Current Activity Updates
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May 01, 2008
NEW ORLEANS PEOPLE'S SUMMIT
Pictures from the New Orleans Gatherings
Dozens of labor leaders from the Canadian, US, and Mexican energy sectors, along with allies from civil society, met in New Orleans on Sunday, April 20th for the 2nd meeting of North
American energy sector organizations.
This meeting was followed on April 21st and 22nd by the People's Summit that brought people from as far away as British Columbia and Chiapas to show solidarity with the people of New Orleans in the face of the IV SPP "Three Amigos" Summit being held there.
Thanks to Tom Loudon, Stuart Trew and Carol Proulx for giving us a selection of photos from the events.
- See the pictures in our Photo Gallery
April 22, 2008
NEW ORLEANS PEOPLE'S SUMMIT
People's Summit Responds to "Three Amigos" Agenda
The "Three Amigos" of North America showed once more that they will ignore the growing clamor to renegotiate NAFTA and will continue to push our countries in the same direction through the North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). With the fourth Summit shrouded in more secrecy, the People's Summit gathered to build knowledge and understanding of how what is being discussed inside impacts our daily lives.
March 31, 2008
SPP SUMMIT ALERT FOR APRIL 20-22, 2008
Hurricane Katrina reconstruction in 2008:
A Bush ‘showcase’
or a US Gulf Coast tragedy?
Hurricane Katrina crashed into the US Gulf Coast in August of 2005. It precipitated one of the greatest episodes of internal displacement of US residents in that country’s history with over a million people forced from their homes and communities. The US government failed to adequately protect the rights of Gulf Coast residents during displacement – particularly the poor, immigrants and people of colour, children, the elderly, disabled persons and other vulnerable populations. Almost three years have passed since Katrina, and the US government has not upheld the rights of the displaced by failing to address the need for affordable housing, health care access, and adequate employment that would enable displaced persons to come home.
In his State of the Union address in Washington last February, US President George Bush announced that he would be ‘showcasing’ his government’s Katrina reconstruction efforts while hosting in New Orleans the IV Security and Prosperity (SPP) Summit between the leaders of the US, Canada, and Mexico. The dates for this SPP Summit are April 20-22.
Grass roots organizations in New Orleans are calling on people from Chiapas to Alaska to attend The People’s Summit to be held in New Orleans, April 20-22. The organizers’ plan is to link the Gulf Coast struggle to the fight for survival in other North American communities where people are working to overcome predatory economic policies and unjust trade agreements. They've prepared a flyer with the summit details, which can be downloaded and printed for distribution.
- View The People’s Summit FLYER
- Download a printable .pdf version
Updated March 12, 2008
Security and Prosperity for whom?
Get to the truth about the SPP
A 4-part series of downloadable, educational Fact Sheets
(English fact sheets updated March 12, 2008)
Common Frontiers has REVISED this educational resource to help cut through the spin and clutter around the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) - a ‘next generation’ trade deal involving Canada, Mexico and the US. These four fact sheets dig into background issues related to the secretive SPP. They are designed for use with an organization’s members who may not know a lot about Canada’s ‘free trade’ agenda. The fact sheets also can be used as informational hand-outs at meetings/rallies.
Four fact sheets are now available for free downloads in English and French.
- Free Trade at the Crossroads – What's up with NAFTA, TILMA and other ‘free trade' deals that Canada is currently promoting?
- Integration by Stealth – Unpacking the secretive SPP
- SPP and Petroleum - Uncovering the real purpose of the SPP in mobilizing Mexican and Canadian energy resources to enhance US ‘security'.
- Alternatives to Free Trade: Thinking Outside the Box – This is what alternative trade and regional solidarity looks like!
Each fact sheet also has a What you can do section suggesting additional web sites for further learning.
The fact sheets are available in two formats, both as downloadable .pdf files. (Adobe Reader required) One is a conventional 4 page document suitable for printing on letter-sized paper. The other is formatted to be printed on both sides of an 11”X17” piece of paper which can be folded to create a 4 page booklet.
- Download your Fact Sheets here - in English and en français
March 3, 2008
NAFTA Must Be Renegotiated
A proposal from North American civil society networks
Politicians throughout North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) are beginning to recognize what the majority of citizens already know - the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) promises have not been fulfilled and new policies are urgently needed. There is growing awareness that quality jobs have disappeared, only to be replaced by insecure and low remuneration employment, while income inequality has risen to almost unprecedented levels.
