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Mr.
NAFTA makes deals while Mexican farmer plants corn
and the Goddess of Corn looks on worriedly. Photo:
A. K. Bartlett
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Just
Trade Action
Fast
Track
An issue
closely related to the passage of new Free Trade Agreements
is the degree that people and congress can give meaningful
input into these decisions. With Fast Track (Trade
Promotion Authority) expiring, there is an opportunity to
fix the current rules of the global economy. Please contact
your Members of Congress and ask them to oppose Fast Track
authority that delegates away their constitutional authority
on trade and negates their ability to fix any trade agreements
that would hurt their constituents.
Call
(202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol Switchboard operator
to connect you to your member of Congress' office. Visit the
PC(USA) Washington Office's Washington
Office Legislative Action Center to find out who your
representatives are.
Tell
them one or all of the following:
*
Fast Track gives the transnational corporations and other
special interests the ability to manipulate the U.S. trade
negotiating system in their favor over the interests of governments
and citizens to determine a just economic policy.
*
As a result of the current trade model, poverty and inequality
have spread in developing nations. At home, our middle-class
living standards have declined, our manufacturing base is
undermined and our food safety is damaged.
*
Dramatically different trade rules are needed to strengthen
labor and environmental laws, make sure that local development
policies can be pursued and ensure that essential services
reach those who most need them at home and abroad.
More
details on the PC(USA) Washington Office site.
Fast track
officially expired on June 30. Now is an opportunity to make
sure it is not renewed.
Theresa
Polk from the Columban Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation
Office (U.S.) shares a powerful reflection on the power of
voice and the importance of Congress keeping that voice.
Reflection
Proverbs
21:13; John 1:1-5
As a child,
I was a rather shy and quiet girl. I struggled for a long
time to find my voice and claim it. If you put me in front
of a packed room today, it still struggles to blossom, but
give me pen and paper, or sit with me over a cup of tea, and
I have a story to tell.
As do
we all. Everyone has a voice, equally valid, whether spoken
or written, danced or prayed, mimed, whispered or shouted.
Our voice, however we express it, is a gift from a God who
listens and hears us. Our stories and experiences inform and
inspire our daily lives and the decisions we make. And they
should inform the decisions made by those who claim to represent
us.
The unfortunate
reality however is that all our voices, though equally valid,
are not equally heard. Some voices are magnified, echoed,
reiterated, drowning the rest of the chorus, hiding the diversity
and wealth of experiences among us. Backed by bullets or dollars,
carrots or sticks, they rise to the forefront and dominate
the debate.
Fast Track,
also known as Trade Promotion Authority, is ultimately about
voice. It is about whose voices are heard in the negotiating
room and whose concerns are raised. While powerful multinational
corporations have privileged access to the negotiating table,
labor unions, environmental groups, faith groups, public health
experts, even local government and our elected representatives
are, by and large, locked out of the process. And once negotiations
are complete, Fast Track reduces congressional participation
in trade policy to a simple up or down, yes or no vote.
Trade
agreements are the only legislation written by the executive
branch, a privilege enabled by Fast Track, and dropped to
Congress along with much arm-twisting and promises of favors
in return for a vote of approval. No amendments that might
mitigate the harm or spread around the benefits are permitted.
TAKE
ACTION TODAY!
A voice
in our representative government is far more than a vote.
Call or write your representatives and senators.
Call
(202) 224-3121 and ask the Capitol Switchboard operator
to connect you to your member of Congress' office. Visit the
PC(USA) Washington
Office Legislative Action Center
to find out who your representatives are.
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The
PC(USA)'s Stand on Just Trade
The
PC(USA) supports efforts to strive toward international
cooperation based on fair trade, respect for diversity,
and common concerns for a peaceful, just, and
sustainable world.
The
PC(USA) opposes multinational actions and trade
agreements that elevate rights of corporations
over the right of governments and indigenous peoples
to pass and enforce laws that preserve the public
good and protect their citizens, economies, and
environments.
[Excerpt;
215th General Assembly (2003); See below
for full G.A. Action]
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FIVE
THINGS YOU CAN DO:
1)
Learn about and support Food Sovereignty
- a
central development approach and demand of social and rural
peoples' movements around the world
2)
Learn
why people of faith should be talking about trade
- from the Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment
3)
Support
the Jubilee Act. Urge your members of congress to support
this critical law to cancel illegitimate debt. Use
the Washington Office's CAPWIZ system to tailor yourletter
or email
4)
Have your congregation (or just you to start) Adopt-A-Supermarket:
Make Where You Shop a Fair Trade Hot Spot
5)
Get
a group together to organize a Fair
Trade Day at your church or community gathering
place, and learn about other
ways to increase the demand for Fair Trade
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Ongoing
Educate
yourself and others in your congregation on just
trade issues beginning with the resources available
here.
Establish
(or activate) an advocacy committee on just trade
issues to keep your congregation informed and organize
special events.
