|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
Local Report Back From Quebec |
Current rating: 0 |
by Danielle Chynoweth
Email: chyn (nospam) onthejob.net (unverified!)
Phone: 344-8820 (IMC)
Address: IMC, 218 W. Main, Urbana, IL 61801 |
03 Jun 2001
|
|
Travelers report back on their experiences protesting the FTAA. Discussion focuses on opposing the Fast Track legislation Bush needs to sign the FTAA. |
Last April sixteen local independent journalists and activists traveled to Quebec City to protest against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas or FTAA. The FTAA is an international trade agreement currently under negotiation that plans to extend the provisions of NAFTA to 34 countries of North and South America, excluding Cuba.
This last Friday, those who traveled to Quebec hosted a report back session at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. The report back included a show of photographs and articles, a video footage of the protests, and the distribution of a "zine" compiled from the journals of travelers.
Short presentations followed by small group discussion. Much of the evening centered on "the next opportunity for intervention against global injustice: Fast Track" as speaker Peter Miller explained. President Bush needs Fast Track authority to approve the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. The U.S. Constitution explicitly gives the power to negotiate trade agreements to Congress, not the President. Fast Track allows the president to bypass the Constitution on significant trade legislation. "Fast Track is about empowering corporations and disempowering people. Fast Track is up for a vote this Fall and we should be organizing to stop it."
The evening ended with a number of suggestions for how the group could continue to oppose, in the words of participant Molly Stentz, "corporate controlled globalization." IMC staff member, Sarah Kanouse, announced her intent to start a weekly lecture series at the IMC in the Fall that focuses on trade issues.
Another participant, Zach Miller offered to organize a letter writing campaign. "Dick Gephardt is against Fast Track. We should connect with our allies in Congress and figure out key people to put pressure on" Zack Miller said. Celeste Crescent offered creative action ideas such as making local murals or doing street theater. The group also discussed a trip to Washington D.C. in September to oppose the International Monetary Fund meeting there. |
