PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Fundraiser for Stop the FTAA Campaign
by wheatpaster Thursday, May. 22, 2003 at 7:29 PM

Friday May 30th there will be a fundraiser to kick off the Stop the FTAA Campaign at the Bloomfield Brige Tavern. $5 at the door and start time of 8pm. Because of the location, this is a 21 and over show.

The performers confirmed are:

1. Pittsburgh Slam Poetry Team, including Renee Alberts and Matt Borden, Wendel from the hiphop crew the Drednaughts, and current Pittsburgh Champion Jeremy Shenk.

2. Victorola Ramblers (accoustic blues)

3. Flash Darlings (rock)

...and more performers to come!

Why stop the FTAA? The Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) is an international business deal, disguised as a proposed treaty that would create the world's largest free market zone, affecting 650 million people and $9 trillion in capital. It�s essentially a more expansive (in scope and size) version of NAFTA that would encompass all the countries in our Hemisphere, except for Cuba.

The FTAA allows corporations to bypass democratically adopted environmental or worker protection laws, increasing corporate power while endangering the lives of millions of people, disproportionately affecting women and people of color. The FTAA threatens to commodify our lives by turning over the control of our schools, electricity, water, and food to corporations whose only interest is more profit. The FTAA is being negotiated with the primary input of mega-corporations. Initiated in 1994 by the 34 countries of North and South America (excluding Cuba), governments have included the business sector in FTAA talks every step of the way. Business interests are attempting to use the FTAA to advance proposals included in the MAI (Multi-lateral agreement on Investments) that they have been unsuccessful (due to grassroots opposition) at enacting through the WTO or other means.

The FTAA is one piece of the larger picture of Neo-liberalism, which stands in direct opposition to our efforts to advance global justice. We are adamantly opposed to the passage of the FTAA in its current form. We do not believe it can be reformed or altered in such a way as to make it acceptable to those who believe in global justice.

add your comments