From: "Stefano Tijerina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: PICA Fair Trade Committee minutes Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 16:25:55 -0400
I take this opportunity to say hello to everybody on this e-mail list and thank you for allowing me to be part of your team. I am attaching the minutes from the Fair Trade Committee that met on Wednesday 5, 2004. Please I encourage all of those that could not make it to come to our next committee (June 2, 2004 at 6:00 pm) and be part of this fantastic effort.
Stefano Tijerina Director Peace Through Interamerican Community Action PICA (207)947-4203 170 Park Street Bangor, Maine 04401 USA <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.pica.ws
PICA Fair Trade Committee<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday May 5, 2004
Attended by: Dennis Chinoy, Karen Volckhausen, Margaret Baillie, Katherine Kates, Dallas Anderson, Bjorn Cleason, Stefano Tijerina.
Facilitation: Stefano Tijerina and Bjorn Cleason
Notes: Stefano Tijerina
FTC MEETING SCHEDULE
A regular meeting schedule was set for the rest of the year, starting JUNE 2 and continuing every first WEDNESDAY of each month. Meetings will last 2 hours, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. (food and beverages welcome).
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
* On May 10, 2004 the LD 1815 (Maine Jobs, Trade and Democracy Act) was signed by Governor Baldacci. The event was attended by representatives from the majority of the organizations that made up the coalition effort. Stefano Tijerina went in representation of PICA.
* LD 1815 was funded at $10,000 for the general fund and $2,300 for the legislative council per diem
* Petition gathering was a success. From the 12,000 that mailed back the response card, 3,000 were from the Bangor area. Balloting was therefore a successful piece of the campaign.
* Bjorn highlighted the fact that the Fair Trade campaign transcended from the local level to the state level.
OBSERVATIONS
* From Margaret's point of view Fair Trade information is still not very clear, the language is too technical and it has to be changed so that all citizens can understand the concepts without dealing with complicated acronyms.
* Dallas stated that good part of the academia is in favor of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).
* Katherine observed that through the Fair Trade campaign many local PICA activists were lost once we moved from the community effort and into the state effort.
WHAT SHOULD PICA DO?
The committee actively brainstormed about the future role that PICA should play on the Citizen Trade Policy Commission; these were the conclusions?
* Dennis asked if we wanted to remain working on the local effort or should we also join the state effort? Who or what groups could be pulled together in order to participate actively in the PICA committee? He also commented that know that we know that there is great potential, the education effort should become one of the greatest priorities.
* Bjorn recommends that PICA should have one seat on the Citizen Trade Policy Commission and that it should be an active partner in the coalition.
GOALS
The committee agreed on a set of short-term goals to be achieved in a one-year period; these were:
I. Build and sustain a robust Fair Trade working group.
II. Establish PICA as the natural connection between civil society and government
III. Educate the community and educate PICA internally in issues of international trade
IV. Contribute to the defeat bilateral efforts of the federal government
V. Solidarity with local and international communities impacted by present trade agreements
VI. Develop and implement fair trade alternatives
VII. Promote a pro globalization and pro fair trade reputation for PICA.
HOW
The committee began to discuss ways in which these goals could be achieved. Time constrains did not allow the committee to touch on each of the seven goals, so only two were covered and the rest will be covered in the next meeting which is scheduled for June 2 at 6:00 p.m.
Goal: Educate the community and educate PICA internally about issues of international trade.
-Choose themes with local traction, for example democracy, sovereignty and jobs.
-Provide information on the positions that each of the presidential candidates has on international trade.
-Provide information on international trade and its impact on concentration of wealth.
-Make use of commissions and public hearings to educate civil society and legislators.
-Concentrate great efforts of popular education. This includes the use of popular language to make it accessible to everybody and move away from complex, elitist language.
-Divulge how the current negative trends of international trade relate to the day-to-day lives of the people in Maine and the interconnection that they have with labor forces across the world.
-Use all kinds of media available to educate civil society.
-Convey the true story so we can reclaim democracy.
Goal: Build and sustain a robust Fair Trade working group.
-Have a party to invite the 600 people in the Bangor area who signed the petition and checked the box to get involved with the Fair Trade campaign. This party would include the performance of the FTAA skit and many other activities to be discussed in greater detail. The party would be marketed and highlighted in the Bangor Daily News and other media if possible.
-Bring other groups outside of PICA to participate actively in the committee
-Link to the Progressive Alliance (organization from the University of Maine Orono working for peace and justice within the university community).
THINGS TO DO
-All the members of the committee agreed to recruit more people for the next meeting scheduled for June.
-Stefano will following up with Dennis and other participants in order to set a date for the party.
*Meeting ended in the analysis of this second goal. In the June meeting the committee will continue brainstorming on this unfinished goal and will continue working on the other five. An action plan and responsibilities will be determined in this meeting as well.
Jonathan Falk
RR 2, Box 7162
Carmel, ME 04419
(207)848-2433
