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>> Shutdown the OAS / FTAA General Assembly Meetings!
>> Following the momentum of Seattle & Washington, the next big fight
>against
>> corporate globalization will take place June 4 - 6, in Windsor,
>Ontario. As
>> the extension of NAFTA, the FTAA will extend free trade over the entire
>> Western Hemisphere.
.......................................................................
WHAT IS THE OAS?
The OAS stands for the Organization of American States. It is a political
forum that is based in Washington and involves the heads of state of all
34
countries in the Americas, with the exception of Cuba which has no voting
rights. Its main priority is free trade and on its agenda right now is
the
proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. As the extension of NAFTA, the
FTAA aims to consolidate the entire Western Hemisphere into one free trade
zone through "economic unification".
HOW DOES THE OAS AND THE FTAA FIT IN WITH OTHER BODIES SUCH AS THE WORLD
BANK AND THE IMF?
The OAS and the FTAA also work to accelerate corporate globalization. The
media often presents globalization as "global harmony" but the reality is
that globalization is a very violent process. It enables transnational
corporations to colonize less industrialized countries by taking over
their
domestic markets.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is the investment body of the
OAS
that funds development projects throughout the Americas. It is very
similar
the the World Bank in that it imposes structural adjustment policies on
indebted nations.
HOW DOES THE OAS / FTAA AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT?
The FTAA will also be WTO compliant. The World Trade Organization is an
institution that corporations can turn to for enforcement of their
"rights'
when they want to violate laws that protect the environment. Canada
already
has 11 such lawsuits against it. For example, under NAFTA the US
corporation Ethyl Corp won $30 million by suing for its "right" to use the
toxic gasoline additive MMT.
As trade liberalization accelerates and the environment deteriorates, the
OAS is merely "planning for climate change".
HOW DO STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS AFFECT PEOPLE?
Structural adjustment programs allow transnational corporations to buy a
country's public resources, such as health care, education, water, oil &
gas...leading to excessively high user fees. The brunt of the costs are
paid for by the poor, while wealth is increasingly concentrated in the
hands
of an elite few.
The purpose behind privatization is to extract the public's wealth in
order
to make banks and corporations wealthier.
In Bolivia, there are mass protests taking place against the government's
decision to privatize the water system. Bechtel corp is now charging
Bolivians $20 / month for water, when the average income for a family is
only $100 a month.
As a consequence of privatization, only a small percent of the population
will be able to afford basic services. Only those who are privileged by
race, class and gender will be able to survive under such free trade.
Structural adjustment programs also create unstable economies. Under
NAFTA,
the Mexican peso plummeted causing widespread unemployment, shrinking
wages
and deteriorated working conditions. The OAS / FTAA Trade Ministers claim
that lifting trade barriers will result in economic stability, but as
NAFTA
has already shown, this is not possible under free trade.
The IDB's structural adjustment also force interest rates to go up in
order
to combat inflation. This means that workers are really vulnerable to
sudden unemployment. Investors can basically park their money in a
country
when it's convenient, and then pull it out whenever they want.
In 1995, the IDB approved the privatization of Guatemala's health care and
euphemistically called it the "Program to Upgrade Health Care Services".
In
1997, the IDB approved a project which transfers ownership of Ecuador's
water system to the private-sector. In 1994, the IDB approved the
privatization of Nicaragua's energy, water supply and telecommunications
sectors with their "Public Utilities Reform Program".
HOW DOES THE OAS AND THE IDB AFFECT THE LIVES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE?
Indigenous peoples, and in particular women, are exploited by the OAS and
trade agreements. For example, the IDB funded a development project in
Rio
Negro, Guatemala for the construction of the Chixoy Dam. Not only did this
project create environmental havoc, but in order to get the indigenous
people off the land the IDB supported the Guatemalan military occupation
of
the area.
In the process, the indigenous peoples of Rio Negro were raped and
massacred
to make way for the project. Instead of stimulating economic growth, the
project has further impoverished the nation. To date, the survivors of
the
massacre have still not seen the return of their land, as the IDB had
promised.
Just last month, peasants in Ecuador set up roadblocks in 19 of the 22
regions in the country to protest against the privatization of health
care.
Most of the health care facilities in Ecuador have been closed since
April.
The government claims that there is a shortage in supplies and personnel,
yet the country has an intake of over $600 million in contributions each
year.
The peasants are demanding to be included in the decision-making process
as
bodies such as the OAS exclude their involvement. The OAS only pays lip
service to dialogue and the participation of civil society while it
conceals
its agenda with claims of promoting human rights and democracy.
DOES THE OAS DO ANYTHING TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY AS IT CLAIMS?
No, in fact it accelerates poverty. Not only will people not be able to
afford basic services like water and health care, but they will also be
subjected to violations within the workplace as labour is deregulated.
