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As most of you already know, like the WTO and IMF/World Bank mass mobilizations that preceded it, the resistance to the FTAA is projected to be imposed by 2005. Even though the glamour of protests and actions has passed, the FTAA has not. There is still a lot to be done in terms of educating people and getting them involved so that we can continue building a real people-based worldwide movement to stop the FTAA. Then we'll be able to work more on creating the type of cooperative, egalitarian world we want to live in.
"Why I oppose the FTAA" Read accounts by local activists and others.
Read about all the great actions we accomplished in
this digest.
For more general information on the FTAA see the national
homepage where you can also find links to other cities' anti-FTAA homepages.
The
website has tons of information on local FTAA issues and includes audio
and video of all the recent actions and events in the Bay Area. You
can
also post events, photos and commentary. Of course for Quebec City
action info go to the main
site.
Here's a Fast
Fact Sheet on the FTAA.
A Teach-In on Globalization, FTAA, and 3rd World Debt....
On Saturday June 2 at First Unitarian Church in San Jose....
Featuring speakers & workshops from 9am to 4:30pm....
From Seattle to Prague, from Quebec City to Qatar, there is a worldwide
movement to challenge corporate globalization, as found in the
destructive policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank,
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA/FTAA). Dating back to 1945 with the founding of IMF
and
the World Bank, exacerbated by Structural Adjustment loan policies,
and
accelerating since 1995 with the founding of the WTO, the gap between
the
rich and the poor in the US and around the world continues to grow
and is
now at an all-time high.
Fortunately, movements are springing up worldwide to challenge this
multinational corporate take-over of the world: Antiglobalization and
the
Jubilee Cancel the Debt movements. More than any other organization,
the
International Forum on Globalization has since 1995 been bringing leaders
and activists from around the world to hold Teach-Ins on what is
happening. More than 3000 attended their Teach-In in Seattle.
For the first time here in the South Bay, a day-long Teach-In will be
held on Saturday, June 2 in San Jose, featuring Founder and Acting
Director of IFG, Jerry Mander, and three other of IFG's key speakers.
Mander will give a concise overview of Corporate Globalization and
FTAA.
Cathi Tactaquin of the National Network for Immigrant & Refugee
Rights
will reveal economic globalization as a major cause of displacing peoples
off their lands. Antonia Juhasz, Program Director of IFG, will speak
on
third-world debt and organizing. Victor Menotti , IFG Environmental
Director, will speak on widely discussed solutions to corporate
globalization, including replacement of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO
by
United Nations bodies, with transparency and input from the poor who
bear
the burden of indebtedness.
--Morning Speakers and Afternoon Workshops: Following these leaders
of
the worldwide movement to challenge corporate globalization, in the
afternoon there will be a variety of workshops by South Bay organizations
and activists working for peace, justice, the Earth, and confronting
economic globalization.
--Sponsors: The growing list of sponsors includes IFG, South Bay Jubilee
2000, South Bay No to WTO, Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, Earth
Justice Ministries, the Council of Churches of Santa Clara County,
and
the Human Concerns Commission of the Catholic Diocese of San Jose.
If you
wish to become a sponsoring organization, contact Billie Wachter at
or Paul Burks at .
--Time, Date, & Place: You are invited to save the date of Saturday
June
2 for this exciting, timely, and informative Teach-In in the facilities
of First Unitarian Church, downtown San Jose, 9 am to 4:30 pm.
[Registration and coffee will be 9-9:30am]
--Fee, Lunch, Registration: The admission fee will be $5.00 but no one
will be turned away for lack of funds. A box lunch will be available
for
an additional $5.00. You can bring your own lunch if you prefer. To
REGISTER, make checks out to Southbay Jubilee Campaign and mail to
Southbay Jubilee Campaign, 160 N. Third Street, San Jose 95112. Tickets
can be purchased at the door but your advance registration helps us
plan.
For more information contact Billie Wachter or Paul Burks at the numbers
above under sponsors. Register early since we expect over 300. And
plan
to use public transportation or car-pool; parking is available.
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San Francisco Tuesday, June 5 at 6:30pm at Centro del Pueblo
(Valencia between 16th & 17th Streets, 16th St. BART)
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Join us! There are many ways to get involved (with varying degrees of commitment of course).
Subscribe to the e-mail listserve
e-mail
Now is the time to be educating ourselves and others
about the deleterious effects that the FTAA will have on our communities
at home and abroad. After all the articles and news reports painting
us all as violent protestors, let us set the story straight and actually
talk about the issues.
Check out our list
of speakers.
