FTAA: Devouring the Economies of the Americas Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Granma International Digital, September 6, 2001 http://www.granma.cu FTAA: DEVOURING THE REGION'S ECONOMIES Various Cuban organizations are urgently calling for a hemispheric meeting to fight the U.S. Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) project. The event is scheduled for November 13-16 in Havana IN order to give continuity in Cuba to coordinating the broad, fast-growing and converging movement against the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Cuban organizations representing different sectors of society have called for a hemispheric anti-FTAA meeting, scheduled for November 13 through 16 in Havana. A broad agenda is to be discussed in plenary meetings directed at evaluating the threats this agreement represents for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. Other forms of integration based on democracy, humanism, social justice and environmental conservation will also be debated. It is a call on trade unionists, campesinos, students, women, academics, artists and intellectuals, young people, indigenous peoples, ecologists, religious believers, national and cultural entrepreneurs to share their concerns over the destiny of our peoples. The event is inscribed in the 2nd Summit of American Peoples held in Quebec and reflects the extraordinary anti-globalization movement that has shaken Seattle, Davos, Prague, Genoa and other locations that have witnessed popular struggles. It is also a valuable antecedent of support and mobilization for next year's World Forum, scheduled for Porte Alegre, Brazil. The FTAA is a hegemonic strategic proposal by the United States to consolidate its domination of Latin America and the Caribbean, to extend its economic borders and assure itself of a large captive market eliminating competition from the European Union and the Asian bloc. In April of this year, the 3rd Meeting of Continental Heads of State was held in Quebec, Canada, where continuing FTAA negotiations went on behind closed doors. In parallel to that meeting, Quebec was also the venue for the 2nd Summit of American Peoples, which established guidelines for anti- FTAA actions undertaken over the years by the continent's social organizations, in an effort toward an articulated response to this neoliberal project of domination, as recalled in the convening of the Havana event. A strong initiative to effect a plebiscite or consultation with the peoples over the FTAA emerged in the Quebec meeting. The Havana meeting seeks to emphasize that a project sponsored by an extreme-right government inciting the arms race and repression on a worldwide scale, an accomplice of racist and sexist policies and the enemy of basic environmental protection measures cannot bring anything good to the Americas. The call to the meeting affirms that the FTAA signifies the total absorption of the economies of Latin American and the Caribbean. Signatories from Cuban organizations supporting the meeting include the Central Organization of Cuban Trade Unions (CTC), the Federation of University Students (FEU), the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), the Union of Cuban Journalists (UPEC), and the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba (UNEAC). Themes for debate include the FTAA and Latin American and Caribbean integration; integration subordinated to the United States under the principles of neoliberal politics, trade and investment, finance, intellectual property and labor relations; and the environment. A final declaration and plan of action against the attempted Washington project will also be drafted. Copyright (c) 2001 Granma International Digital ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-09.07.01-05:59:57-32082