WLOE E-Newsletter 11 November 2003:

FTAA – and opponents -- coming soon to Miami; Iraqi women tour US; Stop the Wall; loss of legal and human rights reported

• What’s wrong with the Free Trade Area of the Americas?
  
  From ecofeminist activist Starhawk: “The FTAA would extend NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreeement, throughout the hemisphere.  Its draft includes the same extension of investors’ power that was under dispute in the WTO, the same push toward privatization and commercialization of services, and a clause which allows corporations to sue governments if they enact environmental, labor or safety standards or other regulations which cut into profits.
  The same splits between rich and poor, north and south, exist in the FTAA as were present in Cancun.  Brazil is already talking about a counter-draft.  The developing countries may pressure for reforms or revisions, but they could also walk out of the negotiations.  If they do, the FTAA too can be derailed before it is ever put into place.” See her site for regular reports from Miami: http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/cancun_to_ftaa.html
  
  FTAA: An important local site, “The Root Cause”
  ”On September 13, 2003, members of three South Florida-based grassroots organizations gathered to discuss the possibilities of building a grassroots response to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Summit in Miami. The organizations included the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Miami Workers Center and Power U Center for Social Change.We came together with the goal of forging a common analysis and agenda in relation to free trade policies, as well as a unified strategy for making our voices heard as poor communities and communities of color during the upcoming FTAA ministerial meetings…” http://www.therootcause.org
  They also have an excellent set of links for information on the FTAA:
  http://www.therootcause.org/ftaa/index.shtml
  
  From United for Peace and Justice:
  “Trade ministers from 34 countries will meet in Miami from November 19-21 to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas, an agreement that would extend the failed NAFTA model of corporate globalization throughout the Western Hemisphere.
  Local and national groups across the hemisphere are mobilizing for a massive showing of opposition to this new trade policy, in order to demonstrate that another world is possible. A broad hemispheric coalition against the FTAA will deliver hundreds of thousands of ballots to the delegates at the Summit, representing the millions of people who will not be able to attend…
  
  In addition to supporting the large-scale mobilization, involving a wide range of legal and permitted activities, we are calling for massive nonviolent direct action in Miami November 19-21 to disrupt and derail the FTAA. The process of negotiating the FTAA has been so undemocratic that our opposition cannot be expressed through ordinary channels. Through direct action, we can to demonstrate the breadth and depth of our opposition to its policies and make visible the alternative we stand for, a world of peace, democracy, community, environmental balance and shared abundance…”
  See the site for lots of information, brochures, etc. http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2083
  
  
• “The cradle of civilization after the invasion”  -- Women of Iraq tour the US:
  
  “In October, AMAL AL-KHEDAIRY and NERMIN AL-MUFTI will begin a remarkable tour of the United States, offering the American public a rare opportunity to listen to and interact with informed Iraqi women who passionately want to dispel the assumptions about Iraq, by sharing their personal experiences and extensive knowledge of Iraq’s culture and people… As scholars of art, archeology, culture and civil affairs, Ms. Al-Khedairy and Ms. Al-Mufti will offer their perspective as two independent Iraqis who have sought to celebrate the history and dignity of their culture despite constant wars and sanctions…”
  The tour is being organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, with support from many organizations and institutions. For information: http://www.forusa.info/news/womentour.html
  
  
• End the Occupation – Stop the Wall! Many actions, November 9 and beyond
  
  “Build Bridges, Not Walls
  At the moment hundreds of bulldozers and earthmovers are carrying out the largest national project in Israeli history. An immense complex of electric fences, walls, patrol roads and trenches are being built in most part deep inside the occupied territories…”
  http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resources/articles/wall.html
  For statistics on the wall:
  http://www.betselem.org/English/Separation_Barrier/Statistics.asp
  
  Palestinian women resist the construction of the Apartheid Wall
  This report, with photos, is on the website of IWPS Palestine, an international team of 16 women based in Hares, a village in Palestine's West Bank, which started reporting in August 2002. “IWPS documents human rights abuses, works with the media, and non-violently intervenes in abuses.”
  http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/iwpsreports.htm
  
  To see what is happening around the world:
  http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/62.shtml
  
  “Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer”
  by Phyllis Bennis (Institute of Policy Studies, Washington, DC, and a long time analyst of the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region). A new updated edition of this valuable resource, with easy-to-understand and straight-forward answers to frequently-asked-questions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is available on-line at:
  http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=52
  
  
• From the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights: “the loss of particular freedoms for some, and worse, a detachment from the rule of law as a whole,” in the USA; garment workers in Bangladesh:
  
  “Two years after the terror attacks of 9/11, the relationship between the U.S. government and the people it serves has dramatically changed; this “new normal” of U.S. governance is defined by “the loss of particular freedoms for some, and worse, a detachment from the rule of law as a whole,” a new report by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights finds.”
  http://www.lchr.org/us_law/loss/assessing/assessingnewnormal.htm
  
  Bangladesh’s garment workers have long been subject to chronic violations of their human rights in the workplace. A new LCHR report analyzes an initiative by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Bangladesh to use monitoring methodologies as part of a strategy to improve working conditions and protect workers’ rights in Bangladesh’s garment factories.
  Read the Report
  From: Rebecca Thornton, Equal Justice Works Fellow, U.S. Law & Security
  Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, New York City
  www.lchr.org
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