We have returned from the World Social Forum in Porto Allegre, Brazil. Very enlightening and empowering. Now back to work: Three items for your review and liberal cross-posting. 1) A description of the several components of a national campaign against Fast Track, which tops the big business "free trade" legislative agenda. We prepared this for inclusion in a How-To book for anti-globalization activists, but publication thereof has been delayed, so we share it with you now. 2) An Action Alert from 1996, published in Public Citizen magazine and recently rediscovered, containing pithy and timeless advice for conducting district office meetings with members of your congressional delegation. 3) The obligatory recent news-clip, dateline Capitol Hill, about the swirling trade policy controversy and coporate myopia. Mike Dolan Global Trade Watch Public Citizen www.tradewatch.org _____________________________ Fast Track is in the House! A National Legislative Campaign that Builds the Movement It’s not as much fun as donning a protest puppet or performing satirical street theater and it’s not as dangerous or glamorous as risking arrest in direct action, but grassroots lobbying is an important front in our fight against the corporate trade agenda (so-called ‘free trade’). It is also a lot of the reason this movement has momentum. One of our key fights is Fast Track, a mechanism that presidents since Nixon have used to ram pro-corporate trade agreements through the House and Senate. Most folks in this movement know about NAFTA and the WTO; but most don’t know about how these unpopular treaties got passed in the first place. Fast Track requires the Congress to pass these trade scams without amendments or adequate time to debate, on a quick-n-dirty, up-or-down vote. It is a legislative laxative that is bad for the Constitution. (The Constitution says treaties must pass the Senate by a two-thirds majority, which neither NAFTA nor the GATT could’ve done.) The Citizens Trade Campaign and its allies and affiliates defeated Fast Track twice in the 105th Congress ('97 - 98). The new president wants Fast Track too. The corporate and political elites have their eyes on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and they know that they will need Fast Track to get it. We have to stop them. We will win this key legislative battle because we will use the power of the anti-globalization movement to generate grassroots pressure on the Congress; and we will use the national campaign against Fast Track to continue to build our movement at the local level. These are a few of the steps that will provide the margin of victory. First, we will build a strong focused Fair Trade coalition from the various components of the anti-globalization movement in our community. Workers and family farmers, environmental and consumer activists, human rights and faith based groups, students and direct action anarchists, reformists and anti-capitalist blocs alike – all will come together in some form or another to beat Fast Track. Emergency Meetings all around the country will build local Fair Trade networks and plan grassroots actions to hold the Congress accountable. The whole of us will be greater than the sum of our partisans. Second, we will tell the stories that put a human face on the dry globalization debate. Just a little research, a task shared among our coalition partners, will reveal the actual effects of corporate globalization in our own community. What factories have closed and moved production to Mexico, under NAFTA, or to some other countries where workers can be exploited? Are there any family farm groups that have first hand experience fighting the giant agri-bizness concerns? And what locally-based corporations run sweatshops abroad or pollute globally? Third, we will personally confront our congress-members when they are in the District, especially during the congressional recesses. We can organize district office meetings, protests and rallies all around the country, so that they all come back to DC talking about how the grassroots ganged up on them back home. We will schedule ‘district office meetings’ to introduce congress-members to our broad coalitions and show them our strong opposition to corporate globalization. If they are ‘target’ members –undecided on Fast Track or otherwise worth the extra effort to make an example of – don’t let them go to a pancake breakfast or town hall meeting without running into Fair Trade activists. They will understand that a vote for Fast Track will come at a political price they won’t want to pay. Fourth, we will earn some Free Media, and control the local and national conversations about trade policy. Every member of our regional coalitions will get a letter to the editor or op-ed published, reflecting the diversity of perspectives that animate and inform the so-called “Seattle coalition.” Together, we will organize nationally coordinated press conferences against Fast Track and the FTAA from Seattle to Miami. The mainstream media won’t be able to ignore us; the independent media will celebrate the movement. Meanwhile, we will burn up the public airwaves on radio talk shows, building the buzz about the failures of ‘free trade’ and Fast Track. We’re going to win this fight. We’ve done it before, twice when Clinton was President. Since Seattle, the transnational corporate ‘free trade’ lobby is outraged that we have exposed their anti-worker, anti-environment agenda, so they’re going to sink a lot of money in this next Congress to pass Fast Track. But we’ll be ready – with people power, which there ain’t no power like cause it won’t stop (to paraphrase a fave Seattle chant). The growing Fair Trade coalition – workers, environmentalists, family farmers, consumers, faith-based and human rights activists – is pulling together at the grassroots level, every week in every state, to frustrate the corporate fat cats and their political agenda. The 107th Congress will go down in history as the one in which the rules got changed once and for all time to put