NAFTA Resource Contents: Printed materials | Videotapes

FTAA Resources

1. FTAA Action Packet

   This packet will prepare activists to speak on the FTAA, lead teach-ins, and organize in their communities. Excellent thorough paper on the FTAA, a two-side fact sheet and one-side handout, talking points, sample letters to newspapers and Congress, a sample petition, soundbites, website and reading lists, overheads and graphs. $10 from ACERCA, PO Box 57, Burlington, VT 05402, 802-863-0571, acerca@sover.net

2. FTAA "Campaign of Inquiry" Packet

   Backgrounder on the FTAA, action points, and sample letters to Members of Congress and letters to the editor for a campaign of inquiry on FTAA, demanding release of the text and related documents as well as an opening of the negotiations process. The campaign will educate the public and pressure Congress, the White House, the USTR, etc. Download the packet from www.tradewatch.org or contact Alesha Daughtrey, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, 215 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003, 202-454-5103, alesha@citizen.org

3. FTAA Organizing Packet

   From the Sierra Student Coalition. Four-page factsheet about the FTAA's effects, contact info for local organizers, ideas for anti-FTAA campaigns, sample letters to Congress, Letters to the Editor, flyer about the environmental effects of NAFTA/FTAA, flyer about Fast Track. Download from www.ssc.org

4. Environmental Action Kit on the FTAA

   The Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program is producing an action kit on the FTAA's environmental impacts that will include a four-page factsheet, training materials on communicating to the media and to the general public about the FTAA, and suggestions on how to build a local Responsible Trade coalition. They will support these materials by helping to organize local "town hall" meetings, conducting speaking tours, connecting Sierra Club activists to other coalition partners in your area, and supporting both local actions and participation at the Quebec Summit of the Americas. Contact Dan Seligman at (202) 675-2387 or at dan.seligman@sierraclub.org

5. "Education Not Globalization" packet from STARC, the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations. Email your name, address and phone number to educatenotglobalize@gofairtrade.net

Fact sheets, handouts, and booklets

1. Ten Reasons to Oppose the FTAA.
2. Pocket booklet on the FTAA

   "Free Trade Area of the Americas: Demystifying the Corporate Jargon" will educate activists and others about the terminology of the FTAA such as deregulation of capital controls, intellectual property rights, broader definition of investment, national treatment, etc and the detrimental effects it will have on humans and environments in the Americas. Similar to the booklets on the WTO, World Bank, and IMF put out for the actions in Seattle and Washington, DC. For information or to sponsor the booklet contact mark@afgj.org Published by the Alliance for Global Justice.

3. Four-page 11x17 handout on the FTAA for union and other use. $60 for 100 copies from Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, 617-524-8778 or bostonjwj@mindspring.com
4. Sectoral analysis of the FTAA

   Analyzes the impact of the FTAA on labor, the environment, women, immigrants, the faith community, consumers/food safety, and farmers. Available from the Alliance for Responsible Trade, 4834 N. Springfield, Chicago, IL 60625, 202-544-9355 or 773-583-7728, msn@mexicosolidarity.org

5. Fact sheets on FTAA's effects on forests and indigenous peoples, and who's behind the FTAA (Citigroup, Boise Cascade, the Business Roundtable, and the role the private financial sector plays in back boardroom wheeling and dealing). Teach-in support also available. Contact Beka Economopoulos at Rainforest Action Network, 917-560-3609, beka@ran.org
6. The FTAA and AIDS.

Detailed background materials

1. "The Threat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas," authoritative analysis by Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and International Forum on Globalization. Download from www.canadians.org
2. "The Last Frontier," Maude Barlow's clear and chilling description of the GATS agreement in the WTO (the services agreement in the FTAA). www.theecologist.org/lastfrontier.html
3. "The Future of Nation States," Maude Barlow's speech at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil including a very clear description of the FTAA. Download from www.canadians.org
4. FTAA Primer. 20-page booklet with the FTAA's likely contents, its negotiating groups, its connections to other global trade bodies, and its effects on diverse human and natural populations. Contact ACERCA (above, first item listed) for single copies or bulk rates.
5. FTAA booklet. 24 pages of economic ABCs and cartoons from Dollars & Sense magazine, www.igc.apc.org/dollars, 617-628-8411.
6. "Inside the Fortress: What's going on at the FTAA negotiations," a detailed briefing paper on the structure and process of the negotiations to date and the specific issues on the table. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 613-563-1341, www.policyalternatives.ca
7. "America's Plan for the Americas," 28-page Critical analysis of the US government's negotiating positions on the FTAA. Download from www.art-us.org/Docs/apa.pdf
8. "Alternatives for the Americas: Building a People's Hemispheric Agreement." Download from www.web.ca/~comfront/alts4americas/eng/eng.html or see summary at www.art-us.org

Quebec

1. Resistance Journal on the FTAA and the Summit of the Americas

   Titled "It didn't start in Seattle, and it's not going to stop with Quebec City," this 12- or 16-page newspaper offers information on the FTAA and the Quebec action. Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), 514-409-2049 or clac@tao.ca