Pass a resolution in your union or city
Help
out with the webpage
To be involved in the web
committee e-mail
************************************************************
Meeting notes from Monday, May 21
Reportback Committee- No one came to the meeting,
so there will be no
Reportback.
Border Report- There is a meeting in Tijuana this
week to discuss next
steps.
Finances-We raised enough money to do lots of
photocopying, fund the
sound system, permit, contribute $1500 towards
the Mexico/border event,
pay for conference calls. At the last meeting
and recent fundraiser,
$140. was raised to send to Quebec. We
still have almost $1000 left. If
you have expenses that have not been reimbursed,
get receipts to Juliette
Beck at Global Exchange.
New Business- We hope to build the network we
have begun and to
strengthen the Coalition. We have a list of about
forty groups who
endorsed our work and contributed money. Mary
offered to draft a letter
of thanks, and offer them more info/ speakers
to continue our outreach,
as well as to learn more about their issues and
how we can make the
local/global connections and strengthen the movement.
Sue Sandlin
volunteered to mail out the letters. Dorrit
will put together a contact
list of people who came to our meetings.
We still want to do outreach at
upcoming events, spread the literature we have
on the FTAA, and support
the organizing work that is going on by notifying
our network of future
events.
Coalition to Stop the FTAA's Focus-
(Carolyn did a great diagram which I can't fully
reproduce here, showing
the connection between the big Global Issues
and our local issues,
emphasizing how we see the connections and realize
there are no "separate
issues.") We generated a list of campaigns and
appointed one
person to follow each of them, report back when
needed and keep the
coalition updated about events in that area
Here is the list of campaigns we identified as
being related to the
coalition's goal of stoppping the FTAA(including
the person who is
following each campain)
Global-
Demonstrations Against the World Bank/IMF in
September/October (Alliance
for Global Justice) http://www.50years.org/index.html
Protests Against Bush September 29th (International
Action
Center)http://www.iacenter.org/ (contact-carol-)
Plan Colombia, Demonstration on Colombia's Independence
Day July 20th
(contact Walter)
Cross Border Organizing/Join Globalifobicus/Buy
computers for Maclovia
Rojas (contact Sue Sandlin)
U.S. Militarization/Corporate Interests/Joint
CIA-Corporate
"In-Q-Tel"computer warfare center (in Palo Alto)
(contact
Carol-)
Local-
Fast Track (which would gag Congressional debate
and allow FTAA to get
passed) (contact-Juliette)
Immigrant Pride Day, October 13, Papers for All,
Silicon Valley
Maquilladoras(contact- Berta)
Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition/Human Rights/Rights
of Displaced
people(Contact Loren)
Public Power Campaign (Contact Justin)
Campaign for Positive Alternatives (Contact Loren)
CBE Chevron Campaign/Against power plant in Richmond
Project Underground
http://www.moles.org/ (contact-Loren)
SFSU's Centennial Village (a scandal forcing students
out of dorms into
overpriced private venture) blockade McDonalds
(contact Carolyn)
Taco Bell Campaign (in support of tomato pickers)S.O.J.A.(Contact Walter)
Discussion-
How are we going to
work in the Coalition? With the large numbers
the consensus process was unable to plan far
ahead, strategically, things
fell through, we operated in crisis mode from
action to action (although
we sure did a lot!!!). Do we need a coordinating
Committee? With 12,
we were able to dialogue, but we were missing
the input from many people
and groups vital to accomplish any larger projects.
To be continued at next meeting...
New Business-
Proposal to invite Susan
Strong to lead a Metaphor Workshop with the
larger group. The workshop was very powerful
and useful to the media
group to find ways to communicate our message
to the larger public. The
techniques could be useful for all issues, a
larger group sparks more
creativity/ideas (a huge group can be divided
into more than one issue).
Will decide on a time at the next meeting.
Announcements-
May 24 7-9 pm US MIlitarism
in Central America/Colombia, Friends
Meeting House 65-9th St. @ Market http://myweb.wco.com/~boricua/Juntos
June 2nd Teach-In on Globalization,
Trade Agreements, Third World
Debt in San Jose http://www.stopftaa.org
June 14th 7:00-9:00 Teach-In
on Effects of Trade on the Environment
at the Ecology Center in Berkeley.http://www.ecologycenter.org/
June 22 - 27, 2001, BIOJUSTICE 2001 in
San Diego http://www.biodev.org
June 27th-July 1st There will be
a National Organizers Meeting at
Sonoma State, . http://noacentral.org
Next Meeting-
Tuesday, June 5th, 6:30
room opens- Meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.
Centro del Pueblo address-??? Valencia near 16th.
Facilitators- Justin and (Dorrit will find someone
else).