Second Hemispheric Gathering Against the FTAA
Under the slogan "Another America is Possible", the Second Hemispheric Gathering Against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas was held in Havana, Cuba from November 25-28. Over 1,000 delegates participated, from every country of the Americas. Delegates included workers and trade union representatives, indigenous peoples, women, youth, students, peasants and representatives of different political parties and social movements. A delegation from the Manitoba Regional Committee of CPC(M-L) also participated.
The three largest delegations were from Canada, Mexico and the United States, countries whose people are already living under the FTAA prototype - the North American Free Trade agreement (NAFTA), which came into effect January 1, 1994.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro played an active part in the gathering's proceedings for the first three days, engaging in lively debate with different presenters and participants and addressing the gathering on the second-last evening.
Castro noted in his remarks that it was in Quebec City where the first actual battle against the FTAA was waged, a reference to the massive protests organized during the Summit of the Americas in April 2001. Who better to know the potential for domination and intensified exploitation of the many by the few than the peoples of North America, he asked. It is they, he said, who have seen their living conditions decrease despite all the promises and lofty rhetoric they were fed by the leaders who negotiated NAFTA, leaders who had assured them that free trade would mean equal economic growth for all.
The Driving Force Behind the FTAA
Those present all recognized that the Americans, first under Bill Clinton and now under George W. Bush, have been the loudest champions of the FTAA. They also recognized that many of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have been pressured into supporting the negotiations. Speakers at the gathering characterized this strong support for the FTAA as a newer form of the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which was one of the first expressions of U.S. imperialist foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine was formulated to establish and advance U.S. colonial interests over the countries of the Americas at the expense of the European powers, particularly the French, Spanish and Portuguese.
During the Cold War, the United States openly supported violent dictatorships and the overthrow of democratically elected governments in the region under the guise of fighting communism. (Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Honduras, the Batista regime in Cuba, Grenada, to give just a few examples). However, in the period since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, while American interference has continued, justifying such interference has become more difficult. Instead, this policy has been replaced by one of free trade, the newest expression of the Americans' centuries-old belief that the riches of the Americas were theirs to dominate and exploit.
The Americans are also determined to shut off the Americas to competition from Europe and Asia, while ensuring their massive penetration of a marketplace of 800 million, thus reducing their growing trade deficit.
It should be noted that while the Americans have been the power behind the FTAA negotiations, the Chretien government has also been an enthusiastic champion of the accord. (This is the same Chretien government that campaigned first against the Free Trade Agreement and then promised to scrap NAFTA).
The Future of the FTAA
Many activists in the Americas hailed the historic election of Luis "Lula" da Silva in Brazil as the death knell of the FTAA. They argued that with opposition to the FTAA from the Chavez government in Venezuela and from the newly elected leftist, Guiterrez government in Ecuador, the agreement could not survive. This topic became the subject of spirited debate during the gathering, with a consensus emerging that while Lula's election was an important victory, it would be a mistake to think that it signalled the death of the FTAA. There were many reasons given. First, as the ongoing events in Venezuela indicate, the U.S. seems willing to support coups d'etat and the imposition of military rule to overthrow elected governments that threaten their interests in the region. Second, given the astounding rate of Latin American indebtedness to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, crude blackmail to bring those who would question the FTAA on board is a very strong possibility. And finally, the Americans will hold open the promise of unfettered access to their market of 300 million to those who accept. For a country like Brazil, whose products face duties double, triple and quadruple the average duties American products face entering their market, this is a seductive promise. But of course, as the Canadian experience under NAFTA proves, free trade with the Americans means free trade only for the Americans. In areas where U.S. domestic industries face serious competition, the borders are shut down (softwood lumber, steel, grain, etc).
Given these facts, delegates to the gathering adopted a multi-pronged action plan. It includes: establishing a hemispheric network to share information and ideas; leading popular education campaigns to make the links between debt, militarization and the FTAA; monitoring and popularizing the ongoing negotiations on the FTAA; developing alternative proposals for economic development and trade in the region; facilitating popular consultations and forums on the accord throughout the hemisphere; and holding a hemispheric-wide day of action against the FTAA to coincide with the next round of negotiations, scheduled to be held in Miami.
Another extremely positive outcome of the gathering was the opportunity it created for Canadian delegates from across the country to meet, many for the first time. A national network to coordinate the struggle against the FTAA was developed, and an initial meeting was held with delegates from Mexico and the United States to discuss the idea of convening a North American social forum with a specific focus on the FTAA.
Modern Communism will continue to report on the work on this front over the coming months.