Workshops

1. FTAA for Beginners

   This workshop describes the FTAA and how it fits into the global economy. NAFTA case studies, the Corporate Bill of Rights, and a radio talk show exercise lead up to an "Action Steps" section where participants identify local allies and select tactics for a long-term anti-FTAA campaign. $25 for trainer's guide and handouts, + $25 for 2-x-3 foot flipcharts postpaid, from United for a Fair Economy, 37 Temple Place, Boston MA 02111, 617-423-2148 x 24, info@ufenet.org

2. Popular education workshops on corporate-centered globalization Using the US-Mexico relationship as a "laboratory for globalization," these workshops:

• help participants understand the impact of globalization in their own communities
• help participants form coherent arguments against corporate globalization and for alternatives
• help develop effective strategies for broadening the movement. Workshops can be tailored for various timeframes, with the most comprehensive workshops requiring a day. To schedule a workshop on your campus or in your community, contact the Mexico Solidarity Network, 202-544-9355 or 773-583-7728, msn@mexicosolidarity.org

3. Free Trade Action Kit: about 11 popular education pieces, in English and French. Its focus is the FTAA, targeted at Canadians, though it can be modified to fit US reality. Common Frontiers-Canada, www.commonfrontiers.ca

Videotapes

"Danger Ahead," fifteen-minute videotape for union and other use. $10 from Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, 617-524-8778 or bostonjwj@mindspring.com

Websites

Official FTAA website

Listserves

ftaa-l@lists.tao.ca To subscribe, send a message to lists@tao.ca with only "subscribe ftaa-l" as the main text. the list also exists in French (zlea-l) and Spanish and Portuguese (alca-l).

NAFTA Resources

Printed materials

• "NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-to-State Cases: Bankrupting Democracy," New report by Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch detailing how corporations are using NAFTA to challenge local, state and national democratic decision-making.
• "NAFTA at Seven" and "NAFTA at Five," comprehensive critiques of NAFTA's effects on jobs, the environment, food safety, etc. Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, www.tradewatch.org, 202-546-4996.
• "Seven Years Under NAFTA," an excellent seven-page handout with graphs describing NAFTA's impact on Mexico and the United States. Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, www.ips-dc.org
• "Six Years of NAFTA: A View from Inside the Maquiladoras." A report by the Comite Fronterizo de Obreras (Border Committee of Women Workers), 30 pp, October 1999. $5 from American Friends Service Committee (see next item for ordering information).
• The Maquiladora Reader, case studies on all aspects of the sweatshops on the US-Mexico border, 1999. American Friends Service Committee, www.afsc.org, $14.95 plus $3.50 for shipping. 30% discount for five or more copies. Order from Literature Resources, AFSC, 1501 Cherry St, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1479. Checks to AFSC or call 888-588-2372 to pay by credit card.

Videotapes

• From the Mountains to the Maquiladoras, 1991, 25 mins. Nine women laid off from their jobs in Tennessee decide to visit factories on the Mexico-US border and check up on General Motors, Converse, Levi, and General Electric. Examines repressive labor practices, horrendous living conditions, and the lack of any environmental regulations. High school to adult. Donation A
• Leaving Home: A Road Trip Into Our Free Trade Future, 1992, 14 mins. or 60 mins. From the public TV series, "We Do the Work," this program examines the real cost of the Mexico-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Looks at how the workers on both sides of the border have been affected by a free trade policy in place for the last 25 years, the Mexico-U.S. maquiladora program. Includes debate by advocates and opponents of free trade agreements. Donation A short version; Donation A2 long version.
• Ties that Bind: Stories Behind the Immigration Controversy, 1996, 56 mins. Three stories. The first section shows how post-NAFTA regulations have benefited multinational companies while constricting the movement of people. The second documents the one billion dollars spent to maintain southern and follows a mother and daughter crossing the border illegally. The third shows how immigrants built up the United States. High school and older. Donation A
• Time Has Come! An Immigrant Community Stands Up to the Border Patrol, 1996, 40 mins. The Hispanic immigrant community of El Paso, Texas learns to exercise its civil rights, especially when dealing with the Border Patrol.
• Free Trade and Democracy, 2 tapes, 1993, 120 mins. & 60 min. Q&A tape Noam Chomsky and Hilda Salazar Ramirez' scathing critique of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993. Examines impact of NAFTA on human rights, environmental concerns, workers rights, small companies, the Mexican constitution and unemployment rates. Donation A
• Rent videos from American Friends Service Committee New England Regional Office, 617-497-5273. Requested Donations for private viewing: $2/day plus shipping. Requested Donations for public showings and classes: Donation A - $10-$15; Donation A1, A2 & B - $15-$20 plus shipping. Check out www.afsc.org/nero/nevlib.htm for hundreds of other videos, films and slide shows on 100 topics.

For more information on current fair trade issues, visit www.tradewatch.org