From Cancun to the Miami FTAA Mobilization: Victory's Strategic Momentum
Submitted by Reverend Chuck0:From Cancun to the Miami FTAA Mobilization:
Victory's Strategic Momentum
By Starhawk
Those of us who went to Cancun to protest the World Trade Organization's
ministerial came back with pinkeye, exhaustion, deep coughs, and heat
rashes, but the rosy flush of victory made all the rest worthwhile. Sweet
victory is rare in progressive, political work. Generally, we end a
mobilization reminding ourselves that we are working for long term change,
while the policies we are contesting remain in force. Seldom do we get to
dance in the streets, celebrating an immediate collapse of some undemocratic
negotiation or unjust institution.
Cancun was a double victory. First, the collapse of the WTO ministerial,
occasioned by the walkout of countries from the global south, instigated by
Kenya. The many actions inside and outside the conference center, in the
streets and around the world, and the powerful act of protest by Lee
Hyung-Hai who took his own life at the barricades, created an atmosphere in
which the delegates from developing countries could take a strong stand
strong. Only because of the actions, delegates told us, did they feel they
had the support they needed to resist the bullying tactics of the U.S. and
E.U, who refused to consider the agricultural issues which are vital to the
survival of farmers and indigenous cultures throughout the south, but were
pushing for expanded access for investors to the resources of the developing
world. The investment rules under discussion could have opened Mexico's
forests to unbridled logging, removed the ecological certification that many
indigenous communities in the area have worked hard to achieve, privatized
communal lands, fisheries and energy resources, and opened services, and
water resources to further privatization. The walkout prevented the WTO
from opening new rounds of agreements that would have even more deeply
undermined the rights of countries to enact regulations protecting their
environment and resources, and labor force.
Second, Cancun brought together activists from the global south and the
more affluent north, from a broad spectrum of groups‹campesinos, workers,
indigenous people, Mexican students, NGOs, peace and ecology groups, and
internationals. These groups had different organizing styles, political
cultures, histories, cultures and languages. Vast differences in privilege
and painful historical relationships of oppression separated some of us, yet
we were able to take action together, support each other, and come away with
strengthened alliances and deepened respect.
To understand the depth of this victory, we need to think back to the
political climate just four years ago, before the Seattle ministerial. At
that time, the WTO and the forward march of neoliberal policies seemed
unstoppable, and to question them at all was to ally with flat-earthers and
others who just didn't get Progress. Now, the most ambitious institution of
globalization, the WTO, has been stopped in its tracks.
Yet there were some progressive voices who warned against shutting down
the ministerial. George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian on September 2,
said, "The combination of (the rich countries) broken promises and their
outrageous terms could force the weaker governments to walk out of the trade
talks in Cancun, just as they did in Seattle in 1999. They must know that
this will mean the end of the World Trade Organization. And this now appears
to be their (the U.S. and E.U.) aim. Subverted and corrupted as the WTO is,
it remains a multilateral body in which the poor nations can engage in
collective bargaining and, in theory, outvote the rich."
He admits, however, that "This never happens, because the rich nations
have bypassed its decision-making structures."
A subverted, corrupted, institution, which continually promises
advancement to the poor while actually making rules that favor the rich, is
not an effective instrument for advancing the agenda of developing countries
or anyone else except profit-making transnationals. Holding on to some
faint hope of its transformation would be a waste of energy and expose the
world to the grave danger that the WTO would continue to extend its
destructive policies while we await its potential democratic moment.
But Monbiot's warnings should not be ignored. Cancun will not be a victory
for developing countries if they are left to the tender mercies of Robert
Zoellick, U.S. Trade Representative, or Senator Charles Grassley, head of
the Senate Finance Committee, who have promised to shut dissenters out of
U.S. favor. Poorer countries can be picked off one by one, maneuvered into
bilateral or regional agreements in which they have limited bargaining
power. It will not be a victory for working people, farmers, students, or
the rapidly eroding middle classes of the U.S. if corporations remain free
to 'race to the bottom,' roaming the globe in search of the lowest labor
costs and most lax environmental standards.
The upcoming summit in Miami November 19-21 for the Free Trade Area of the
Americas, the FTAA, will be the next major test of the global corporate
agenda. With the failure to achieve a global corporate governance through
the WTO, regional trade agreements become even more important. To build on
and extend the victory of Cancun, we need a major mobilization in Miami.
The FTAA would extend NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreeement,
throughout the hemisphere. Its draft includes the same extension of
investors' power that was under dispute in the WTO, the same push toward
privatization and commercialization of services, and a clause which allows
corporations to sue governments if they enact environmental, labor or safety
standards or other regulations which cut into profits.
The same splits between rich and poor, north and south, exist in the FTAA
as were present in Cancun. Brazil is already talking about a counter-draft.
The developing countries may pressure for reforms or revisions, but they
could also walk out of the negotiations. If they do, the FTAA too can be
derailed before it is ever put into place.
What happens on the street in Miami is vitally important. A second
walkout, so soon after Cancun, would change the global configurations of
power. It would be another strike against the Bush administration's falling
prestige, and a heavy body-blow to the whole project of corporate
globalization. For developing countries to take this step that could
provoke enormous retaliation from Bush's bully boys, they need to know that
there is strong opposition within the north and especially, the U.S. The
place to effectively demonstrate that opposition is on the street.
