The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is an attempt to expand the failed 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 were supposed to have been completed by January 1, 2005.
But an exciting thing happened: the FTAA was not signed on January 1st. Led by strong social movements across the hemisphere, countries like Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil have said NO to a model that has increased poverty across the globe, and are instead searching for a better model of regional integration.
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. We've stopped the FTAA - for now. And now we MUST STOP CAFTA!!
Groups around the hemisphere have also been 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).The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is an attempt to expand the failed North... more
The Obama administration has nominated a senior executive from the pesticide industry’s main trade association to be chief agricultural negotiator for the US Trade Representative. If confirmed, Isi Siddiqui will be responsible for, among other things, negotiating international agreements governing the use of pesticides.The Obama administration has nominated a senior executive from the pesticide... more
As it quietly turns into official policy, the “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America” (SPP) agreement mixes the neoliberalism of NAFTA with the repression of homeland security. Harsha Walia and Cynthia Oka outline the main features of this emerging framework and its consequences for people in the region.
*article at link*
Harsha Walia is a South Asian activist in a range of social movements. Cynthia Oka is a no-border activist and a Political Science student. They are both members of No One Is Illegal – Vancouver, Coast Salish territories.As it quietly turns into official policy, the “Security and Prosperity... more
Rohan Marley, son of the late Bob Marley, working with a partner, has acquired lands in Jamaica for coffee farming and launched Marley Coffee, marrying his father's famous name to another world-class brand, Blue Mountain.Rohan Marley, son of the late Bob Marley, working with a partner, has acquired lands... more
A Sunday evening discovery of two dead women originated from a Border Patrol encounter with a 16-year-old boy from Mexico City on the northern part of the reservation at about 4 p.m., said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
The boy told agents that his 64-year-old grandmother had been left behind. He said that he and his grandmother had been walking without food and water for three days, drinking only Red Bull energy drinks and taking pain pills, Scioli said.
Over 3,000 immigrants have dies since the inception of NAFTA in 1994.A Sunday evening discovery of two dead women originated from a Border Patrol encounter... more
According to ambassador William Brownfield in Bogota, any country has the right to re elect their president indefinitely. He was referring of course to the pre eminent referendum to re write the Colombian Constitution, to, of course re elect Alvaro Uribe to a third term and may be a fourth term. President Obama clearly and diplomatically pointed to his counterpart President Uribe that "in the US 8 years is usually enough for the people" But Mr Brownfield refuted that by saying that President Obama was only referring to the US. Really?
Also Mr Brownsfield in years past was a vociferous opponent to the Hugo Chavez government when he was an ambassador to Caracas.
Well well. I classic case of political ambivalence or blunder.
"Así lo dijo en entrevista con el diario 'El País', de Cali, al afirmar que "es una decisión soberana para cualquier pueblo del mundo decidir si quieren ofrecer un término, dos términos, tres términos o términos ilimitados".
El diplomático se refirió a las palabras que su Presidente, Barack Obama, le dijo al jefe de Estado colombiano, Álvaro Uribe (en la pasada reunión de junio), acerca de que en E.U. dos periodos son suficientes y que "después de ocho años usualmente el pueblo desea un cambio".According to ambassador William Brownfield in Bogota, any country has the right to re... more
Water sampled in stretches of the river with the fewest males revealed spikes in a new class of pollutant, endocrine disruptors, which are found in everything from pesticides to nail polish, flame retardants to contraceptives, and in human and animal pharmaceuticals. Often mimicking estrogen, endocrine disruptors scramble the chemical signals used by vertebrates from reptiles to humans to regulate a wide range of functions, including sexual development. The Canadian data were only the latest to implicate endocrine disruption in genital abnormalities and the disappearance of males.
For researcher Leland Jackson, whose tap water comes from the Bow River, the data were "alarming. The water I use to make my kids' orange juice is the same water those fish are living in."
The scientists reported their findings as other Canadian events were grabbing headlines and generating heat among environmentalists. Dow AgroSciences LLC, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Dow Chemical, one of the world's five largest chemical companies, confirmed it would sue Canada under NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada's trade crime? One Canadian province, Quebec, had placed 2,4-D — a widely used, nonproprietary herbicide and proven endocrine disruptor —on a list of garden pesticides prohibited for cosmetic use in urban areas. The measure was overwhelmingly popular with Quebecers.
Other reports have associated endocrine disruptors with gender-bending effects from China to Scandinavia. Sentinel species sounding an alarm run from feminized cane toads in Florida and frogs in Connecticut to Alaskan deer with undescended testicles and hermaphrodite polar bears with penises and vaginas. Lab experiments and field studies have linked endocrine-disrupting chemicals with delayed pregnancy and spontaneous abortions among rats and humans. The faux hormones are lead suspects in a decades-long worldwide decline in human sperm counts, more frequent male genital birth defects and local instances of a sharp human sex-ratio imbalance. By one estimate, a quarter of a million boys may be "missing" globally: the difference between historic sex ratios and the plummeting male birth rates of the last 30 years.Water sampled in stretches of the river with the fewest males revealed spikes in a new... more
The corporate media have spun the post-election frame to argue that Obama should break his campaign promises. The financial crisis is too grave. Healthcare reform, renegotiating NAFTA, and the Employee Free Choice Act should all be dropped.
