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News :: Protest Activity |
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Local Organizing Begins For Miami Actions Against FTAA |
Current rating: 0 |
by Paul Kotheimer
(No verified email address) |
27 Sep 2003
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Fed up with "Free Trade"?
P/O-ed because soon there won't be anymore American-made Levis?
Hate politicians giving "Free Trade" handouts to big corps as they lay off U.S.-workers, sending jobs overseas?
Then go to Miami November 19-21 and tell the creeps to shove "Free Trade" in favor of Fair Trade. To join in the organizing for this outing, join the meetings taking place in the front room of the IMC, 218 West Main Suite 110, on SUNDAYS at 2PM. |
[image from Boston Global Action]
A gang of 4 met at the IMC to begin organizing local participation in the Miami actions against the FTAA, scheduled for November 19th-21st, 2003.
In November of 1999, the Urbana-Champaign activist community rallied behind the 15 or so community members it sent to Seattle to oppose the WTO. Again in April of 2000, a dozen or more local activists went to Washington, DC, to protest the IMF and World Bank at their headquarters, and our local support was with them. In April 2001, the destination was Quebec City, the target for direct action was the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and the Urbana IMC was present with correspondants and participants in the direct action on the street.
In November of 2003, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) will be the on the agenda of globalized capital, and the meeting place will be Miami, Florida.
A small group of local activists are already planning to be there, both as participants in the street actions against the FTAA, and as media makers for our local IMC. The group is seeking out community members who can make the trip and be in the streets in Miami. Departure dates, modes of transport, costs, fundraising plans, are still being discussed.
To join in the organizing for this outing, join the meetings taking place in the front room of the IMC, 218 West Main Suite 110, on SUNDAYS at 2PM.
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Comments
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The All-American Levi's Jeans Ride Into The Sunset |
by Oliver Poole
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
27 Sep 2003
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Levi Strauss, the jeans company that became an icon of American culture, is heading west - so far west that its clothes will no longer be made in the United States.
The firm is to close its last factories in North America and will instead rely on plants in the Far East.
It blamed high labour costs for the decision, ending a history of producing jeans in America that stretches back to the California Gold Rush of the 1850s.
Although the company's headquarters will stay in San Francisco, its two remaining plants in the United States, in San Antonio in Texas, will close at the end of the year. Its final two North American factories, in Canada, will cease production next March. In total, nearly 2,000 jobs will be lost.
The news was greeted with dismay, even among people associated with the firm. Stephen Walker, who conceived Levi's British advertisements in the 1980s, said few items were as linked in the public's mind with being all-American.
"Cowboys and cars driving in the desert, Harley-Davidsons and rebellious young men: no other brand had the authenticity,"he said.
Union leaders said the decision went against everything the family-controlled company used to stand for. The image of the cowboy in his Levi's, rivets glittering in the desert sunlight, has been one of the most potent and enduring of all-American images for decades.
Levi's plants once dotted south Texas from San Angelo to the Rio Grande. The jeans' design was originally produced to cope with the rigours demanded of it by miners heading to California with the dream of finding gold.
But Levi's maintains that the move is an inevitability of global economics and that even Americans on minimum wages cannot compete with cheap overseas labour.
In the past few years the company suffered as fashion moved away from its classic 501 line, worn by teenagers and adults alike in the 1980s and early 1990s. New competitors, such as Gap and Diesel, became the designer label of choice for consumers.
After hitting all-time record sales of $7.1 billion (£4.5 billion) in 1996, last year it posted sales of $4.2 billion (£2.6 billion).
Phil Marineau, the company's chief executive, said that to cut costs the company would in future be producing none of its own jeans, contracting out the process instead.
All orders will now be produced by businesses located in countries such as China and Bangladesh and the world's most famous denim company will no longer make jeans, just design and market them.
It is a business model that most of its rivals have already adopted. Levi's main American competitors - Lee and Wrangler - led the way in moving out of manufacturing at home.
On Wednesday the Cone Mills Corporation, the largest denim manufacturer in the US, declared bankruptcy as it lost its struggle to compete with labour wages abroad.
Bruce Raynor, the president of Unite, the largest apparel workers' union, said the job losses in the clothing industry were the result of US trade policies that allowed companies to "scour the globe for the cheapest, most vulnerable labour".
By 2010, only 10 per cent of the US economy is predicted to be in manufacturing.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk |
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Re: Local Organizing Begins For Miami Actions Against FTAA |
by deuddersun
52hammer (nospam) prodigy.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0
27 Sep 2003
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To take action locally, please follow this link:
http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/ftaamain.cfm |
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A Pair Of Jeans Made In The US |
by Mink!
mink (nospam) tcp.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
27 Sep 2003
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Found 'em at Farm'n'Fleet in Urbana. The label on the back says "Riders Quality Denim". Labels on the inside say they are made in the US (Alabama) from imported cloth, but not only that, they were made with UFCW union labor, says so right on the label. Plus they were somewhere around $20.
