----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2000 10:26 PM Subject: [STOPNATO] Detroit police to police Canadians!!!! STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM Canada says perverse to try to shut down OAS talks By Randall Palmer OTTAWA, May 30 (Reuters) - Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy said on Tuesday protest groups were acting perversely by pledging to shut down a meeting of the Organisation of American States set to start this weekend in Windsor, Ontario. Labour organisations plan demonstrations at the OAS meetings in Windsor -- just across the river from Detroit -- and some groups have said they will go further and try to disrupt the talks, much as World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations were derailed by protesters in Seattle in December. ``To me that's such a perverse response, because the meeting is set up to talk about human rights, democracy, corporate responsibility, how do you provide for a broader opening,'' Axworthy told reporters at Parliament. ``And so the very issues that the groups say they're interested in, they're trying to forestall by shutting the meeting down.'' In addition to their success in stalling talks in Seattle, about 20,000 people descended on Washington, D.C., in April to try to shut down International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Some 1,300 people were arrested in Washington but in the end the IMF meetings were only delayed and the World Bank meetings proceeded on schedule. The groups have targeted the June 4-6 meeting of OAS foreign ministers because they say the ministers, indirectly at least, will promote an effort to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas from Chile to Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is to launch the talks on Sunday evening. Police said they were ready for all eventualities, including any attempt to shut down the highly symbolic and extraordinarily busy bridge and tunnel linking Windsor to Detroit, the car-making capitals of Canada and the United States. Canadian foreign affairs officials were at pains to explain to a briefing on Tuesday that it was the hemisphere's trade ministers that dealt with trade, not the foreign ministers. ``There's no foreign trade element on the agenda,'' said one official, who asked not to be identified. But four groups told a news conference in Ottawa on Monday that it was their view that the OAS foreign ministers would promote an agenda for the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City next year that will endorse negotiations to date on creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas. A Canadian official did say that Ottawa had presented a paper to the 34 member states on the summit process, including a section on trade and integration. But, pointing to a trade ministers meeting in Toronto last November, he said the section on free trade did not present any new initiatives and would not be negotiated by the foreign ministers. Instead, they will spend time dealing with subjects such as combating illicit drugs and promoting democracy, particularly in light of the recent Peruvian election, which was condemned by international observers and the United States. About 700 delegates and media representatives are expected to attend, along with environmental and human rights groups who will be holding their own meetings. ``Wherever they meet, we'll be there until they're willing to have a more civilised dialogue,'' said Maude Barlow of the anti-free-trade Council of Canadians. Police are bringing in reinforcements from outside Windsor, including mounted units from Toronto, and are coordinating with the Detroit police. 17:16 05-30-00 ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com