An editorial in USA Today described the above positions as "small bore ideas" that Obama trumpeted more for "their political appeal than for their economic usefulness." So what are the corporate media's interests?The corporate media have spun the post-election frame to argue that Obama should break... more
LOS ANGELES - Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows.
more at link
NAFTA and GATT was a bipartisan effort, led by Al Gore and Newt Gingrich b/c both parties are owned by the NWO. If we support the Freedom of Currency Act, Industrial Hemp Act and End the Fed, all proposed by Ron Paul, we can save this country and protect our children.LOS ANGELES - Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its... more
Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harder will try to build on that earlier cooperation to handle an expected new wave of cases during North America's upcoming flu season.
With issues of drug trafficking, human smuggling, unfair trade agreements, border violence and other matters. Is it worth sending the president for a summit on the flu? Shouldn't they be focusing on other issues? What do you think?Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harder... more
The abandoned corpses, in white body bags with number tags tied to each toe, lie one above the other on steel racks inside a giant freezer in Detroit’s central mortuary, like discarded shoes in the back of a wardrobe.
Some have lain here for years, but in recent months the number of unclaimed bodies has reached a record high. For in this city that once symbolised the American Dream many cannot even afford to bury their dead.
“I have not seen this many unclaimed bodies in 13 years on the job,” said Albert Samuels, chief investigator at the mortuary. “It started happening when the economy went south last year. I have never seen this many people struggling to give people their last resting place.”
Unburied bodies piling up in the city mortuary — it reached 70 earlier this year — is the latest and perhaps most appalling indignity to be heaped on the people of Detroit. The motor city that once boasted the highest median income and home ownership rate in the US is today in the midst of a long and agonising death spiral.
{read full article at link]The abandoned corpses, in white body bags with number tags tied to each toe, lie one... more
*We call on the population to demand that all produce we consume on a daily basis is GMO-free.
*We call on international agencies to condemn the Government of Mexico for violating peasant ancestral rights, as well as disrespecting biodiversity and food sovereignty, and ignoring the principle of precaution in the center of origin of basic crops that nowadays nourish the world.
*On 12 October, invite everyone to protest at the [nearest] Mexican Embassy against transgenic maize in Mexico!
Why this Call for Action on 12 October?
Monsanto has just lost 18 of 24 requests for experimental maize open-field testing in the northern regions of Mexico. These regions are Monsanto's most-wanted areas due to their commercial maize farming background: most of the everyday tortillas of the Mexican inhabitants come from there.
Therefore, the risk of having native varieties contaminated is huge and Monsanto is pressing the Government to have its requests attended [granted]. This has not happened yet, but might happen very soon.
In Mexico, October 12 is a national holiday known as Di-a de la Raza, or Day of the Race. It's a day to celebrate Mexican traditions and culture.
Besides this, in recent years, it has also been more and more used as a day for demonstrations, and to protest for social rights or defending indigenous culture. In the present context, the fragile position in which Mexican maize varieties are put, due to the menace of GM maize and GM companies, makes them a very important social and cultural value to be defended and protected.
Via Campesina in Mexico has started a campaign "Fuera Monsanto y No al Maiz Transgenico" in June. From 11 to 16 October they will protest in several regions of the country. The Network in Defense of Maize is supporting Via Campesina and will deliver the collected signatures to the Mexican Government on the 16th October. On that day some press conferences and actions might happen. So, if we do act on 12 October at our Mexican embassies, we should inform the Network in Defense of Maize, so that our international actions get to the Mexican press.
Right now, due to a climate of internal Mexican tension, our actions through Europe and worldwide increase the possibilities of resonance. By doing this, we are giving a great support to Mexico's anti-GMO struggle, and pressuring Mexican Government not to easily accept the requests of Monsanto.
**Act Now!**
Please send all press-releases, photos and other materials of every action you do at the Mexican embassy on 12 October, as well as other actions around that date, to the Network in Defense of Maize contacto@endefensadelmaiz.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so they can diffuse and promote them in Mexico. Thank you! Your support is precious!
The Defense of Maize Network is promoting a Declaration against the GMO maize, which already has about 6500 individual signatures and 1350 signatures from organizations of 74 countries by now. We would like to have your support as well.
