Anti-FTAA Groups Plan Strategy in Porto Alegre

  
Some of the most productive aspects of massive international meetings such as the World Social Forum are the parallel opportunities they generate for working groups or consultations. One of the most important at the WSF, certainly the most important for the Americas, was the day-long meeting of national networks working as the "Continental Coordination of the Campaign Against the FTAA," held in Porto Alegre on January 28. Using as its guide the plan of action of the II Hemispheric Conference Against the FTAA in Havana last November, a large and representative group of mass-based and non-governmental organizations reviewed progress and set new objectives for continental action against the current economic and political model of corporate-driven free trade. Moderated by the leader of Brazil's Landless Peasant Movement (MST), the meeting brought together 21 networks from as many countries, as well as regional organizations that span the continent.

Opposition to the FTAA has been much more organized in Latin America and Canada compared to the United States. The main leader is Brazil, where 10 million people voted to reject the hemispheric free trade agreement in an informal plebiscite in September 2002. Similar efforts are underway in Mexico, Canada, Bolivia and other smaller economies, and President Ch�vez in Venezuela and President Guti�rrez in Ecuador are considering announcing official plebiscites shortly. These national plebiscites and consultations are the key element in the 15-point plan of action approved in Havana. However, the demand for an official plebiscite in Brazil is one of the rough edges between civil society and the Lula administration. At the final march in Porto Alegre, a group of social and political organizations not allied with Lula's Workers Party read a declaration calling for a plebiscite. The group included the MST and the PSTU (whose leader and presidential candidate Jos� Maria Almeida was at the January 28 meeting), and the Catholic Church's "Pastoral da Terra" presented a declaration to the dwindling crowd at the end of the march. Bishop Dom Tom�s Balduino read the declaration and called for a petition drive to gather 10 to 15 million signatures by June. In addition to challenging Lula, these activities threaten to undermine the protagonism of the CUT union movement, which has been one of the most active proponents of an anti-FTAA strategy and a key force in the original non-governmental plebiscite last year. The CUT was not officially represented at the planning meeting.

Much time at the Porto Alegre meeting was dedicated to discussion of the Canc�n World Trade Organization Ministerial. The link between the WTO and the FTAA is clear to the organizations involved. The inability to launch new WTO negotiations is considered a victory for anti-FTAA forces. They hope to keep new proposals for agricultural, essential services and intellectual property off the table, just as they worked to halt the Multilateral Investment Treaty. However, there was and continues to be concern that the extensive preparations for Canc�n in September will diminish the groups' presence at the FTAA Ministerial two months later in Miami.

What was clear from this meeting and others at the WSF is the growing importance and dynamism being projected by mass-based peasant and indigenous organizations, as well as urban "popular associations." These entities are giving a new face to the anti-FTAA movement and infusing it with a vibrant and combative character that had been lacking before. AmericasNet will continue to follow the evolution of this new leadership in the Americas in future commentaries.