"We four civil society networks from Canada, Mexico, Quebec and the United States believe that it is absolutely necessary to profoundly revise NAFTA beginning with those aspects that have proven most damaging for the socio economic and human rights of our peoples and for the environment."
March 2, 2008
Has free trade fulfilled its promise?
The Canadian 'free trade' experience as seen from Colombia
By Mario Alejandro Valencia - RECALCA
"The study concludes by indicating that in Canada over the last 20 years, it has been large companies and their top executives that harvested the profits of the economic growth while simultaneously benefiting from enormous tax breaks. In contrast, the vast majority of Canadians have not prospered as a result of free trade....Keep in mind that all this happened in Canada, home to one of the world’s most industrialized economies. One can only imagine what would happen if Colombia was to enter into a FTA with the United States."
February 12, 2008
10 Easy Questions and 10 Tougher Ones Regarding the SPP
This fact sheet on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is intended to be an introductory primer on these secretive and anti-democratic tri-national discussions involving Canada, Mexico and the U.S. It consists of twenty questions unravelling what the SPP is actually about and who wins and who loses.
This document has been produced by the Mexican Research Centre CIEPAC, and was timed originally for the August 2007 SPP Summit in Montebello, Quebec. It has been updated to Feb 1st, 2008 with some support for the English translation coming from Global Exchange. CIEPAC is a member of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC) that is a sister network to Common Frontiers-Canada.
With the next SPP Summit involving the three Heads of State scheduled for New Orleans on April 21-22, 2008 - now is a critical moment for citizens from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. to gain a deeper understanding of the crucially important decisions that are being taken behind the public's back. These 20 questions on the SPP will get you started. You can read the document online at CIEPAC's website or download a version suitable for printing.
- Read it online here
- Download a hi-res .pdf (5.5 MB) - Requires Acrobat Reader
- Download a low-res .pdf (644 kb)
February 5, 2008
4 North American Coalitions meet in Mex. City re. SPP - NAFTA
Representatives of the 4 North American Coalitions, members of the Hemispheric Social Alliance that works on alternatives to 'free trade' in the Americas, gathered in Mexico City from January 23-27th, 2008. The Coalition representatives addressed the dangers of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) on January 25 in a packed Main Events tent during the Mexico-World Social Forum held during that week. Also on this SPP panel to provide an alternative vision of how people-centred trade could work, was a colleague from Bolivia.
Earlier on the 25th the 4 N.A. coalitions held a successful News Conference to launch their joint Statement NAFTA must be renegotiated. 5 major Mexico dailies picked up on the Statement and reported that NAFTA was not only hurting the Mexican campesinos and workers, but was also decimating decent jobs in all three countries. The Coalition reps. also participated in an hour-long radio discussion on NAFTA and SPP broadcast to several cities in central Mexico and overseas via internet.
The 4 Coalitions took the opportunity to meet and discuss joint strategies for 2008. A significant portion of the time focused on the March 5-7 meetings in Washington. The focus there will be on NAFTA Agriculture, Migration, and on the SPP. March 7 will feature meetings between progressive legislators and civil society organizations to consolidate plans to push back FTAs in North America.
There was also a meeting of the 'follow-up group' to the August 2007 Montreal Energy Sector meeting to discuss progress in joint work to date. The meeting emphasized the importance of broadening participation in this energy work in the face of the SPP inspired assault to privatize PEMEX, as well as the overall drive to 'secure' the provision of oil and gas for the US while disregarding the negative impacts on the environment and sustainable levels of development both in Canada and Mexico - the SPP junior 'partners'.
- See more pictures in our Gallery
February 1, 2008
200,000 protestors take to the streets in Mexico City to protest NAFTA
Rally organizers for the march from the Angel of Independence to the Zocalo estimated that more than 200,000 people took part to demand that the Agricultural Chapter of NAFTA be renegotiated. Marchers also demanded that the privatization of the energy sector be halted, and that the new Social Security law be repealed.
Side note: The Globe and Mail has a mention of the march in today's Report on Business section (Page B6 - Reuters) where the crowd is described as "Thousands of mexican farmers...". The Toronto Star didn't carry the story at all.
