Global Trade

On the eve of the Quebec summit of Western hemisphere leaders, Human Rights Watch called for the creation of an independent oversight agency to spur remedial action for workers' rights violations. Read More

Nike's website allows visitors to create custom shoes bearing a word or slogan -- a service Nike trumpets as being about freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are. Confronted with Nike's celebration of freedom and their statement that if you want it done right, build it yourself, I could not help but think of the people in crowded factories in Asia and South America who actually build Nike shoes. Read More

The meeting of Western Hemisphere trade officials to make progress towards the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) took place in the Argentine capital, which was practically under siege by heavily armed police backed by armoured cars and police dogs on blockaded streets. Read More

Prosecutors say provincial Justice Minister Paul Begin has directed them to delay all bail hearings of arrested protesters for the maximum three full days allowed by law, as a way of keeping them off the street for the duration of the summit, April 20-22. Read More

Still, about 70 of the 500 protesters outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade were arrested during a ''search and rescue mission'' to retrieve a working draft of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas. Read More

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) includes an array of new corporate investment rights and protections that are unprecedented in scope and power. NAFTA allows corporations to sue the national government of a NAFTA country in secret arbitration tribunals if they feel that a regulation or government decision affects their investment in conflict with these new NAFTA rights. Read More

Here is a fact sheet about corporate-led globalization... fifty-one of the world's top 100 economies are corporations. Read More

Are the Zapatistas winning the war of ideas against neoliberalism and free trade? Read More

It turns out that the most effective form of crowd control isn't pepper spray, water cannons, tear gas, or any of the other weapons being readied by Quebec police in anticipation of the arrival of 34 heads of state. The most cutting-edge form of crowd control is controlling the crowds before they converge: this is state-of-the-art protest deterrence -- the silencing you do yourself. Read More

As you already know, the governments of the western hemisphere and their corporate bosses are signing our names to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas as we speak. This secret treaty's being made to destroy activist victories, privatize public services, and gut public safeguards; to roll back everything that 500 years of resistance has won. Read More