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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Midwest Convergence and Rally April 19-22, Kansas City, MO |
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by Solidarity & Unity Now/Free State Action
Email: sun_org (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Phone: 816.931.6734 |
12 Apr 2001
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April 18th-22nd, people from around the midwest will be converging in Kansas City, Missouri to protest the next round of talks regarding the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). |
Midwest Rally & Convergence Against the FTAA
April 19-22, 2001
Kansas City, Missouri
RALLY!
On April 21st people from around the Midwest will converge at Volker Park in
Kansas City to protest the next round of trade talks to form the FTAA. In
solidarity with actions in Quebec, we\'re bringing these issues to a regional
audience to start mobilizing our communities against globalization. For
more information on the FTAA and its affects on labor, the prison industrial
complex, human rights & the environment, scroll down.
April 21st 12-4pm | Volker Park 47th and Oak | Kansas City, Missouri
For more information contact: sun_org (at) hotmail.com
http://www.stopftaa.org/kc
CONVERGE!
In addition to the rally, we are also having a four-day event to pull
concerned peoples, activists, kids, hip-hop heads, punks, radicals,
single-moms, dads, etc. together to confront the
structures/struggles/institutions in our lives that keep us from
successfully organizing our communities and living our lives to the fullest.
This is a NEW kind of convergence. So many people in the movement organize
mass rallies for the sake of organizing mass rallies and many fail to think
about the bigger/smaller picture. People in America are unhappy. People in
American are sick of watching TV and working 40+ hours a week to survive.
We want to move beyond the rhetoric of the national protest scene. We\'re
going to create a NEW space… a NEW way of resistance. These conversations
are happening all over the country, but hardly anyone has brought them out
for public discussion.
Come talk about life, fear, love, happiness, bicycles, art, why everyone
hates school and work but keeps going, why we have no control in our lives,
why food costs money, and why we feel alone in a protest of 20,000 people.
Converge! Come to the Midwest Convergence in Kansas City, April 19-22, 2001
to protest the FTAA and start the discussions on how to build a movement for
liberation. Expect food, housing, workshops, discussions, puppet making and
more. The convergence space will be open April 19-22nd. On Saturday, April
21st we will bring the Midwest together for a rally and other actions
against the FTAA. If you can\'t go to Canada, we need you in KC.
For more information: http://www.stopftaa.org/kc or sun_org (at) hotmail.com
or (816) 931-6734.
(FTAA INFORMATION)
The FTAA is a \"free trade\" deal that is being worked out in secret by many
heads of state and corporate executives from the Western Hemisphere. The
FTAA is being modeled as the NAFTA for the Western Hemisphere. As with
NAFTA, \"free trade\" means reduction in governmental regulations on big
business, opening markets to foreign competition, locking in agreements that
will reduce money for healthcare and education, and dragging down wages of
all the countries involved. The following is a list of how NAFTA has
negatively affected our world; we can only imagine the consequences that the
FTAA will have.
Labor: Over 500,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. due to the passage of NAFTA
in \'94. An estimated 1 million jobs will be lost in the U.S. due to the
passage of Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, passed in the spring
of last year. After NAFTA, U.S. corporations moved south of the U.S. border
where Mexican workers have seen horrible labor conditions, lower wages and
even more destruction to their natural environment.
Prison Industrial Complex: With the passage of NAFTA came the largest crime
bill passed in U.S. history, which is directly linked to the explosion in
the prison population. (One which we have seen double in size in ten years,
from 1 million in \'90 to currently 2 million, now the largest prison
population in the world.) With the huge reallocation of funds going to the
construction and maintenance of prisons, America has seen a decrease in the
allocation of funds going to social services. For example in \'96 the
allocation of funds going to prisons rose to $954 million, while there was
also a decrease of $926 million going to fund education.
Human Rights: With corporations being allowed to relocate into countries
which do not have as strong of labor laws as the U.S., we see the groundwork
being laid for the mass exploitation of workers in sweatshops in nations
such as Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia and Haiti just to name a few. The FTAA
will also bring restrictions to fighting the worldwide AIDS epidemic. AIDS
is a manageable disease for people who can afford $10,000-$15,000 a year for
triple-cocktail drug therapy. These pills cost pennies to produce and
Brazil has decided to make generic versions of these drugs available in
their country. The FTAA would strengthen intellectual property rights and
drug patent laws that would prevent other countries from making generic
versions. As a result, 95% of the 30 million people with AIDS worldwide
will have no access to medicine.
Environmental: After the signing of NAFTA, Canada, the United States, and
Mexico all lowered protections for forests and conservation efforts. As a
result, fifteen US logging corporations set up new operations in Mexico
taking advantage of lower environmental and labor safeguards. In addition,
imposing a capitalist model for production on agrarian-based economies can
have devastating environmental consequences. This can already be seen with
the massive deforestation of the Brazilian rain forest and the
ever-increasing separation between those who produce food and those who
consume it.
As more and more power is placed in the hands of the global corporate elite,
it will continue to jeopardize the gains made by past struggles for freedom
and democracy. We must remember that we are all on this earth together and
as citizens we must stand against the injustice that faces us today. The
recent layoffs at the GST steel plant in Kansas City are only a small
forecast of what is to come if we continue to let these decisions slip by.
Join us, April 21st 12-4pm, Volker Park, Kansas City, Missouri, in
solidarity with protests all over the globe to denounce this clear attack on
humanity, democracy and freedom.
sun_org (at) hotmail.com http://www.stopftaa.org/kc |
See also:
www.stopftaa.org/kc
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