people over profits in the global economy. ____________________________________ ACTION ALERT -- PC PRIMER CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OFFICE VISIT As we enter the final weeks of the 104th Congress (at last!) and anticipate the busy legislative calendar of the 105th, Public Citizen members throughout the country must now hold their representatives accountable. All year long, Big Corporate Money has flowed across Capitol Hill, washing over your congressional delegation and drowning the voices of moderation. In the next few weeks, however, the Congress will be in recess and your Member will be home to speak to and hear from the voters in this most political of seasons. That's right, the time has come for you to have a little chat with your congress member. The purpose of this Alert is to help you prepare for the important business of the District Office Meeting. If you follow these simple seven instructions, you can have a positive impact on public policy. As Joan reminds us, "There is nothing beyond the reach of ordinary citizens doing the daily work of democracy, and no problem too great to tackle with the power of active citizenship." 1. Call the District Office -- ask for the scheduler. He or she may direct you to the Campaign (then you're on your own because Public Citizen can do nothing to influence the outcome of a federal election). The objective of this initial contact is to secure a time and date certain to enjoy an audience with your representative. 2. Determine your agenda and goals for the meeting -- and after the obligatory small talk at the outset, proceed directly to the specific issues which animate you as a member of Public Citizen. 3. Listen well -- you will hear occasional indications of your Member's actual views, and you should take those opportunities to provide good information. 4. Be prepared -- but do not feel that you need to be an expert. Most members of Congress are generalists, like many of us. Be open to counter-arguments, but don't get stuck on them. 5. Don't stay too long -- try to get closure on the issues you discuss, but leave room to continue the discussion at another time. 6. Build the relationship -- if your representative has supported Public Citizen's positions in the past, be sure to thank him/her; if the opposite is true, consider that your visit may prevent more active opposition in the future, and perhaps even presage a surprising good vote on an important issue. 7. Follow up -- you should consider sending a thank you note after the meeting, and if commitments were made during the meeting, repeat your understanding of them. _________________________________ National Journal's CongressDaily Issue date: February 16, 2001 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- TRADE Business Officials To Fight Labor, Enviro Trade Sanctions Drawing a line in the sand on an issue that has vexed them for years, several top business officials said in interviews this week that they will not agree to make sanctions enforcing labor and environmental standards part of trade deals or legislation granting the president fast track trade negotiating authority. While some business leaders said it is a political reality that labor and environmental issues must be addressed in the context of trade, most are currently unwilling to provide the "teeth" of sanctions that environmentalists and union leaders demand. And sources indicated that much groundwork is needed to build more of a consensus on trade in Congress - and with President Bush focused on passing his tax cut, a vote on fast track probably will not be held until the fall. Given that, Bush is unlikely to be able to tout the prospect of gaining fast track when he attends the April Summit of the Americas in Quebec, as many pro- free traders had hoped. Alarmed at aggressive efforts by European and Asian rivals to forge trade deals with less industrialized nations, U.S. business leaders are concerned that adding sanctions to the mix will cause potential U.S. partners to walk away from agreements. And they fear that once the door is open, demands will ratchet up for fines, tariffs and quotas. "We just cannot see having sanctions in trade agreements," said Frank Vargo, who works the trade issue for the National Association of Manufacturers. Other top officials concurred. "I think that everybody agrees that there will not be sanctions," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Congressional Affairs William Morley. Emergency Committee for American Trade President Calman Cohen said his group, which represents many U.S. trading giants, also opposes sanctions. One business lobbyist said the move makes no political sense. "Most of the Democrats making demand on labor and environment have never voted for a trade bill and never will," he said. But Vargo said he was open to "dialogue" on linking labor and environment to trade. And Cohen suggested that labor and environmental issues could be written into trade agreements without the hammer of sanctions. Although he argued the issues were best left to separate forums such as the International Labor Organization, Cohen said specific trade deals could include calls for changes in a country's laws that promote anti-environmental policies or offers of technical assistance from the United States to help its partner's environment. And a spokesman for the Business Roundtable declined to specify whether the group would continue to oppose sanctions - as it has in the past - indicating that the BRT supports "flexibility" in negotiations and rejects a "one size fits all approach." The spokesman added that trade sanctions are "not the most appropriate or effective means" for dealing with this issue. Several CEOs who comprise the BRT have backed a controversial trade deal with Jordan, under which Jordan could face sanctions for not enforcing its labor laws. Morley said the Chamber was not discussing ways to add labor and the environmental issues to trade deals. - by Keith Koffler -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
