FTAA: D.A.N. LABOR CALL FOR WORKPLACE AND SCHOOL ACTIONS
Submitted by Reverend Chuck0:Over the weekend of October 11 and 12 a consulta, or conference was called in Chicago by people and activists aiming to shut down the ministerial meetings of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. During the course of the consulta a motion was placed on the floor for discussion about creation of a national call out for a one hour work stoppage and school walkouts to take place on November 20th, the day most rallies and direct actions would be taking place against the F.T.A.A. meetings in Miami.
The purpose of the call out is multi layered:
1.) To introduce a alternative method of direct action to deepen the economic costs of capitalism's trade agreements that at the same time would not mean direct confrontation with prepared and resourced police and riot squads in Miami.
2.) To build dialogue and discussion within the movement against neo-liberal agencies (the W.T.O. I.M.F. World Bank etc...) and their trade agreements (G.A.T.T., N.A.F.T.A., the F.T.A.A. etc...) around larger and more effective organizing efforts in a long term sense.
3.) To highlight the political differences between the failing policies of liberal/electoral movements and union bureaucracies and the anticapitalist/ direct action movement in an ideological battle among workers, students and the poor.
4.) To build for the one hour work stoppage and school walkouts in communities, workplaces and schools in a way that would further our movement's links, test our ideas, and deepen our roots among the larger working class.
The proposed call out was written up by a member of the Chicago Direct Action Network - Labor Group on Saturday night of the consulta for debate, discussion and agreement on the following day. At the Sunday session the text was put to the full consulta which then consensed to calling for a one hour work stoppage as well as school walkout on the day of November 20th, in opposition to the F.T.A.A.
We are calling on all upcoming consultas against the F.T.A.A., as well as individuals, unions, political organizations, neighborhood and community groups, school and city councils, and any and all groupings of people potentially effected by the F.T.A.A. to include the call out in their organizing and discussion around actions to oppose the F.T.A.A. We feel that it is a important step forward for our movement and for the times that it faces now.
Any and all endorsements and reports of organizing around this call with be logged for regular updates and sent to everyone expressing interest in the efforts to broaden and build the most serious movement possible against these newest faces of capitalism. D.A.N. Labor will facilitate the initial compilation of these efforts, but we are hoping to get help as the endorsers grow.
Please contact us with any of your questions, concerns, ambitions, work and victories as soon as possible. Thank you in advance.
D.A.N. Labor
Text of the call out follows, in English and Spanish:
CALL FOR WORKPLACE AND SCHOOL ACTIONS TO SHUT DOWN
THE FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS - NOV. 20, 2003
November 18th - November 21st of this year governmental ministers and delegates from the around the western hemisphere will assemble in Miami Florida to discuss the implementation of what they are calling the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Joined by bankers, C.E.O.s, Wall Street barons, and the elite of global financial control, the goal of the Miami discussions is to extend N.A.F.T.A.. beyond its current confines to engulf all of North and South America.
For hundreds of millions of people in Mexico, the United States and Canada the effects of N.A.F.T.A. have already been nothing short of devastating. Millions of jobs have been eradicated, environmental protections and work safety laws have been attacked, unions have been sold out and wages and benefits have been slashed across the board. Social services, including education, health care, housing and mass transportation have come under attack as well, and valuable funding for students, workers, and even veterans have become shackled and drained internationally.
If these are the impacts of N.A.F.T.A., a three nation trade agreement, what will happen if the language of that same agreement was strengthened and its authority widened to an entire hemisphere? An offensive against the working and poor people of the world is the ambition of the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the ministerial meetings in Miami.
We of the Chicago Consulta To Shut Down The F.T.A.A. stand sharply against a world run by C.E.O.s, global financiers, corporations and their agents in government. On November 18th - November 21st we will join with tens of thousands of workers, students, indigenous people and immigrant communities to shut down the F.T.A.A. ministerial meetings in Miami. We will also join in solidarity actions in cities across the hemisphere calling for the same. Our goal is not a kinder and gentler Wall Street but a world run democratically by the people that sweat, bleed, struggle, and sometimes die to create its wonders, keep its wheels running, and to feed, cloth and shelter its people.
>From the working class streets of Chicago, we feel that it is time we had an offensive of our own. We know from the years of protest and struggle in the past that the ministers of “free” trade will not listen to reason or moral appeal. It is now the time for a true and powerful initiative to be pushed forward by the millions of people this newest and harshest agreement seeks to steal everything from!
We, the Chicago Consulta To Shut Down The F.T.A.A. call for the following:
- A national one hour work stoppage and mass student walk outs to take place on Thursday, November 20th, to be organized by the grassroots efforts of workers and students.
- Solidarity actions: Work slowdowns and the wearing of black arm bands to our workplaces and schools on November 20th in defiance of the F.T.A.A., and as a show of global solidarity amongst workers, students and the poor.
- Mass flyering of our communities, schools and workplaces around the issue of capital dominated trade agreements and their specific impacts on our lives.