To make way for privatization, structural adjustment programs force
countries to cut social spending. Cutbacks also include the elimination
of
subsidies for basic goods, like bread. So the costs of items needed to
survive goes up, while people are paid sweatshop wages by transnational
corporations.
HOW DOES THE OAS AND FREE TRADE AFFECT LABOUR REGULATIONS?
Countries in the Americas, particularly Latin and Central America, will be
prohibited form distinguishing between domestic and foreign investment.
These countries will be forced to allow transnational corporations,
typically US or Canadian based, to take advantage of them by violating
basic
labour and environmental standards.
Free trade produces a way for corporations to gain access to cheap,
intimidated and submissive labour. Protection for workers is seen by the
Organization of American States as an obstacle to development.
Private-sector development and structural adjustment programs ensure that
so-called lesser developed countries become economically dependent on US
interests.
An example can be seen in El Salvador. Workers at Mandarin International
work in sweatshop conditions producing clothing for the Gap and Eddie
Bauer.
They are paid only $0.56 / hr. When the women and child workers at
Mandarin
tried to organize a union in 1995, the first even in El Salvador under
free
trade, the workers were locked out of the factory or illegally fired.
They
were then threatened with physical punishment by armed "security guards"
that the company hired. Women at the factory were also forced by
management
to take birth control pills.
HOW ARE WOMEN AFFECTED IN THE WORKPLACE UNDER FREE TRADE?
It is women and children who suffer the most from poverty, human rights
abuses and restricted access to social services, all of which are greatly
intensified under agreements such as the FTAA. In the workplace, women
are
subjected to routine sexual harassment and forced sterilization.
Indigenous women that are displaced the the IDB's development projects are
often forced to move to towns in search of jobs. They are then forced to
take work as low-paid domestic servants or seamstresses making products
for
foreign corporations. In these positions, women face an increased risk of
being sexually harassed and assaulted by their employers.
For example, conservative estimates in Brazil find that at least 10% of
female domestic servants are assaulted by their employers as a means to
maintain social control. Foreign investors often require that women submit
to pregnancy tests or show proof of sterilization in order to be hired.
In Brazil, mass sterilization has resulted in the sterilization of over
27%
of the female population. The National Labour Committee (NLC) estimates
that over 500,000 women in the free trade zone of Central America and the
Caribbean work in conditions where they are forced to take birth control
pill while they make products for US markets.
Importantly, it is women of colour and aboriginal women who suffer the
most
form the OAS' agenda. As labour is deregulated and indigenous lands are
both seized and militarized, imperialist trade pacts result in forced
sterilization, military rapes of indigenous women, and the feminization of
poverty.
WHAT DOES THE OAS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION?
The OAS agenda includes reducing spending on education so that "only 75%
of
secondary school will be provided for by 2010" for member states, which
includes Canada and the US.
Essentially privatization creates a two-tiered system for education. We
can
already feel the impact of free trade on education in Canada. There is a
US
conglomerate that is poised to open the first for-profit university in the
province. The quality of education also deteriorates as it becomes just
another marketplace.
THE OAS ALSO CLAIMS TO COMBAT DRUG TRAFFICKING.
The OAS's "War on Drugs" is an excuse to militarize regions and create a
culture of fear that legitimizes police brutality. A lot of media
coverage
for the OAS / FTAA protests in Windsor are guilty of this kind of fear
mongering. Article titles such as "Cops Fear for their Safety" have
already
appeared to misrepresent our intentions.
The Law and Order agenda and free trade also serve to create a vast pool
of
racist slave labour through the privatization of the Prison Industrial
Complex.
IS WINDSOR GOING TO BE LIKE WASHINGTON AND SEATTLE?
We are trying to build upon the momentum of a movement which is growing
against corporate globalization. Windsor however, is not the same as
Washington. It is a working class town and the people there deserve to
have
it left intact. Our goal is the shutdown the OAS / FTAA General Assembly
meetings, not a working class town like Windsor that the OAS exploits.
WHAT KIND OF RESISTANCE IS BUILDING AGAINST THE OAS AND FREE TRADE?
Resistance is erupting all across the Americas. This month for example,
3000 women from across Brazil took to the streets to protest against free
trade by throwing genetically-altered soyabeans at the US embassy.
The OAS / FTAA Shutdown Coalition has been formed, made up of labour,
human
rights, environmental activists and others, with the purpose of shutting
down the meetings in Windsor.
This June, the OAS / FTAA General Assembly will be meeting in Windsor,
Ontario to decide, behind closed doors, on the fate of all 750 million
people living in the Americas. They have agreed to complete negotiations
of
the FTAA by 2005, with substantial progress toward building the FTAA by
2000.
HOW CAN PEOPLE GET INVOLVED:
For more information, contact:
Hotline: 416-643-0837
www.shutdownoas.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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