They're currently my fave pair of pants. The particular pair I have is carpenter pants, with that little pocket on the side that is so handy for holding my bike clip and light.
But hey - not just US made pants, but UNION MADE pants. I almost had to check the year on the calendar...
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Levi's Sad Decline |
by 5
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
28 Sep 2003
|
Unfortunately, Levi's are slowly losing my favor. I have always purchased Levi's because of the durable, high-quality denim which withstood many, many, many washings (a necessity when you have an individual in your family who works construction), and the craftsmanship of the pants which last for years. I have a pair that are 10 years old.
But last year, I purchased a pair in which the denim was significantly thinner and not as warm during the cold winters here in Illinois. In addition, the dye seemed different. My older pair weathered nicely, with the dye fading, but the material lasting. My new pair doesn't seem as sturdy.
I fear that when the operations are sent overseas, the quality will suffer further. Just as it is impossible to find a quality sweatshirt (like those Champion made just 10 years ago), I am afraid soon my jeans will last only a year.
Soon...a disposable society with disposable clothes. |
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Re: Local Organizing Begins For Miami Actions Against FTAA |
by CLR
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
28 Sep 2003
|
From: "Campaign for Labor Rights"
<list-owner (at) campaignforlaborrights.org>
Subject: CLR: ACT BY THURSDAY--STOP AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL MIAMI ORDINANCE TO BAR FTAA PROTESTS!
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:26:52 -0700
THIS ACTION ALERT IS ADAPTED FROM PUBLIC CITIZEN'S ALERT.
This Thursday, Sept. 25, the Miami City Commission will vote on an heinously unconstitutional ordinance which unfairly targets and singles our anti-FTAA demonstrators, and proposes to ban the use and possession of a variety of items related to peaceful protests,demonstrations and protest marches.
The ordinance, which would take effect when passed and expire on Thursday, Nov. 27 (five days after the FTAA Ministerial ends), is clearly and deliberately aimed at stifling the voices of the thousands of people - students, union members, activists, farmers and many other ndividuals - from around the Americas and the world who will be coming to South Florida to engage in peaceful, permitted protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meeting to be held from Nov. 17-21 in Miami.
Please fax, email or call the Miami City Council Commissioners by TOMORROW, THURSDAY MORNING. Feel free to adapt or modify the attached letter. The ACLU and protest leaders have pointed out that the "proposed ordinance... is so broadly written that it may allow police
to clamp down on constitutionally protected, peaceful protest activities." (Miami Daily Business Review, "As Miami plans to prevent disruptions during trade talks, protest groups warn of First Amendment breaches," Sept. 19, 2003)
The undemocratic nature of this ordinance is in keeping with the undemocratic nature of the FTAA itself. Under the rules that would be imposed by the FTAA, decision-making power on economic, social and cultural policies, as well as national development plans will be transferred to transnational corporations and investors and removed
from local communities.
It's important that concerned citizens all over the country
immediately contact Miami city officials to voice their opposition to this draconian, unconstitutional measure, which could set a dangerous precedent for demonstrations in the future in other places, and could imperil the cherished rights of free speech and freedom of assembly.
Miami officials need to know that the eyes of the world are upon them and that their action will be protested rather than allowed to happen quietly.
Fax the Mayor's office online via the Public Citizen website for free:
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=223&source=25
Or use the sample letter below to call and email too while you're at it - be polite, succinct and firm:
Mayor Manuel A. Diaz: mannydiaz (at) ci.miami.fl.us (305) 250-5300
Also call and email the City Commissioners:
District 1 Commissioner Angel Gonzalez: agonzalez (at) ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5430
District 2 Commissioner Johnny L. Winton: jwinton (at) ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5333
District 3 Commissioner Joe M. Sanchez: jsanchez (at) ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5380
District 4 Commissioner Tomas P. Regalado: tr (at) ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5420
District 5 Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr.: artteele (at) ci.miami.fl.us
(305)250-5390
================================================== SAMPLE LETTER
To: Mayor Manuel A. Diaz and City Council Commissioners
I urge you and the Miami City Commission to uphold the constitutional rights of free speech and assembly by rejecting the proposed parades and demonstrations city ordinance, item J-O3-772 on the September 25, 2003
Miami City Commission agenda, which would add section 6.1 to Chapter 54 of the City of Miami municipal code.
The U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights Amendment I guarantees the right to freedom of speech and the right of people peaceably to assemble. The proposed ordinance violates fundamental First Amendment rights by defining an assembly as any combination of three people, animals or vehicles. This works a ridiculous result. Two men playing checkers and a dog could be considered an assembly.