- Report filed by Common Frontiers' Executive Director Rick Arnold, who is in Mexico for meetings with the four civil society networks. (See story below)
- Foto by María Meléndrez Parada
- See more photos in our Gallery
January 27, 2008
Photo offering to goddess Omeotl:
Renegotiate NAFTA & stop geneticaly engineered corn
An altar to the goddess Omeotl was recently found in an archeological dig in Mexico. It is thought that corn was offered up at this altar to guarantee a plentiful harvest for the next growing season.
The giant cob shown at the right travelled 300 kilometers in the "Sin maiz no hay pais" (Without corn there is no country) caravan that entered the Mexico City Zocalo on Saturday, January 26th.
A copy of this altar was erected on a centre stage in the Zocalo and corn was offered up there during the demo to bring luck in the anti-NAFTA struggles - the renegotiation of the NAFTA Ag. Chapter, and to protect against genetically engineered corn arriving from the USA.
- Report filed by Common Frontiers' Executive Director Rick Arnold, who is in Mexico for meetings with the four civil society networks. (See story below)
- Photo by Yazmín Ortega Cortés
January 24, 2008
NAFTA Must Be Renegotiated
A proposal from North American civil society networks
Politicians throughout North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) are beginning to recognize what the majority of citizens already know - the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) promises have not been fulfilled and new policies are urgently needed.
The four civil society networks from Canada, Mexico, Quebec and the United States believe that it is absolutely necessary to profoundly revise NAFTA beginning with those aspects that have proven most damaging for the human rights of our peoples and for the environment.
January 18, 2008
Letter says US Congress won't support free trade with Colombia
Seven members of the US House of Representatives, – Michael H. Michaud (Maine), Betty Sutton (Ohio), Phil Hare (Illinois), Linda Sanchez (California), Nancy Boyda (Kansas), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) and Keith Ellison(Minnesota) – have sent a letter from the Congress of the United States to Canadian Parliamentarians. It starts with a reminder that any future trade deals the US or Canada strike with any other country would “no doubt have an impact on both our respective economies and our unique bilateral relationship.” The letter goes on to explain why the US Congress will not support a 'free trade' deal between their country and Colombia.
- Download a .pdf version of the original letter (169 kb)
- Adobe Reader required.
January 6, 2008
“SPP violates the law, and technically speaking, it is a coup d'etat”
The North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is a new attempt to strengthen neo-liberal polices in North America against the background of the difficulties and failures that both the approval of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have had in several countries of the continent. The SPP adds the new element of security to the commercial interests of the large transnational corporations.
Alberto Arroyo, member of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC) and professor of Political Science at the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico (UNAM) talks about the SPP and its dangers in this 2007 interview.
- Read the full interview with Alberto Arroyo
December 11, 2007
The Wrong Trade Deal With The Wrong Government
Send a message to your Member of Parliament and the Trade Minister telling them the Canada-Colombia trade deal is dangerous and must not be adopted without explicit Parliamentary approval.
The Make Poverty History website is urging people to take action. Follow the links below to get involved.
- Link to Make Povery History (English)
- Link to Make Poverty History (French)
November 29, 2007
Stop the Canada-Colombia trade talks – NOW!
On November 29th at mid-day hundreds of chanting trade unionists and other concerned Canadians marched in downtown Toronto to denounce the secretive free trade negotiations between Canada and Colombia. This rally was sponsored by the Ontario Federation of Labour and it called on the Prime Minister to suspend the Colombia trade talks NOW, to provide for a full debate NOW, and to put human rights first while adopting a new approach to trade that will make peoples lives better – NOW!
Marie Clarke Walker, Executive Vice President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), spoke to the marchers in front of the U.S. Consulate on University Avenue. Ms. Walker told the crowd that Colombia is the country where more trade unionists are killed than in the rest of the world combined, and that during the term of Colombia’s current President, Alvaro Uribe Velez, 560 union officers and members have been brutally and systematically murdered. Virtually all these crimes remain unsolved.
- Read the full report (En español)
- See more photos in our Gallery
November 27, 2007
Canada should stop trade negotiations with Colombia
The Canadian government urgently needs to halt free trade negotiations with Colombia. It is the wrong deal with the wrong country - a deal that will only serve to benefit large transnational corporations while deepening the divide between rich and poor, in a land where violence and impunity are the rule.