Worship
about the economy of God using adaptable resources
available here.
Stay
abreast of just trade issues by checking this Web site
for news, analysis and updates.
Hold
an adult forum or study series on just trade issues.
Post
articles about just trade issues on your church's
bulletin board.
Include
petitions about just trade issues and the people
they impact in the prayers of the people.
See
the resources page for more
ideas
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Just
Trade Action
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Rev.
Dr. M. Douglas Meeks, Chancellor Professor of Theology
and Wesleyan Studies at Vanderbilt University, presents
paper on 'The Economy of Grace'.
Photo: Victoria Richardson |
PC(USA)
General Assembly Council staff participated along with
ecumenical leaders of North America representing 36
denominations in this January 11-14, 2004 consultation.
The leaders tackled the issues of "just trade"
vs. "free trade" and the negative impacts
of globalization on people, churches and the environment.
The Just Trade Consultation was the last in a series
of worldwide consultations which have taken place since
1999. The Declaration and Action Plan developed at the
meeting will help the PC(USA) develop responses to the
G.A. action on trade agreements and other work related
to economic globalization.
Final
Declaration and Plan of Action
-
What
Does God Require of Us?: A Declaration for Just Trade
in the Service of An Economy Of Life Go...
-
Plan
of Action for North American Churches on Just Trade
- Go...
Background
documents (in PDF)
Find
more information and background documents on the Church
World Service site Go...
FTAA
Actions
The
PC(USA) delivered 'No on the FTAA' Ballots to our U.S.
Trade Representative
See the FTAA page for news and
updates
The
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly passed Action
03-33 On Opposing the Free Trade Areas of the Americas
in Its Current Form. (Read the text here
or click here
for an Acrobat PDF version)
Here
is the background on the ballots and action alert:
Click here for the pre-FTAA
Ministerial action alert.
While
the FTAA would have profound harmful effects on the lives
and livelihoods of millions of people in the Americas,
trade ministers have refused to allow real citizen participation
in the process. Across the hemisphere, social movements
have uniting saying "If they won't consult the people,
we will consult with the people ourselves!"
Balloting
on the FTAA was coordinated in every country in the hemisphere
by the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a coalition of anti-FTAA
coalitions in countries throughout the Americas. Brazil
set a high bar last fall when they collected over 10 Million
ballots, 99% of which voted NO ON THE FTAA!
Presbyterian
voiced their concern about the FTAA by filling out 'No
on the FTAA' ballots which were brought to Miami in November,
2003. These ballots were added to thousands of others
collected by religious and secular groups around the country.
Roughly 500,000 ballots were collected and presented to
trade ministers gathered for the FTAA Ministerial!
The
FTAA negotiations ended with no concrete agreements, but
the U.S. is pursuing other trade agreements, such as the
Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and bilateral
agreements with individual countries in the Americas. See
action update on CAFTA below.
For
background information on CAFTA Go...
For
background information on the FTAA Go...
CAFTA
Action
General Assembly Endorses Action on the Central American
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
That
the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) do the following:
1. Declare
our opposition to the Central American Free Trade Agreement
(CAFTA) in its current form, as it fails to adequately
protect workers' rights, human rights, food security,
and environmental standards, and it limits the ability
of governments and sovereign indigenous peoples to regulate
corporations to protect the common good.
2. Direct the Stated Clerk to communicate with
the president of the United States and members of Congress
the opposition of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to
the Central American Free Trade Agreement and other free
trade agreements.
3. Direct the General Assembly Council, through
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) programs dealing with
economic justice, hunger, and advocacy, to promptly communicate
the General Assembly position to the U.S. trade representative,
U.S. senators and representatives, congressional committees
with trade jurisdiction, and state legislators, with emphasis
on those sections of CAFTA and other free trade agreements
that negatively affect our partners.
4. Request the General Assembly Council to identify
sisters and brothers and institutional partners who have
been impacted by free trade policies, and help interpret
these stories and effects to church members through itineration
in the U.S. and inclusion of these into a congregational
study guide on trade issues and economic globalization.
5. Direct the Committee on Mission Responsibility
Through Investment (MRTI) to explore the implications
of CAFTA and other free trade agreements and advise the
General Assembly.
6. Call on presbyteries, churches, and church members
to do the following:
a.
Become educated about how CAFTA, and other free
trade agreements, can further economic globalization
policies that are unsustainable and unjust, by drawing
on the resources of the Presbyterian Hunger Program,
the Presbyterian Washington Office, and other offices
of the National and Congregational Ministries Divisions.
b.
Advocate with state legislators and U.S. senators
and representatives, urging them to oppose CAFTA and
other free trade agreements in their current form.
c.
Join in coalitions with community and nonprofit
groups, including other Christian denominations, which
are organizing opposition to CAFTA and other free trade
agreements with similar provisions.
For
more information, see the Resolution Rationale and other
background on the CAFTA page.
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