The proposed rule then imposes on a so-called "assembly" a series of regulations that are clearly in violation of the spirit and letter of the right to free speech. The ordinance would outlaw innocuous objects commonly used to create puppets, banners and other visuals frequently used in peaceful protests. The proposed ordinance will give Miami city police officials undue and inappropriate discretionary powers to define what is a legal or
illegal assembly, thereby granting broad new powers to detain individuals and hold them according to these unconstitutional provisions.
The proposed ordinance includes new limitations on common objects such as signs, props and banners which would restrict our ability to express our message in a large group setting. Additionally, the inclusion of everyday objects such as marbles, water balloons and golf balls and the vagueness of some provisions of the ordinance (including the prohibition on solid shapes made of rubber, plastic, metal, wood or any similar hard substance) leaves it subject to capricious application and enforcement.
By providing these unconstitutional powers for law
enforcement, the proposed ordinance fails the fundamental test of constitutionality. The Supreme Court requires a "strict scrutiny" of laws that seek to limit the First Amendment.
The notable fact that the ordinance is temporary and set
to expire on November 27, 2003 (one week after the Free Trade Area of the Americas Ministerial) makes clear that it is deliberately and directly targeted towards demonstrations activities surrounding the FTAA Ministerial and are plainly punitive in nature, and are likely to have a chilling effect on people's First Amendment rights to gather, assemble, and demonstrate.
A policy as unconstitutional as this ordinance will undoubtedly face a serious court challenge. It will
also show Miami to be a city that rejects democratic process and ideals and that seeks to strip individuals of their most fundamental constitutional rights. The Constitution should not stop at the Miami City line. I urge you to encourage City Commission members to vote against the proposed parade and demonstration ordinance as well
as ask you to veto this unconstitutional ordinance should it be
passed.
Sgd: YOUR NAME
===================================
READ MORE ABOUT THE
ORDINANCE - Article from Miami press:
Civil Rights Law and order As Miami plans to prevent disruptions
during trade talks, protest groups warn of First Amendment breaches
September 19, 2003 By: Steve Ellman Miami Daily Business Review
Miami hopes to be more successful than Washington, D.C., was in 1998
at preventing violence
Two months before thousands of demonstrators are expected to descend
on Miami to protest high-level international trade talks, civil
liberties activists and anti-globalization groups say police are
interfering with free speech rights.
Protesters and their attorneys claim police officials are stalling the
issuing of permits that would allow rallies and parades in the
downtown area to oppose a planning conference for the Free Trade Area
of the Americas.
"Permit requests have languished with the Police Department for two
months," said Miami ACLU leader Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, who has been
counseling a coalition of environmental and peace groups that plan to
protest. "We're getting the runaround."
The ACLU and protest leaders say that a proposed ordinance aimed at
preventing violent protests is so broadly written that it may allow
police to clamp down on constitutionally protected, peaceful protest
activities.
City leaders say the ordinance, which was approved on first reading
last week, is aimed at preventing violent protests such as those at
the World Trade Organization's 1999 meeting in Seattle and other, more
recent international conferences.
The pressure is on city leaders and police to provide a peaceful venue
for the November talks aimed at creating the Free Trade Area of the
Americas. The city wants to impress attendees, because it is in the
running to be the headquarters of the 34-nation free-trade zone that
would stretch from Argentina to Canada.
Protest leaders say a slide show presented by Miami police for
business leaders last week suggested that police may even consider it
threatening for protesters to snap photos of crowd control activities.
"We're just trying to make a statement," said South Florida AFL-CIO
president Fred Frost. "The police are overzealous about the 2 percent
of demonstrators they say are violent."
But Miami Police Maj. Thomas Roell, who will be tactical commander for
law enforcement during the FTAA summit, said, "Law enforcement is just
trying to strike a balance between the protesters' rights and the
trade meeting's rights." He said police "can work with any group that
wants to protest in a lawful way."
State and local leaders want to bolster efforts to have Miami selected
as the site of the FTAA's headquarters. They claim that would bring as
many as 90,000 jobs and an additional $14 billion annually to the
state's economy.
And protest groups see the event as a platform to build on growing
discontent among U.S. and Latin American workers coping with an
extended recession.
Critics of the FTAA argue that creating a hemispheric free trade zone
would fuel an international race to the bottom on wages and
environmental rules, as nations compete for business investment.
The centerpiece of the meeting is a conference of 34 trade ministers
at the Hotel Inter-Continental on Nov. 20-21.
The protesters' plans include two days of rallies and marches. A
national coalition of organized labor spearheaded by the South Florida
AFL-CIO is scheduled to rally on Thursday, Nov. 20; an
environmental/peace coalition, organized as the Welcoming Committee of
the FTAA, is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 21.