As a primary candidate, Barack Obama presented himself as representing the fair trade wing of the Democratic party. But as soon as Hillary Clinton was out of the picture he told Fortune magazine that his anti-NAFTA rhetoric was "overheated and amplified." In an administration peopled with former Clinton staffers does fair trade stand a chance? Lori Wallach, Executive Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, Jose Schiffino, Chair of the Fair Trade Committee of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Ana Maria Quispe, a human rights activist from Peru, and Christy Thornton, Executive Director of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) on Obama and free trade.As a primary candidate, Barack Obama presented himself as representing the fair trade... more
It was not just oil they went into Iraq to get. There is only one word to describe this: evil. And make no mistake about it, they got the water too.It was not just oil they went into Iraq to get. There is only one word to describe... more
International Government are statist in nature, they are against individual Liberty and anti-decentralized sovereignty. The United Nations has proposed legislation that would both limit free speech and threaten the 2nd amendment. Gordon Brown and Obama are now calling for a New World Order and a Global New Deal.
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***International Government are statist in nature, they are against individual Liberty... more
"People who attempt to resist the forthcoming Big Brother ID card and database system in the UK will never be able to leave the country according to the Government official in charge of the scheme."
"As of 2009 anyone who applies for a passport in Britain will also be issued with an ID card, for which they must also provide fingerprints, biometric details such as a facial scan and a wealth of personal details - including second homes, driving licence and insurance numbers."
When asked what would happen to ID card refusniks, Mr Hall stated: "There is no need to register and have fingerprints taken - but you will forgo the ability to have a passport"."People who attempt to resist the forthcoming Big Brother ID card and database... more
The 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield - Globalization and the Natural Resources - was held in Santa Gertrudis, Sierra Juarez on February 7-8. Organized by the Union of Social Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca (UNOSJO), this year´s event was attended by representatives of UNOSJO´s 24 affiliated communities, participants from all over Mexico, along with a large international presence of activists from Uruguay to Wales, Turkey to the United States, as well as a 15-strong delegation of German Organic farmers.
This year´s theme was focused on the dangers of contamination from Genetically Modified (GM) Corn, with a showcase of indigenous corn based culture and food sovereignty.
“We plant corn for the well-being of the communities,” said community leader, Rodrigo Santiago Hernandez during the opening plenary, emphasizing the importance of the culture of corn for the Zapotecs.“If we don’t cultivate corn, we have no life. It is central to our existence. We are the people of corn.”
Or as the old saying goes – no hay pais, sin maiz (there is no country without maize).
Community President, Baltazar Felix, elaborated, “To be a campesino or campesina allows us to respect and understand the profound worth of our madre tierra (mother earth). Corn is the basis for our expression of autonomy and central to our usos y costumbres (practices and customs), which represent our Zapotec culture and indigenous way of life. “
Contaminated maize was first detected in Oaxaca in 2001, resulting in a serious threat to the biodiversity of the native species, because, as explained by Ana de Ita from CECCAM (Center of Studies for Change in the Mexican Countryside), “ genetically-modified crops have the potential to cross-breed with native crops, altering the evolution of the entire population”.
Pandering to the lobbyists from the bio-tech and agricultural industry interests like Cargill Corporation and Monsanto, the Neo-liberal PAN government of President Calderon reversed the 1998 ban on genetically-engineered seeds this March. Twenty-five pilot projects sowing transgenic seeds were begun in Northern Mexico. Genetically modified pollen has the capacity to travel great distances via wind or water sources, thereby threatening to contaminate the whole Mexican corn race.
cont.The 4th annual Zapotec Feria of the Cornfield - Globalization and the Natural... more
Do you support:
Green Jobs?
Direct Taxes on Pollution?
Localizing our agriculture?
Ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Cutting the Pentagon Budget?
Taxing the Rich (who can afford it) instead of the middle class and poor?
Legalizing marijuana use and other victimless 'crimes'?
Single Payer health insurance?
Ending the WTO and NAFTA and returning to Bilateral trade agreements based on workers rights and environmental quality principals rather than a race to the bottom?
Then the Green Party is for you!
Want to keep up to day with Green Party goings on? Then join this group!Do you support:
Green Jobs?
Direct Taxes on Pollution?
Localizing our agriculture?... more
The American public is NOT bankrupt! It is the the fiat system that has gone bankrupt. There is a huge difference.
But what the beneficiaries of the fiat system are trying to do is exchange all their worthless debt (US Dollar, stocks, bad mortgages, etc.) for the American public's labor (or promise to pay). That is why this bailout is so important to stop. It is basically a huge swindle. They want our labor and our tangible property and businesses, and they are going to swap their failed paper for it.
We are an extremely prosperous nation. Even today. We have tremendous resources, a great labor force, incredible businesses. Don't give them away to international interests who created a fiat financial system. And don't let them convince you that we are bankrupt.
Let their fiat system go down the toilet where it belongs.....then the American public can start anew with a sound money system that preserves the publics' wealth.The American public is NOT bankrupt! It is the the fiat system that has gone bankrupt.... more