- The initiation and participation in protests and actions against the F.T.A.A. locally, and joining the mass mobilization in Miami November 18th - November 21st.
- The spreading of this initiative through the endorsement of individuals, communities, unions, schools, workplaces and political organizations.
If they will not listen to our votes or appeal, they will heed our actions
- Chicago Consulta To Shut Down The F.T.A.A.
For endorsement, questions, information, or to report a planned action at your workplace or in your school, contact Direct Action Network - Labor at: (773) 377 - 5001 x3175 email: DANLabor@pobox.com or post 2642 N. Emmett Apt 3, Chicago IL. 60647
PARA ACCIONES de FABRICA Y ESCOLAR a CERRAR EL AREA de
LIBRE COMERCIO DE LAS AMERICAS (ALCA). El 20 noviembre
2003
18 de noviembre - 21 de noviembre de este año ministros y
delegados gubernamentales del alrededor del
hemisferio occidental reunirá en Miami Florida para
discutir la implementación de lo que ellos llaman el
Area de Libre Cambio de las Am(c)ricas. Unido por banqueros,
C. E. O. s, barones de Wall Street, y el (c)lite del
control financiero global, la meta de las discusiones de
Miami deberá extender la Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC).
más allá de sus lmites actuales sumergir todo Norte y
Sudam(c)rica.
Para centenares de millónes de personas en M(c)xico, los
Estados Unidos y el Canadá los efectos de la TLC han sido
horibles. Mas que un millón de trabajos se ha erradicado,
las protecciones ambientales y las
leyes de la seguridad del trabajo se han atacado, los
sindicatos han sido sometidos y los sueldos y los
beneficios
se han cortado. Los servicios sociales, inclusive la
educación, la asistencia m(c)dica, y el
transporte publico ha sido atacado tambi(c)n, y la
financiación valiosa para estudiantes, los
trabajadores, e incluso veteranos han llegado a ser puso
grilletes a y desaguó internacionalmente.
¿Si (c)stos son los impactos de N.A.F.T.A.,, un tratado de
tres paises, que si el idioma de
ese mismo acuerdo se reforzó y su autoridad ensanchó a un
hemisferio entero? Una ofensiva contra los trabajadores y
los
pobres del mundo es la ambición del Area de Libre Comercio
de las Am(c)ricas y las reuniones ministeriales en
Miami.
Nosotros del Chicago Consulta para bloquear la ALCA, contra
un mundo sometido por C. E. O.'s, financieros globales, las
corporaciones y sus agentes en el gobierno. En el 18 de
noviembre - 21 de noviembre que
uniremos con decenas de millares de trabajadores, los
estudiantes, las comunidades de personas indgenas e
inmigrantes para cerrar las reuniones ministeriales en
Miami de la ALCA. Uniremos tambi(c)n en acciones de
solidaridad en
ciudades a trav(c)s del hemisferio que llama para lo mismo.
Nuestra meta no es una Wall Street más amable y más
apacible pero un mundo organizado democráticamente por las
personas que sudan, sangran, luchan, y mueren a veces para
crear sus maravillas.
De las calles de la clase obrera de Chicago, nosotros nos
sentimos que ahora es el momento nosotros tuvimos una
ofensiva de nuestro propio. Sabemos de los años de la
protesta y la lucha en el pasado que los ministros de
neoliberalismo no escuchará para la razon ni la apelación
moral. ¡Ahora es el tiempo para una iniciativa verdadera y
poderosa por la millones de personas que van a sufrir de
este tratado.
Nosotros, el Chicago Consulta para Cerrar La ALCA sugiere
para lo Siguiente:
- Una parada del trabajo nacional de una hora y una huelga
de los estudiantes suceder el jueves, 20 de noviembre,
para ser organizado por los esfuerzos del nivel local de
trabajadores y estudiantes.
- Las acciones de la Solidaridad: retrasos de trabajo y el
llevando de bandas negras de brazo a nuestras
fábricas y escuelas en el 20 de noviembre en el desafo del
ALCA, y cuando una exposición de la
solidaridad global entre trabajadores, los estudiantes y
los pobres.
-La distribucion masiva de volantes de nuestras
comunidades, las escuelas y las fábricas sobre el asunto de
los acuerdos comerciales y sus impactos especficos en
nuestras vidas.
- La iniciación y la participación en protestas y acciones
contra la ALCA localmente, y una movilización masiva en el
18 de Miami noviembre - 21 de noviembre.
- La distribucion de esta iniciativa por el apoyo de
individuos, las comunidades, los sindicatos, las escuelas,
las
fábricas y las organizaciones polticas. Si ellos no
escucharán a nuestros voces, ellos harán caso de
nuestras acciones. - Chicago Consulta para Cerrar La ALCA
Para el apoyo, las preguntas, la información, o para
informar una acción planeada en su fábrica o en su escuela,
se puede comunicar con La Red de Accion Directa-Laborista
en: (773) 377 - 5001 x3175
correo electrónico: DANLabor@pobox.com o correo 2642 N.
Emmett Apt. 3, Chicago IL. 60647