November 21, 2007
"Cease free trade talks with Colombia and Peru" - Delegation demands
On November 20, the four people who appear in the photo at right held a press conference on Parliament Hill to demand that the Harper Government cease the free trade talks with Colombia and Peru immediately. (Photo credit: Canadian Labour Congress)
From Left to Right the people are:
* Bishop Juan Alberto Cardona, leader of the Methodist Church of Colombia
* Rick Arnold - Common Frontiers
* Gauri Sreenivasan - Canadian Council for International Cooperation
* Steve Benedict - Canadian Labour Congress
Some excerpts from the press conference:
Bishop Cardona: "If Canada were to assess the real impact of a trade deal on the lives of Colombians, I believe it would change its mind on the advisability of continuing negotiations."
"The government of Colombia is desperate for a deal with Canada - it's like a stamp of approval. But we say, stop the killing of innocent Colombians, disarm the paramilitaries, and protect human rights before any deals are made."
Steve Benedict: "Why did Canadian negotiators ask their Colombian counterparts to withhold the content of the labour texts, especially from Canadian unions and NGOs? The issues raised by these talks are too important to exclude Canadians from the discussion."
Rick Arnold: "We are calling on the Canadian government to halt these negotiations with Colombia. It is the wrong deal with the wrong country - a deal that will benefit transnational corporations while deepening the divide between rich and poor, in a land where violence and impunity are the rule."
"By going down this road the Canadian government risks garnering significant international disapproval. Further trade talks with Colombia should wait for full public discussion and Parliamentary debate, and for a human rights impact assessment to be held."
November 08, 2007
Why a Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a Big Mistake
“Colombia’s current government is accused of corruption, links to paramilitary death squads, drug traffickers, and state sanctioned impunity for crimes committed, yet, the Canadian government has chosen to ignore this, in the interests of signing a trade deal.”
First announced in June of this year, the Canadian government has put 'free trade' negotiations with Colombia on overdrive while keeping them away from public scrutiny. There are some official expectations that a deal can be concluded by the end of this month.
http://action.clc-ctc.ca/colombia_freetrade
The Canadian Labour Congress invites you to send a Sign–on letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper to express your view on this matter.
You can either sign onto this letter or write one of your own. Please click on the link above to sign and forward to others after.
Canada should not be trading away respect for human rights at home or abroad.
Common Frontiers, along with the CLC and CCIC-APG are embarking on a week of action starting around Nov. 20 to stop the Canada-Colombia free trade deal. Watch for more details.
October 10, 2007
Lessons from NAFTA
Building a New Fair Trade Agenda
October 22-23, Minneapolis, MN
In January, the final provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) go into affect. Nearly 14 years since NAFTA’s ratification, the trade agreement that has served as blueprint for U.S. trade and investment is still as controversial as ever.
Though NAFTA was supposed to improve border relations, it has played a major role in increased Mexican immigration to the United States; it has allowed corporations to sue nation-states, giving big businesses more power than ever; it has led to environmental degradation that needs real solutions.
Join activists, researchers and policymakers from the U.S., Canada and Mexico to review how NAFTA has changed all three countries, learn about efforts to expand NAFTA, and exchange ideas on a new fair trade agenda.
Hosted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). Common Frontiers is one of the sponsoring groups.
- For more information, visit the website at http://events.iatp.org
- Click here to download a .pdf version of the poster, which includes details of the event
September 11, 2007
Energy workers respond to SPP Energy Agenda
On August 18, 2007 energy workers from Mexico, the United States, Canada and Quebec together with the Four North American networks fighting NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) met in Montreal. The participating organizations were meeting at the time of the Montebello SPP summit that links Canada, Mexico and the US in a new political and economic framework for continental integration based on the security agenda of the George Bush presidency. This SPP agenda has the complicity of President Calderon and Prime Minister Harper, but has no democratic mandate from the people of those three countries.
Energy unions and worker organizations share the concerns of popular sector movements that the SPP is a new and powerful instrument created by government and corporate elites to shape the destinies of our nations without democratic participation or oversight. We reject the security agenda of the SPP which links NAFTA and trade to the limiting of civil liberties, mass surveillance, racial profiling and the failed and disastrous military and foreign policies of George W. Bush. We challenge the neo-liberal assumptions of prosperity which have led to increasing disparities of wealth and power in each of our countries.