'Out in the boonies'
The labor coalition wants to secure a permit for as many as 30,000
union members to march down Biscayne Boulevard toward the
Inter-Continental. But the AFL-CIO's Frost said Miami police officials
have proposed an alternate route several blocks away, along Northwest
Second Avenue -"out in the boonies," he calls it.
Frost said the police proposal would block a major goal of the protest
march - getting close enough to the trade ministers' meeting "so that
they can see 30,000 working men and women voicing our concerns."
He also said the police route was impractical because of its distance
from a planned rally and teach-in at the Bayfront Amphitheater, which
the union has rented. He said that would make it difficult for the
expected large contingent of seniors and families.
Frost said his group applied for its permit in early August, but was
unable to get a substantive meeting with police representatives until
late last week.
Rodriguez-Taseff said her clients - who call themselves the Welcoming
Committee of the FTAA - were given bogus reasons for their permit
delay when they met with police last week. "They told us they were
unable to clear our application because they still hadn't decided on
street closings and traffic routes for the trade officials," she said.
But Rodriguez-Taseff said that claim was belied by a slide
presentation police officials made to downtown business leaders last
week that included traffic routes.
"We were lied to," Rodriguez-Taseff said.
But city officials insist the plans are still tentative.
City Community Relations Board chair Brenda Shapiro, who is
facilitating the march permit discussions, acknowledged that the
discussions between the police and the protest groups were
uncomfortable. But she blamed the protesters for "sandbagging" the
police by bringing ACLU lawyers with them. "It was tense because the
city was misled about who would come," Shapiro said. "No one's been
given a permit because this is still the information-gathering stage."
Miami Police Maj. Roell said traffic planning would continue to evolve
as new march permit applications arrived. Four permits are currently
"in process," he said. "There is no cut-off date for accepting more."
The various protest groups were scheduled to meet with police again
this week.
Police plan
The police presentations to business leaders last week provide a
glimpse into attitudes and planning regarding the FTAA protests.
It describes three purported types of demonstrators - one
"union-based" and "nonviolent," a second "anti-government" and
"anti-establishment," and a third composed of "fringe elements" that
are "mostly nonviolent."
The slide show describes the protests during the World Trade
Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999 - at which some of the
demonstrators were involved in riots and looting - as "the 'model' for
future protests."
Police fears are not without any foundation. Miami New Times has
reported that some anti-globalization advocates like the Pittsburgh
Organizing Group have openly vowed to "materially disrupt" the FTAA.
And violence has been a predictable feature at international trade
gatherings for years.
But the slide show offers an extremely broad definition of "protest
tactics" to watch out for. It includes protesters pointing out
plainclothes police officers, providing first aid supplies to injured
demonstrators, and taking photographs. "Protesters create and take
advantage of negative photo opportunities" is the caption under a
photo of a young man focusing a camera.
Carolina Delgado, a spokeswoman for South Floridians for Fair Trade
and Justice, worries that police will see photo-taking by
demonstrators as a hostile activity and seek to stop protesters from
doing so or even restrain or arrest them.
"Cameras and video are mainly a way to document our movement," she
said. "But they also safeguard our interest in preventing police
brutality and protecting our rights."
Roell responded that police "have no intention of confiscating cameras
from anyone with a legitimate reason to have one. That's not going to
happen."
But Rodriguez-Taseff was unappeased. "This is the kind of wishy-washy
language that gets us all in trouble," she said. "It opens us up to
the unfettered discretion of the police."
Restrictive ordinance
The proposed revision of the city's public demonstrations ordinance
raises other free speech concerns, according to critics.
Calling the proposal "overly broad and restrictive," Rodriguez-Taseff
said the law's expiration date, set just after the FTAA meetings,
shows that it is targeted solely at that event's protesters, a
violation of their equal protection and due process rights. If passed
into law on second reading, she said a court challenge from ACLU was
"99 percent certain."
The proposed ordinance would prohibit demonstrators from carrying a
wide range of objects, including golf balls, batteries and "materials
or devices that can be thrown or projected that can or may cause or
have the potential of causing" personal or property damage.
The attitude of police toward the protesters could work against the
FTAA, Rodriguez-Taseff cautioned. "If the FTAA leaders want a
successful meeting, they could do better than to throw down the
gauntlet," she said.
Delgado expressed concern that a battle over civil liberties issues
could obscure the protesters' larger political and economic message
about the dangers of the free trade agreement.
"We know how important free speech is," Delgado said. "But we are here
to talk about the threat to labor and the environment and democracy."
Steve Ellman can be reached at sellman (at) floridabiz.com or at (561)
820-2071.
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Re: Local Organizing Begins For Miami Actions Against FTAA |
by god
pissant (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
10 Nov 2003
|
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I like cheese |
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