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News :: Miscellaneous |
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We're on 'Fast Track' to Trading Away Democracy |
Current rating: 0 |
by Bob Buzzanco
(No verified email address) |
30 Jun 2001
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So-called "free" trade is really a misnomer for the destruction of a long tradition of democracy. Corporations, elevated to the status of personhood by Supreme Court decisions that undermine the rights of real citizens, no longer wish to submit themselves to the democratic processes that mediate our system of government. They would rather enjoy a special, elevated status and use the powers of government to impose their rule on the people, who they view as subservient consumers who should not have the right to limit corporate rule in any way. ML |
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See also:
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0630-01.htm
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Text of Article |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
30 Jun 2001
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STATE and local laws debated on and enacted by democratic processes to protect wages, health and safety standards, and the environment are at risk as a coalition of political and business leaders tries to expand the globalizing tendencies already evident in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization by establishing a Free Trade Area of the Americas and giving the president "fast track" authorization to hammer out a deal on this new economic institution. For anyone concerned with the nature, and future, of self-government and democratic institutions, fast track and FTAA stand as a threat to our sovereignty.
Organized secretively by national leaders and representatives of multinational corporations from all over the globe, NAFTA, WTO and now FTAA take decision-making power out of the hands of states or local communities and transfer it to faceless bureaucracies controlled by unelected corporate representatives. Under these transnational institutions, anything construed as a barrier to "free trade" can be challenged and repealed.
Thus a foreign business can file a protest against state, county or city standards that protect food safety or public health, establish safeguards for working people on the job, or establish anti-pollution regulations, claiming that such measures are "unfair" trade practices. Then a NAFTA, WTO or FTAA tribunal -- consisting of corporate lawyers and meeting without public input -- can overturn those regulations, local wishes notwithstanding. Such anti-democratic practices may only get worse if fast track and FTAA are approved.
Fast track would allow the president's team to negotiate with other nations without any public input, and then would limit debate on and amendments to any agreement, and finally force a straight up or down vote on the FTAA bill. Citizens and even senators would have a limited role in such an important piece of legislation, a situation that raises constitutional questions as well as serious concerns about our democracy.
If enacted, the FTAA will centralize even more the power of corporations and the state to act as they wish without a voice from local communities, citizens or courts. Indeed, this is already happening. Foreign firms have brought challenges to U.S. laws and legal decisions under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, which established a broad definition of investment and property rights, and allows them to sue for damages when U.S. standards restrain their ability to trade.
In a recent, and instructive, case, a Canadian funeral home chain, the Loewen Group, is seeking the reversal of a decision against it in a Mississippi state court. A funeral operator in Biloxi had charged Loewen with fraudulent and predatory practices. The local court agreed and sentenced Loewen to $400 million in punitive damages.
Loewen, however, is appealing the decision -- not based on the facts of the case but under provisions of NAFTA. The Canadian company is claiming that Mississippi laws had violated international norms of "fairness" and that the court decision was an "expropriation" of Loewen's assets without due compensation, all of which are violations of NAFTA's investment rules. The decision, Loewen is contending, was a "denial of justice," and it is asking for $725 million in damages from Mississippi.
Loewen's appeal will not be heard in any U.S. court. NAFTA's Chapter 11 allows foreign corporations to pursue claims before NAFTA tribunals, not American state or federal courts. NAFTA officials, who are not elected or even democratically selected, will conduct proceedings in secret and court records will be sealed to the public. The NAFTA decision will be binding and final, so should Loewen prevail, Mississippi or the U.S. government will have no appeal.
The impact of NAFTA and WTO on working people has already been well-documented. Wages have declined in Mexico. For instance, millions now work for less than the minimum wage of $3.40 a day, and there are studies showing the loss of perhaps a million American jobs to maquiladores along the border. Working conditions have also worsened as a "race to the bottom" has accelerated under WTO and NAFTA.
Just as dangerous is the assault that these institutions constitute on our free institutions. Our councils, legislatures and courts, which should reflect the will of the citizens and local communities, are now subordinate to global institutions and foreign corporations.
Here in Texas, for some time we have had an anti-littering campaign with the theme "Don't Mess with Texas." Such a motto would be even more appropriate when it comes to discussions of fast track and FTAA.
Buzzanco is associate professor of history at the University of Houston. |
