present
these negotiations as a victory of the Ministerial Summit, offering a
"flexible" formula for ongoing negotiations.
But this is "flexible" in appearance only, because not only have
all the main themes of the FTAA process been maintained in the final
declaration, it is quite clear that the declaration was the product of
blackmail and heightened pressures by the U.S. government -- which
prevented any expression of society to be heard at the Ministerial. ...
In the final Ministerial Declaration, which is about to be adopted, there
is the idea of continuing the negotiations on a minimum basis, with the
possibility left open down the road of greater commitments by countries
that would agree to the U.S. agenda.
We affirm our support for any agreement that would safeguard the
sovereignty of the peoples of the continent and their ability to put
forward national and regional projects with their own autonomy. This is
not the case with this agreement or declaration.
In light of this situation, the Continental Campaign Against the FTAA
reiterates its opposition to the content and basic principles that guide
this commercial treaty, the essence of which is maintained in this Final
Declaration. ...
Accordingly, we call on all the Trade Ministers present in Miami not to
sign this Final Declaration as we believe it constitutes a trap placed in
our path by the United States and the multinational corporations with the
aim of pursuing the FTAA process and negotiations.
The governments must heed the voices of their peoples, which have
resounded in the streets of our Americas, as was the most recent case in
Bolivia. ... Against all attempts to divide and weaken us, we reaffirm out
commitment to the struggles of the peoples of our hemishpere.
- Statement issued in Miami on Nov. 19, 2003
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