We need numbers: masses of people in Miami itself, gathering together where
they can be seen and counted, where the media will be focued, and where they
can directly affect the delegates and the summit. And along with legal,
permitted marches and forums, we need actions that go beyond: acts that
directly withdraw our consent from the summit and the policies it
represents, broad based nonviolent direct actions that attempt to disrupt
and derail these undemocratic proceedings.
Such a mobilization is indeed underway. United for Peace and Justice,
the huge antiwar coalition that formed in opposition to the invasion of
Iraq, is calling on its membership to join in mass nonviolent direct action.
Labor is mobilizing, and expressing support for direct action as well as for
a massive march. The broad range of groups that have continued to organize
around global economic issues, from NGOs to anti-capitalists, will be there.
Miami has the potential to surpass Seattle in the breadth and depth of a
mobilization that can reunite 'teamsters and turtles' and link different
facets of the movement, forge new alliances and strengthen old ones, deepen
the commitment of those awakened to activism by the Iraq war and reenergize
those who have been on the front lines for years.
Mobilizations are also crucibles, where we forge the tools to build that new
world we keep saying is possible. We enact our vision of what that world
would be. We provide food, shelter, medical care, legal support, education
and access to information. We carry our creativity into the street with
drums and puppets and dance. In mobilizing, we claim an autonomous space,
in which we create a temporary but real new society that makes visible the
world we want to create.
Miami will not be an easy place to mobilize. We are likely to face
hostility from local reactionary forces and possible police repression.
Already the city council is considering an ordinance that would outlaw
everything from bandannas to puppets to cameras.
But our movement has matured in the four years since Seattle. We have
vastly more experience in organizing these actions and in facing potential
repression. We have learned hard and important lessons about how to hold
the tension of our differences and still act together in solidarity.
And because we have allies inside, our job is strategically easier. In
fact, just by showing up in Miami, we create a dilemma for the opposition.
For if we are allowed to carry out our actions without repression, we
will make a strong statement to the delegates inside and to the world, and
create a climate of support for the developing countries to walk out of the
negotiations.
But if the delegates are sequestered behind steel fences in a militarized
zone, every closed gate and checkpoint will put the lie to the myth that
these policies promote democracy or general well being. Every blow of a
police baton, every cloud of tear gas, will strengthen the world's
perception that the U.S. can only carry out these policies by using brute
force to quell dissent.
That is not always of immediate comfort if you are the one on the wrong side
of the police baton. What does help, in the face of violence, is
preparation and training, which we will offer to all who come, the support
of our companero/as and the strength of our group solidarity. In Miami, we
have time to prepare, to orchestrate the political and practical support we
need. We encourage people to form affinity groups now, to come with your
friends and allies, or to come early and form groups there that can stand
together in action.
And it is also possible that we will not face major police violence. In
Cancun, we expected police repression. Two years before, students
protesting the World Economic Forum were brutally beaten. This time, police
avoided beating or arresting demonstrators, and treated us overall with
respect.
The Miami mobilization will include safe and legal ways to protest. Direct
action also requires support people, to play vitally important roles that do
not expose them to the risk of arrest or police violence.
And when we refuse to be intimidated, when we stand up to fear, we claim
back political space in which democracy can flourish. We announce to Bush,
Ashcroft, and all the rest of them that they cannot take away our rights,
sell off our resources, take away our livelihoods and undermine our
communities without a struggle. We feel good about ourselves, and we
provide an example of courage that can inspire others.
So come to Miami if you can, November 17-21. If you don't think you can,
think again. If work or school responsibilities are keeping you away,
consider whether you will continue to have a job or whether any public
support for education will be left if these policies go unchallenged. If
you can't afford to come, ask your community to chip in money to help with
your transportation and living expenses. If you truly cannot come yourself,
help someone else to get there, from your home community or from the global
south.
And after Miami, go on to Fort Benning Georgia to protest the School of the
Americas, November 22-23, where the U.S. military trains torturers and
assassins for Latin America.
Miami is a strategic moment to make a stand. We have every chance of
building on the victories of Cancun and Seattle, and extending them to
deepen the alliances we need to build a fair and democratic system in the
U.S. and around the globe.
Check the following websites for information:
www.unitedforpeace.org
www.stopftaa.org
www.ftaaresistance.org
www.peoplesconsultation.org
www.asje.org/march.html
Resources for nonviolent direct action training:
www.rantcollective.org
NGOs organizing educational and permitted events:
http://www.citizenstrade.org/
http://flfairtrade.org/
Starhawk's website: www.starhawk.org
Starhawk is an activist, organizer, and author of Webs of Power: Notes
from the Global Uprising and eight other books on feminism, politics and
earth-based spirituality. She teaches Earth Activist Trainings that combine
permaculture design and activist skills, and works with the RANT trainer's
collective, www.rantcollective.org that offers training and support for
mobilizations around global justice and peace issues. To get her periodic
posts of her writings, email Starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net and put
'subscribe' in the subject heading. If you're on that list and don't want
any more of these writings, email Starhawk-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net and
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