However, as energy workers we are compelled first of all to respond to the SPP energy agenda.
- Please click here for our Joint Solidarity Statement
August 11, 2007
Public Forum
On the Security and Prosperity Partnership
Leaders' Summit in Montebello
Sunday August 19, 2007 @ 4 pm
Marion Hall, 140 Louis Pasteur,
University of Ottawa
Free Admission
Come and find out what they are not telling you
- Click here to see the poster full size
April 10, 2007
Revised June 5, 2007
Security and Prosperity for whom?
Get to the truth about the SPP
A 4-part series of downloadable, educational Fact Sheets
(English fact sheets updated June 5, 2007)
Common Frontiers announces a new resource to help cut through the spin and clutter around the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) - a "next generation" trade deal involving Canada, Mexico and the US. These four fact sheets dig into background issues related to the secretive SPP. They are designed for use with an organization’s members who may not know a lot about Canada’s "free trade" agenda. The fact sheets also can be used as informational hand-outs at meetings/rallies.
Four fact sheets are now available for free downloads in English and French.
- Free Trade at the Crossroads – What’s up with NAFTA, TILMA and other ‘free trade’ deals that Canada is currently promoting?
- Integration by Stealth – Unpacking the secretive SPP
- SPP and Petroleum - Uncovering the real purpose of the SPP in mobilizing Mexican and Canadian energy resources to enhance US ‘security’.
- Alternatives to Free Trade: Thinking Outside the Box – This is what alternative trade and regional solidarity looks like!
Each fact sheet also has a What you can do section suggesting additional web sites for further learning.
The fact sheets are available in two formats, both as downloadable .pdf files. (Adobe Reader required) One is a conventional 4 page document suitable for printing on letter-sized paper. The other is formatted to be printed on both sides of an 11”X17” piece of paper which can be folded to create a 4 page booklet.
- Download your Fact Sheets here - in English and en français
Update -- Presentation from IntegrateThis now available:
The North American Competitiveness Council: A corporate coup d'etat
Notes from an address re. the SPP: The Big Business of Insecurity
By John W. Foster for Common Frontiers
April 4, 2007
Photos from the
Integrate This! conference
Between March 30 to April 1 over 1,400 people from 3 countries (Mexico, US, and Canada) participated in the Ottawa, Canada conference Integrate This! Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) of North America.
This represented the first major gathering of popular movements opposed to the SPP corporate-government trade and security pact. A fight-back campaign was launched along with the sharing of alternative visions for a people's integration agenda.
- View some photos from this conference
February 18, 2007
Integrate This!
Challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
This "teach-in" will be a chance to discuss an important issue our government wants to keep under wraps: continental economic and security integration. The gathering, being held March 30 to April 1, 2007, is sponsored by the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Canadian Labour Congress and will be held at Ottawa Technical High School in Ottawa.
Integrate This! will bring together activists, academics, workers, politicians and journalists from Canada, Mexico and the United States to challenge the big-business vision of North American integration contained in the Security and Prosperity Partnership – a vision that has yet to be debated anywhere but which will have major impacts on citizens across the continent.
- Visit the Integrate This! website for more information
January 29, 2007
REPORT BACK FROM THE SOCIAL SUMMIT
IN COCHABAMBA - BOLIVIA
Feb 15 IN TORONTO
Hear from Canadians who attended the Social Summit of the Community of American Nations in Bolivia in December. Discuss the latest developments in Bolivia and throughout Latin America.
Presentation and Discussion with
Judy Rebick, Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy
(Ryerson University)
Carlos Torres, Centre for Social Justice
John Dillon, Common Frontiers
Thursday, February 15th, 2007
6:30pm to 8:30pm
489 College Street, Suite 302
- Click here to see the poster
January 24, 2007
Bolivia’s Government Faces
Right-Wing Offensive
Popular forces struggle for unity against attacks
Evo Morales just celebrated his first anniversary as president of Bolivia. Despite many accomplishments by his government, it now faces a potentially destabilizing right-wing offensive, while Popular forces struggle for unity against a growing number of attacks .
- Read an in depth look at the current situation.