[discuss-dan] (ftaa) NAFTA for the Americas: FTAA campaign of inquiry]

["getmelissa@uswest.net" <getmelissa@uswest.net>]

Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2000 10:33:20 -0500
From: "Margrete Strand Rangnes" <MSTRAND@citizen.org>

The discussions to launch a "NAFTA for the Americas" (or the Free Trade
Area of the Americas which is the official name of the negotiations)
have been underway for several years now. The 34 countries in the
hemisphere (every country except Cuba are participating in the FTAA
talks) are stepping up their efforts and are moving forward with
comprehensive negotiations on everything from a MAI-like investment
chapter, investor-to-state dispute mechanisms (where the multinational
corporations can sue a country's government for those irritating
environmental laws and consumer protections that might limit their
profits), broad services negotiations to increase privatization in
public services like health and education, agriculture, intellectual
property rights etc. 

The negotiators will all gather in Quebec, Canada in April 2001 to
formally launch the negotiations around the draft text, and the plan is
to wrap-up the negotiations sometime in 2003 and have the agreement be
implemented by 2005. Not surprisingly, the draft text has been kept
completely secret from civil society, and many politicians don't even
know that this agreement is being negotiated! It's time to put the
public scrutiny on the FTAA and to get organized against this nightmare
of a trade agreement. 

Organizations throughout the hemisphere are actively campaigning against
FTAA; there are big protests planned for Quebec in April; several groups
are planning solidarity actions around the hemisphere for people who
can't travel to Canada (let us know if you would be interested in being
hooked up with some of this planning); research and background materials
are being prepared; and coalitions throughout the hemisphere are being
created and strengthened.

It's time to start contacting your Member of Congress, your local media,
your friends and family and get them involved. Public Citizen is
launching a Campaign of Inquiry Against FTAA, and below is a message
from our FTAA Organizer Alesha Daughtrey announcing some of our new
campaign materials and ways to get involved in this campaign. 

Stay in touch - get active - we'll fight this thing!

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

Friends,

As we successfully did with the MAI in 1998, we will be conducting a
campaign of inquiry on FTAA, demanding release of the text and related
documents as well as an opening of the negotiations process.  The idea
is not only to educate the public and to apply our direct pressure to
decision-makers in Washington and abroad, but also to have our
grassroots contact generating a groundswell of pressure on their Members
of Congress, the White House, the USTR, etc.  We're very excited about
this project and look forward to continuing to combine our efforts with
yours!

We are sending out a mailing to our contacts around the U.S. today,
which will include all our basic campaign materials: a backgrounder on
the FTAA, action points for the campaign of inquiry, and sample letters
to Members of Congress and letters to the editor for local organizers'
use.  Since attachments are often tricky to post to lists, you can find
this information online: all materials will be posted on our website for
you to view and download.  (Those of you who are working on FTAA may
want to bookmark our FTAA homepage:
http://www.tradewatch.org/FTAA/ftaahome.html.)  If you would like hard
copies, please contact me and I'll be happy to mail a packet to you.  I
hope you'll find these materials useful.  Please feel free to share them
with your field contacts or other national or international colleagues.

Naturally, we want to keep tabs on what materials all of you are
producing and the monitoring, public education and "monkeywrenching"
efforts you're engaged in.  I'll be working on the FTAA here at Global
Trade Watch, so please forward me any materials you produce, action
alerts you send out, etc. so that we can post your info or links on our
website and listserves, include it in future field mailings, or help
distribute it to decision-makers here in Washington.

I look forward to being in touch with all of you soon about this next
fair trade fight!

Best,

Alesha Daughtrey
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
+202-454-5103 (tel), +202-547-7392 (fax)
215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
Washington, DC  20003   USA
alesha@citizen.org
www.tradewatch.org


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.

Margrete Strand Rangnes
Field Director
Public Citizen Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Washington DC, 20003 USA
mstrand@citizen.org 
+ 202-454-5106
+ 202-547 7392 (fax)

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