Centro de Medios Independientes - ALCA and Civil Society

english
espanol

publicar
Publique sus artículos con archivos de texto, imágenes, audio o vídeo de manera instantánea.

faq
editorial
ayuda
contacto
enlaces

Sitios con información sobre Ecuador y la región

LIBRERED
CNDVS - NO MINERIA
SOLIDARIDAD PRESOS
REBELION.ORG
LA HAINE
OPCION
APORREA-Venezuela
ZNET
LLACTA NOTICIAS
CEDHU
RADIOS POPULARES y COMUNITARIAS DEL ECUADOR
ACCION ECOLOGICA
INREDH
NOTICIAS DEL SUR
CONAIE
PUEBLOS EN PIE
ANTICAPITALISTAS.NET
REBELDEEMULE
FETRALPI
ECUARUNARI

Otros CMIs::

www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
nigeria
south africa

Canada
hamilton
london, ontario
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
winnipeg

East Asia
burma
jakarta
japan
manila
qc

Europe
alacant
andorra
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
bristol
bulgaria
croatia
cyprus
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
lille
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
netherlands
nice
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
poland
portugal
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
thessaloniki
toulouse
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia
west vlaanderen

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
brasil
chiapas
chile
chile sur
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
oceania
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india
mumbai

United States
arizona
arkansas
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
danbury, ct
dc
hampton roads, va
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
idaho
ithaca
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
omaha
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
tallahassee-red hills
tampa bay
tennessee
united states
urbana-champaign
utah
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
armenia
beirut
israel
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
discussion
fbi/legal updates
indymedia faq
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer

ALCA and Civil Society

Nikhil Anand

03.11.2002 02:42

In their joint declaration yesterday, trade negotiators announced the need for the process of trade negotiations to be conducted in a transparent and flexible manner. But when systemic changes for a fairer process are not considered, what is the use of transparent negotiations?

Protesting the ALCA

ALCA and Civil Society
Nikhil Anand

So at the end of another round of trade negotiations, country representatives have emerged with yet another document emphasizing the need for civic participation in the processes of dialogue and formulation of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. Some of the more fundamental problems with the ALCA were raised by a large delegation of Social Movements and NGOs last Thursday, both on the streets and in an exchange with trade ministers later that evening. By completely ignoring their input in this document, negotiators have shown that their desire for civil society participation in the process is only so long as the society agrees (with ?civility?) to the process of trade liberalization itself.

In their joint declaration yesterday, trade negotiators announced the need for the process of trade negotiations to be conducted in a transparent and flexible manner. Civil society and business participations were welcomed so long as these were ?constructive? to the spirit of the agreement

In making these statements, governments of the Americas have yet again refused to a meaningful exchange on the ALCA with their constituencies. The question raised by social movements were not to specific points in the document or about the need for greater transparency; the objection was that the document itself is an illegitimate outcome of secret and fundamentally undemocratic processes. This is why many in these social movements seek a hemispheric referendum to determine the popular mandate of the proposed agreement. The trade representatives of the 34 countries see no such need. At best, they allow for the public to see their results in available documents (albeit only if they have access to computers). Input questioning the validity of the process is deemed not relevant. Even ?constructive? engagements, though welcomed, are rarely ever responded to.

In such a situation the reaction of the social movements to reject the process is hardly surprising. Far from truly participating in a public process, trade negotiators are only willing to talk with a pliant civil society that agrees with their basic agenda. When systemic changes for a fairer process are not considered, what is the use of transparent negotiations? Rather, when a process is fundamentally undemocratic, those participating in this more limited engagement of civil society can only make an unfair process that much stronger with their compliance.

YA Basta

Rania Serifi - 04.11.2002 14:44

Social movments and all the people of Ecuador should continue resisting to the dirty interests of Alca end every corporate interest. There is never transparency behind bosses plans.Don't allow to them to exploite your society and your minds

thoughts from the north???

from ecuador - 06.11.2002 17:57

it is unfortunate that we still have the problem of respecting the different struggles all over the world, especially when we talk about north-south relationships. the people of latin america have been defending themselves against colonialism/capitalism/neo-liberalism for over 500 years. we may find certain tactics inappropriate or "light", but the fact is, just in ecuador two neo-liberal presidents have been overthrown, the people (mostly the indigenous) have stopped the privatization of the electric sector, and people are more and more clear that alca must be stopped. it is easy to make such off the hand comments, it is much harder to find the way to work together and not try and impose logics which don't suite the realities of the other peoples.

E-Mail: chiflito@indymedia.org

Some of us in North hate the whole empire

Luke from DC - 07.11.2002 19:25

Congratulations to all who took to the streets to oppose the ALCA/FTAA. Some of us up here are also being screwed over by the same enemies. The rich(we call them "yuppies") invade our cities and evict the poor. They privatize and close public hospitals and use the police to do their dirty work when those already in a neighborhood won't bend to the invaders.
Here in DC, we have a neoliberal Mayor who spent milions on an Olympic bid while closing down the city's only public hospital, organizaing a police crackdown on the homeless and arranging to have the Olive Branch community evicted from their home to retaliate for their opposition. He tried to do the same to a woman named Vanessa Dixon for revealing his illegal attempts to get on the ballot for re-election, but failed.
He was re-elected anyway, and the wealthy made threats about Congressional intervention if he wasn't. DC is often compared by wealthy suburban detractors as well as others to the global South, and in such things as infant mortality it is in fact true.
No matter where you go in the world, it is the same Citibank,the same Enron,the same sHell, the same US military, the same enemies who want to dominate the whole planet. While some of the worst excesses are muted at home(just as they were in Imperial Rome), the goals are one and the same.

stop capitalism invading Ecuador

Joppe Zaat - 08.11.2002 18:48

Well, once again the american government tries to infiltrate a poor country to make it a little bit of their own. When the FTAA/ALCA gets what they want the prices of stuff will rise even more then they did when america confinced that ecuador should take the dollar (all the prices were x 5). And then even more people cant pay the gas to cook on and other stuff that is needed. Already now you see so many poor people everywhere that it makes you ashamed to have a 20 dollar bill in your pocket.
As soon as there is this so called ´free trade´ (wich will be sooooooo one-sided) america and other countries with advanced technologies to make things cheap will just burst tru ecuador, kill the indiginous and erect their own factories, hire the indiginous and make huge profets (like companies do in other poor countries aswell).

Capitalism is already rising here, now it just needs to brought down..

E-Mail: microsuft_sux@hotmail.com

añadir comentarios

Título del comentario:	(requerido)
su nombre:	(requerido)
su email:	(opcional)
su dirección web:	(opcional)
idioma de su comentario:	(opcional)
su comentario:

(c) Centro de Medios Independientes de Ecuador. Todo el contenido puede ser reutilizado, difundido, publicado y propagado en la red a menos que el autor o la autora hayan explicativo otra cosa.