> Re: Call to Action - Protest the OAS / FTAA detailed background information.
> ________________________________________________
> A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
> http://www.ainfos.ca/
> ________________________________________________
>
> > 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
> stopftaa at tao.ca