[Pil-pc-oceania] Fwd: Press Release from GRAIN re Free Trade Agreements

[Robyn Williamson]

CONTACT DETAILS:

Robyn Williamson
APC9 Secretariat
info at apc9.org.au
Ph/Fx:  (02) 9629 3560
Mobile:  0409 151 435
http://apc9.org.au

Begin forwarded message:

> From: info at grain.org
> Date: 7 February 2008 7:29:38 PM
> To: ecogarden at yahoo.com.au
> Subject: [New from GRAIN] Fighting FTAs press release
>
> New from GRAIN
> February 2007
> http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=551
>
> Fighting FTAs press release
>
> Press release | 7 February 2008
>
>
> FIGHTING FTAS: NEW PUBLICATION AND WEBSITE ON RESISTANCE TO  
> BILATERAL FREE TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS LAUNCHED
>
>
> bilaterals.org, GRAIN and BIOTHAI are today launching a  
> collaborative publication, "Fighting FTAs: The growing resistance  
> to bilateral free trade and investment agreements". While global  
> trade talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) stagnate,  
> governments and corporations are busy spinning a complex web of  
> bilateral free trade and investment agreements (FTAs). "Fighting  
> FTAs" looks at what this FTA frenzy is really about, how social  
> movements are fighting back and strategic learnings emerging from  
> these struggles.
>
> FTAs are powerful weapons of neoliberal globalisation that go much  
> further than WTO agreements. Through these secretive deals, states  
> and corporations are trying to divide and conquer the world,  
> creating vast new privileges for transnational corporations.  
> Typically, FTAs cover a broad array of issues, from giving  
> corporations the right to sue governments, to legalising the  
> dumping of American farm surpluses, to raising the cost of life- 
> saving medicines through longer patent terms. FTAs further  
> concentrate economic power and natural resources in the hands of a  
> few, disempower communities, destroy biodiversity and undermine  
> food sovereignty. And each concession made through an FTA becomes a  
> benchmark for further deals.
>
> FTAs are not just trade deals, though. They are important foreign  
> policy tools to advance governments' geopolitical interests. The  
> US, for example, explicitly links its FTAs to the so-called "war on  
> terror". The EU, China and Japan and others also combine economic  
> and political agendas through these agreements.
>
> Small farmers, workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, indigenous  
> peoples and many others have been under attack from FTAs and  
> bilateral investment deals ever since the North America Free Trade  
> Agreement was signed in 1992. But together with many other social  
> sectors, they have been fighting back. From Australia to Colombia,  
> and from Morocco to Korea, massive popular struggles to defeat FTAs  
> have been waged by grassroots movements, often met with fierce  
> repression. Today, as FTAs continue to mushroom, people's  
> resistance is growing.
>
> It can be hard to get an overall view of what all these FTAs mean.  
> And because these deals are often bilateral ones, many resistance  
> struggles are carried out at the national level, which can make it  
> difficult to link forces across borders. "Fighting FTAs" aims to  
> help to overcome these hurdles and facilitate more sharing and  
> learning from the diverse movements against FTAs worldwide.
>
> "Fighting FTAs" is a collaborative effort of many people involved  
> in these struggles on the ground. To accompany the publication, a  
> dedicated website is available with additional texts, audio  
> interviews, photos from the struggles, anti-FTA films and other  
> resources.
>
> =================================================
>
> "Fighting FTAs: The growing resistance to bilateral free trade and  
> investment agreements", bilaterals.org, BIOTHAI and GRAIN  
> (editors), 102 pages, February 2008. Available in English, French,  
> Spanish and soon Thai. Online at http://www.fightingftas.org. Hard  
> copies available on request from fightingftas.org[at]gmail.com.  
> Groups are free to reproduce and translate the material.
>
> =================================================
>
> MEDIA INTERESTED IN THIS RELEASE MAY CONTACT (PHONE OR SMS UNTIL 15  
> FEBRUARY 2008)
>
> Aziz Choudry (bilaterals.org) in Montreal, Canada: +1 514 7707488  
> (Cell) or webteam[at]bilaterals.org
> Witoon Lianchamroon (BIOTHAI) in Bangkok, Thailand: +66 894497330  
> (Cell) or witoon[at]biothai.net
> Alexis Vaughan (GRAIN) in United Kingdom: +44 7969561208 (Cell) or  
> alexis[at]grain.org
>
> =================================================
>
> English: http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=551
>
> Français: http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=552
>
> Español: http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=553
>
>
>
>
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> 07 February 2008
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