Quebec City, April 2001:
From April 20 to 22, Quebec City had the dubious honour of hosting the Summit of the Americas, which brought together 34 heads of state from the Caribbean, North, South and Central America to put the final touches on a new corporate-managed trade agreement -- the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
Like other international trade agreements, such as the defeated Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), the FTAA is being negotiating in secret, without public input. This is despite the fact that civil society and citizen's groups have raised serious concerns about the affects of this trade agreement on the environment, labour standards, human rights, and freedom of nations to set laws and policy.
It is very important that citizens throughout the Americas inform themselves about the FTAA, and oppose the secrecy of the negotiations and the wealthy corporate interests they promote. The tear gas has cleared after Quebec, but the negotiations continue and must be exposed.
The threat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
The corporate role in the FTAA
The impact of the FTAA on Latin America
The Summit of the Americas, Quebec 2001
Creative resistance to the FTAA
The threat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
www.StopFtaa.org. The gateway site to FTAA issues and resistance.
Labor, Globalization & Human Rights: The New Global Economy. This well-written backgrounder explains the "New Global Economy," particularly as it affects working people across the Americas. It was written in the days before the FTAA, which has powers and dangers far beyond both GATT and NAFTA. (Prepared by the Resource Center of the Americas - see link below under Latin America heading)
Globalization 101 - more background on the issue of economic globalization from the Transational Resource and Action Center (TRAC).
Background information on the FTAA from US-based human rights and fair trade NGO Global Exchange.
Free Trade of the Americas information kit, produced by Common Frontiers Canada, a network of Canadian organizations.
Maude Barlow, "The Threat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas". This is a more detailed analysis of the FTAA agreement from Canadian citizens' group The Council of Canadians.
Free Trade Area of the Americas official web site.
Trade Negotiations and Agreements information from the Government of Canada Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (includes Canada's supposed negotiating position).
The impact of the FTAA on Latin America
Resource Center of the Americas - demonstrates the connections between the people of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the north, building bridges across communities, highlighting the voices of the silenced and ignored. The Resource Center works to defend human rights in the era of globalization.
Development Group for Alternative Policies (Development GAP) - works to ensure that the knowledge, priorities and efforts of the women and men of the South inform decisions made in the North about their economies and the environments in which they live.
Brazil, a country in dissolution. Violence caused by elites, their governments, and their public policies devoid of basic rights, causing economic and social exclusion, has truly left Brazil in a state of dissolution. Some even say a state of war. (Article by Hamilton Octavio de Souza, Servicio Brasileiro de Justicia e Paz)
The Summit of the Americas, Quebec 2001
Darryl Leroux, "Quebec City Crackdown" (Feb. 20). When Quebec City hosts the 3rd Summit of the Americas, the largest police deployment in Canadian history will be there to prevent anti-globalization protesters from shaking up the process (from AlterNet).
Hola! Quebec Summit of the Americas 2001 official web site for the FTAA summit.
Summit of the Americas Security official site. Four police agencies - and possibly the Armed Forces as well - are planning to close down large areas of downtown Quebec to critics of the FTAA during the summit.
Liberate the Text! Letter from civil-society organizations throughout the Americas concerned about the the secrecy of the negotiation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and urging the publication of the current negotiating texts so that an informed public debate on the nature of that accord can take place.
Bloc Quebecois demands release of FTAA text. Transcipt of February 19 parliamentary debate in the Canadian House of Commons. Bloc Quebecois and NDP MPs raised objections to the secrecy of the FTAA agreement, and were answered by the Minister of International Trade (five pages - click the NEXT button at the bottom of each page).
Creative resistance to the FTAA
Media
The Second People's Summit of the Americas. The Summit, to be held in Quebec City from April 17 to 21, 2001, will coincide with the meeting of heads of state and government leaders. The Summit is an international event that will be attended by representatives of major social and labour organisations from the 35 countries of the Americas, including Cuba (organized by the Hemispheric Social Alliance)
Centre for Media Alternatives in Quebec 2001 (CMAQ2001) - Independent media center set up to cover resistance to the Summit.
Action
Operation Quebec Printemps 2001 (OQP2001), one of the coalitions organizing protests in Quebec City.
Operation SalAMI, a direct action network fighting globalized capital, so-called "free"-trade agreements and environmentally destructive productivist policies.
Strategy paper on resisting the Summit of the Americas in Quebec (from Operation SalAMI).
Campaigning Groups
www.StopFtaa.org. The gateway site to FTAA issues and resistance.
Global Exchange (USA).
Council of Canadians (Canada).
Alliance for Responsible Trade (ART) (USA).
Common Frontiers Canada (Canada).
Development Group for Alternative Policies (Development GAP) - works to ensure that the knowledge, priorities and efforts of the women and men of the South inform decisions made in the North about their economies and the environments in which they live.
Alternatives
"Alternatives for the Americas" document, presenting an alternative vision for the hemisphere.
