Marchers say "FTAA — No Way!"

by Judith Le Blanc

WASHINGTON: As thousands of union members, environmental and 
human rights activists massed here to protest against the Free 
Trade Area of the Americas summit, hundreds of community 
activists from low-income neighbourhoods, immigrants and farm 
workers completed a 34-mile, three-day march on November 18, 
chanting "Free Trade, No Way!" to the beat of drums and music. 
Leafleters gave out information to the onlookers. Motorists 
honked and flashed peace signs.

The marchers traversed US Route 1 from Broward to Miami to tell 
the people of Florida and the world that poverty at home or 
anywhere in the world must end.

Truckies, schoolteachers, students, and retirees here 
participated in the "Root Cause" march. "The FTAA will have a 
huge impact on people's everyday lives — on the food we eat, the 
water we drink, our children's access to education and health 
care", said Sushma Sheth, policy/communications director for the 
Miami Workers Center, one of the organisers.

Sheth told the People's Weekly World, "We did local 
community-based organising to ensure grassroots participation in 
the fight for global justice". The Miami Workers Center, along 
with Low Income Families Fighting Together (LIFFT), the Coalition 
of Immokalee Workers and the Power U Center sponsored the Root 
Cause campaign.

They found corporate globalisation among the common "root causes" 
for the problems of low-income workers, immigrants, farm workers 
and communities of colour. Sheth told the World, "We researched 
the community impact on wages, immigration, privatisation and 
environmental racism".

The links between Miami, the poorest city in the US, and the 
corporate agenda for the hemisphere were dramatised by the 
victims of a system run on corporate greed. Mary Nesbitt, a 
marcher and leader of LIFFT, told the World, "Trade agreements 
affect everyone. Fair trade would mean having jobs, and being 
able to speak to government officials. With the FTAA, they meet 
in secret."

Marchers were housed and fed along the way by community and 
religious groups. On the last day, the marchers ate lunch at St 
Martha's Catholic Church, next to the headquarters of the Miami 
Catholic Archdiocese. Archbishop John C Favalora told them, "We 
wish for you a good and peaceful journey. Together we'll attain 
justice and peace". Florida's Catholic bishops have been involved 
in the defence of farm workers rights.

Marchers encountered a chilling atmosphere when they entered 
Miami. Free speech and the right to protest were seriously 
threatened by the unprecedented mobilisation of more than 40 
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Businesses closed and empty streets in downtown Miami filled up 
with police in riot gear, with helicopters hovering overhead. 
Police boats patrolled in Biscayne Bay. Organisers were put under 
surveillance while random searches were made to intimidate 
protestors during the weeks of protest preparations. The American 
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Miami Activists, a new FTAA 
legal observers group, have said they will pursue legal action if 
the harassment persists.

The Root Cause march was timed to take place during the 
ministerial meetings that are mapping out the final outlines of 
the FTAA agreement, which has been dubbed "NAFTA on steroids". 
FTAA would create the largest "free trade" zone in history.

Thousands of other protestors also gathered in Miami. Comparing 
last week's actions to the anti-World Trade Organisation protests 
in Seattle in 1999, observers note the presence of a new 
confidence that corporate globalisation can and must be stopped.

Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers of America, 
referred to the more than 2000 steel workers Rapid Response team 
members meeting here in Miami as part of the massive labour, 
environmental, youth, faith-based, peace movement mobilisation to 
protest the FTAA ministerial meeting. "Thank God for the 
students, for the young people out there in the streets fighting 
for their ideals", he said.

"Thank God for the environmentalists, family farmers, civil 
rights, and anti-poverty activists. None of us can win alone. 
Together we can't lose."

* * *

People's Weekly World (abridged)