March 13 FTAA protest in NYC
On Tuesday, March 13, the Council of the Americas will host Ambassador Peter Boehm (Canadian Coordinator or the Summit of the Americas) and Ambassador Luis Lauredo (US Coordinator for the Summit of the Americas) who will be speaking on "SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS III: THE ROAD TO THE FTAA". Come out and let them know you oppose the FTAA and the profoundly undemocratic way in which it is being negotiated!
TUESDAY, MARCH 13
Council of the Americas, 680 Park Ave. (at 68th Street)
4:45 - 7:00 PM
#6 Subway to 68th St.The Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) is the next step in globalizing corporate greed at the expense of human need. It is a massive expansion of NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) now being negotiated in secret by 34 nations in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. The goal of the FTAA is to impose the failed NAFTA model of increased privatization and deregulation throughout the hemisphere. Imposition of these rules would constrain governments from setting standards to protect public health and safety, to safeguard workers, and to protect the environment.
The Council of the Americas is an interesting organization that is well worth a demo in its own right. From their website:
- The Council of the Americas is an organziation whose "membership is open to U.S.-based corporations only." Among other things, it "affords its members the opportunity to participate in business missions and to attend private off-the-record meetings with heads of state, ministers of economy, finance, planning, energy, and central bank presidents — hemispheric leaders who regularly use the Council as an 'open forum' to communicate their perspectives to the U.S. business audience." [And, no doubt, just a little bit of the reverse takes place as well.]
Their website is:
http://www.counciloftheamericas.org/about/mission.html
and it is worth checking out.For more information about the Tuesday's protest, please contact the New York Coalition to Stop the FTAA:
ftaanycinfo@onebox.com
(212) 894-3747 ext.4994
www.stopftaa.org/ny