Free
Trade Area of the Americas
“The
paradox is that a model that has failed so spectacularly continues
to be promoted, crushing popular interest, democracy and the
very development of our productive forces.”
--
Deputies of the sovereign National Congress of Honduras
in a letter regarding CAFTA to the United States Congress
The
United States eagerly hoped to initiate, by January 1 st 2005,
the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA), creating
the world's largest free trade area, but at present the trade
policy's only visible sign is anti-imperialism graffiti in
the streets of many Latin America cities. The massive protests
and social upheavals that await every trade summit epitomize
the global community's frustration with current trade talks
and development models. Fearing drastic changes to their communities,
many citizens of the Americas have utilized the Internet to
sow together a vast network of solidarity, slightly derailing
this free trade locomotive.
The
FTAA purports to unite the economies of the Americas by eliminating
barriers to investment and trade. The negotiations began after
the implementation of North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994
and include a total of 34 states throughout North, Central,
and South America as well as the Caribbean. The FTAA talks
include the followings twelve negotiating committees:
The
groups “summit” frequently, having their last collective gathering
in Cancun . Even though the talks appear to be stalled, the
Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) is far from calling
back the bulldozers. Instead, the strategy has changed.
Over the
past three years, the United States has negotiated (or is
negotiating) bilateral trade agreements with Chile, Panama
and Uruguay as well as multilateral agreements with Canada,
Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and
Bolivia. The US Congress is set to vote on the Central
American Free Trade agreement (CAFTA) early
this year and the Andean
Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) following the current
negotiations. The USTR's logic is that after it has pieced
together enough trade agreements within Latin America, Brazil
and Argentina, the strongest and most audible opponents to
these trade policies, will be forced to capitulate to the
corporate storm of US style neo-liberalism.
The
current FTAs are much more comprehensive than just the harmonization
of international law and the abrogation trade barriers. Today's
regional trade agreements have
become emerging commercial avenues for further exploitation
of human and natural resources. The FTAA provides the
“Washington Census”, Wall-Street-driven policies at the IMF
and WTO, an unmistakable blueprint to open markets, deregulate
industries and privatize services in the Americas. In effect,
the US shadow of absolute capitalism eclipsed across all of
the Americas will seriously cripple countries without clear
competitive advantages and will impinge export-driven growth,
advancing a system that resembles many of the past characteristics
of colonialism.
If
affected communities, (not unelected trade ministers and unaccountable
investment firms), decide to use trade agreements for development,
then those trade agreements need to include respect for human
dignity and the environment. If the architects of these agreements
champion them as tools for economic and social development,
then the FTAA should create committees accountable to the
public regarding capacity building, social welfare, capital
retention, cultural preservation, the environment and otherwise.
Presently the talks do not involve the campesinos
who chance to lose their farms, the small business owners
who jeopardize their livelihoods, the poor who gamble their
health and education, or the indigenous communities who risk
the flooding of ancient lands and destruction of their culture
altogether. These people, although most deeply affected, are
not involved in current “talks.”
The
conversation and legal language forged in international treaties
such as NAFTA and FTAA prescribe our future. What is decided
now binds the fate of the Americas for uncountable generations
to come. These agreements will come to define the worldview
for us all. They are of unconscionable influence. That said,
it is imperative that we fulfill our responsibility as members
of the global community and intervene vociferously in this
conversation.
Additional
Resources:
US-based
non-profit policy studies center
www.americaspolicy.org
Official
FTAA website
www.ftaa-alca.org/alca_e.asp
“Stop
the FTAA” website
http://stopftaa.org/new/
“Global
Exchange” FTAA information
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/
“Public
Citizen” - a national, non-profit public interest organization's
FTAA information
www.citizen.org/trade/ftaa/index.cfm
Independent
media coverage of FTAA information and events
www.indymedia.org/ftaa/
Washington
Office Latin America
www.wola.org
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