A-Infos (en) MERCASUR

[Julie Johnston / Peter Carter <juliej@nanaimo.ark.com>]

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      A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
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The Canada Department of International Trade is poised to make the
FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) unavoidable, while the US 
Congress says it will not negotiate until South American governments 
do something about their environment and labour standards.

"Canada and Brazil have agreed to bury the hatchet over questionable
government subsidies of their domestic aircraft production.
The two countries said yesterday they plan to negotiate a new trade
agreement over the next two months that essentially allows each to
carry on with legal support programs for manufacturing small regional
jets" (Peter Morton, Washington Bureau Chief, The Financial Post, May 
8, 1998). 

The Globe & Mail reported the same story in April 1998, and also 
reported the free trade amalgamation of MERCOSUR and the Andean Pact 
and that the Department of International Trade was aiming to sign a 
free trade agreement with both in June 1998.
Mercosur alone is the fourth largest economic block in the world. As 
in other 'free trade' areas the aggressive economic competiveness has 
drives 'construction of big dams, nuclear power plants, large gas 
pipelines, waterways (such as the Hidrovia waterway), and railroads 
and highways through fragile ecosystems.[....] Small farmers, 
indigenuos people, small fishermen and other local populations will be 
displaced due to these megaprojects.' (Mighty MERCOSUR. Friends of the 
Earth. www.foe.co.uk/foei/tes/link13.htm) 

So once again the government and the popular national media have 
failed to inform -- and have misinformed -- the people of Canada on a 
major "free trade" agreement.

Does this matter? Does democracy matter? After signing with MERCOSUR
(led by Brazil), a free trade agreement with the Andean Pact becomes
practically automatic, which is then a free trade area with Canada of
320 million people. Canada has signed with Chile, who also has an
arrangement with MERCASUR. Economic globalization never sleeps.
After this, the US Congress will have little choice but to come on
board, and leave democracy behind.

All of the agreements will bear the twin mark of the antidemocratic
top-down negotiating process and the antidemocratic dispute resolution
process. They will all leave environment and social equity as
non-binding side issues. Ethics and corruption will not even be
mentioned. The dispute panels will make sure that nothing -- not
endangered species, not corporate to government corruption, not child
labour, not global warming, not slave wages, not toxic pollution, not
antibiotic or pesticide residues in food -- nothing gets in the way of
economic profits.

These economic globalization agreements are drawn up by, negotiated at 
the direction of, implemented by, and enforced (as in dispute 
resolution panels) by the same faceless cadre of unelected, 
unaccountable international trade bureaucrats.  
 
We are witnessing history in the making: the ushering in of the age
of global economic dictatorship.
Peter Carter
-- 
Julie Johnston / Peter Carter
<juliej@nanaimo.ark.com>
2635A Departure Bay Road
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada   V9S 3W6
tel (250) 729-7939
fax (250) 729-7937

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