[mgj-discuss] CAFTA is in Trouble and we Can Bring it Down! Tuesday 5pm!

[alexmh]

Is this in place of the 12 noon rally?


Mayflower Hotel (Connecticut St. NW, just up from L St.).
>Bring Noise makers, Puppets, banners, signs and your voice
>
>The negotiations of the Central American Free Trade Agreement are at a
>stand still!  Today the word was leaked that negotiations will continue
>through Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  The representative from
>Guatemala told the crowd picketing out in front of the Mayflower that our
>presence was good for there resistance to the US trade agenda.  Mobilize
>for Global Justice is calling for a picket to begin at 5pm on Tuesday in
>front of the Mayflower Hotel.  The picket has no scheduled ending
if you
>want to stay the night you can.  We have to keep up the presence in front
>of the hotel.  Over the week the pickets have grown in size and noise
>level!  Our presence is being felt inside the hotel!  So come out and make
>sure they know we are out side and that we say NO TO CAFTA!
>
>CAFTA is NAFTA Extended to Central America
>
>All the same issues human and labor rights organizations have with NAFTA
>(and FTAA) are present in CAFTA, including:
>
>Secrecy Instead of Transparency: No formal public input or oversight in the
>negotiations.
>
>Corporate Domination Over Democracy: At the expense of democracy and
>people's right to self-rule, CAFTA would likely give corporations powers to
>object to barriers to free trade, including laws people enact for their own
>protection. For example, NAFTA established the right for companies to sue
>governments over public-interest laws that may limit their profits. This
>right has been employed 27 times by companies since 1994.
>
>Increased Inequality: A minority of rich companies and wealthy stockholders
>will benefit from reduced costs. The poor will get poorer and more people
>will move into poverty: workers will get lower pay and lose their jobs
>while shouldering higher costs of living as more services are privatized.
>
>Disappearing Public Services: Resources such as education, health care,
>energy, and water utilities owned by everyone in a community will more
>likely become owned by corporations. This could put essential public
>services out of the hands of many people. For example, When Bolivia
>privatized its water utility, water rates increased 200 percent, leading to
>riots that resulted in six deaths.
>
>Reduced Labor Rights: Labor laws such as those that protest worker's safety
>can also be challenged and the "race to the bottom" for pay will likely
>hurt workers in all countries involved in CAFTA.
>
>Negative Agricultural Impact: Increased corporate domination of farms and
>possible devastation of family farms and farmers in the US and Central
>America.
>
>Environmental Destruction: Environmental laws are just one types of
>barriers to trade that can be gutted. This decreases costs to companies but
>increases costs to local communities which suffer more health problems as a
>result of pollution
>
>
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