[E-rundbrief] Info 67 - Walden Bello - FTAA-meeting Miami

Matthias Reichl mareichl at ping.at
Fr Nov 21 16:05:05 CET 2003 

E-Rundbrief - Info 67 - Walden Bello about FTAA-meeting in Miami/ USA

Bad Ischl, 21.11.2003

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
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ORIGINAL FTAA VISION SCRAPPED AS PEOPLE
POUR INTO MIAMI FOR ANTI-FREE TRADE PROTEST

By Walden Bello*

Miami, Nov. 20. The United States will try to paint the Miami meeting of the
Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) as a success, but the reality is that the
anti-FTAA side has pulled off a victory.  This was the assessment of
movement leaders as thousands of protesters from all over the Americas
converged on this city for Friday¹s March for Global Justice and the
Miami-Dade Country police mounted a massive show of force to intimidate the
opposition.

Protesters not Intimidated

     That the people were not cowed was evident at the "Gala for Global
Justice" on the evening of Wednesday, November 19.  Opposition to the FTAA
and people coming together for "another world" was the theme of event, which
featured a program of music and speeches from activists from throughout the
Americas.  Representing the US labor movement in the program, Leo Girard,
president of the United Steelworkers Union, declared, "We will not let them
steal our sovereignty.  This is not just about trade but also about
investment and privileges for greedy investors and financiers.  This fight
is a fight for our children and grandchildren."  He singled out the
contribution of student activists against sweatshops, telling the story of
how earlier in the afternoon, "on the way to Guzman Park to attend the
People¹s Forum, we saw a group of students surrounded by cops and searched.
And guess what, hundreds of steelworkers surrounded the cops and told them
to let the students go.  And they did."  And that brought the crowd to its
feet.

Washington Retreats on FTAA

     The big news on Wednesday, however, was the scrapping of the original
FTAA vision.  "The US wanted a binding comprehensive agreement with
disciplines all the way through," said one official delegate from a Latin
American country who has participated in the negotiations.  "The draft
ministerial declaration coming out of the Trade Negotiations Committee
clearly is a retreat from that."

     Instead, the draft proposes a "flexible" process where governments can
decide to exclude some areas from FTAA negotiations for liberalization even
as other governments negotiate liberalization in these areas.  As the
declaration unambiguously states, "Ministers recognize that countries may
assume different levels of commitmentsŠIn addition, negotiations should
allow for countries that so choose, within the FTAA, to agree to additional
obligations and benefits."

     This will allow Brazil and the other members of the Mercosur trade area
to withdraw from negotiations on investment, intellectual property,
government procurement, services, investment, competition policy, and other
areas they do not wish to subject to mandatory liberalization.  At the same
time, it will allow the US to continue its policies of massive subsidization
of its agriculture by not joining negotiations on agriculture.  The result
is what pundits have called "FTAA lite" or "FTAA a la carte."

     Essentially, the ministerial declaration is the one tabled by Brazil at
the Trade Negotiating Committee meeting in San Salvador last July.  As the
Latin American negotiator put it, "Brazil was saying, look, 2003 is
different from 1994, when Clinton launched the FTAA negotiations.  Free
trade policies has brought about bad results throughout Latin America.
People have ousted neoliberal governments.  There was no way the US was
going to get the comprehensive free trade agreement it wanted today."

     To the surprise of many, the US agreed to the Brazilian compromise a few
weeks before Miami.  But, according to the Latin American negotiator, the
alternative was another Cancun, referring to the collapse of the fifth
ministerial of the World Trade Organization, owing to widely disparate
positions between Brazil and its allies and Washington, Canada, and their
supporters.  This was not another high-profile setback the Bush
administrator could afford coming into an election year.

     Despite the US stand-down, says Timi Gerson, a trade campaigner with
Public Citizen, it will paint Miami as a success.  "They¹ll say the train
has not be derailed, as in Cancun, that it is leaving Miami with nine
boxcars or negotiating areas intact.  What they¹ll try to conceal is that
those boxcars are empty because people throughout the Americas have refused
to go aboard."

Activists Caution Vigilance

     To counter Washington¹s spin on events while calling for continued
vigilance among FTAA forces, the broad alliance Continental Campaign against
the Americas issued the following statement on Wednesday, May 19, shortly
after the appearance of the draft declaration:

     "We are witnessing in Miami the failure of the original FTAA project,
and at the same time the emergence of a new and perhaps more dangerous
proposal for negotiations.

     "The United States will try and present the Œflexible¹ proposal to move
the negotiations forward as a success of the Ministerial Meeting.  But this
is only a façadeŠMiami has revealed that the United States has lost its
capacity to convince people of the virtues of its Œfree¹ trade project, and
is using force to impose its objectives, trying to isolate the governments
of the continent that are proposing a different vision."

     To Brazilian trade organizer Fatima Mello, although the original FTAA
vision has been disrupted, "So long as the FTAA¹s framework and basic
principles remain intact, the imposition of neoliberal trade policies will
remain a threat, so it is important to oppose even this watered-down version
of the FTAA."

     To cover its tactical retreat on the FTAA, US Trade Representative
Robert Zoellick announced on Wednesday that Washington would launch
negotiations for bilateral free trade pacts with the Dominican Republic,
Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.   To Sarah Anderson, trade
analyst of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, the US move is a
confession of weakness.  "They¹re admitting they can¹t get what they want
via the FTAA, and that¹s because people and governments are resisting
throughout the Americas."

*Walden Bello is executive director of Focus on the Global South and a
member of the Board of Food First.

-- 
Focus on the Global South (FOCUS)
c/o CUSRI, Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330 THAILAND
Tel: 662 218 7363/7364/7365/7383
Fax: 662 255 9976
Mobile: +6695215702 (in bangkok)
         +639167860215 (in manila)
Email: marylou at focusweb.org
Website: www.focusweb.org

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Matthias Reichl
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Tel. +43-6132-24590
e-mail: mareichl at ping.at
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