printTrade and Development
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FTAA Introduction
The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is the expansion of
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to every country in Central America,
South America and the Caribbean, except Cuba. Negotiations began right after the
completion of NAFTA in 1994 and are to be completed by 2005.
Negotiated behind closed doors, with little citizen input but plenty of suggestions
from corporations, the FTAA is yet another example of the kind of free-market
fundamentalism that has created a global race to the bottom that erodes environmental
protection, workers' livelihoods, and human rights. If you think NAFTA has been
a disaster for working families and the environment in the US, Canada, and Mexico,
this will be far worse.
People throughout the Americas are mobilizing to educate their communities about
this coming "free trade" regime. Groups around the hemisphere are working
together on an alternative agreement that will offer a workable vision of what
a fair trade agreement would look like see www.asc-hsa.org.
Hemispherically, people are organizing public referendums to ask whether or not
their governments should participate in further FTAA negotiations. Add your support
to the thousands of people who are organizing to show that NAFTA should not be
expanded but should be replaced with an international system of cooperation that
fosters social equality, human rights, cultural diversity, environmental sustainability,
and community well being. Another course is possible -- Stop the FTAA!