GGJ Statement on Trade, March 2007

For over a decade, multinational companies and their allies in government have been using international financial institutions and so-called "free trade" agreements to restructure global, national and local economies for their own benefit. Powerful international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization dictate that countries must structure their economies to serve the interests of transnational corporations rather than their own people. In order to create low-wage and no-union havens for industry, corporations impose privatization, smaller public budgets, lower labor and environmental standards, and corporate-driven development schemes on the world's people without their consent. "Free trade" schemes allow companies to move jobs across borders in search of the most lenient employment and environmental standards, force workers into a race to the bottom of wages, conditions, and benefits, and further entrench a global economic system which requires a constant expansion of consumerism, exploitation of scarce natural resources, export-oriented production, unsustainable transportation systems and an industrialized production process that generates toxic and hazardous substances.

Commonly called "neoliberalism," these policies represent a coherent and deliberate attempt to redistribute power and wealth upwards, coordinated at forums such as the World Economic Forum which meets yearly in Davos, Switzerland. Working-class communities, communities of color and indigenous peoples have suffered the brunt of this attack, with the loss of good jobs, poisoning of our environment, privatization of land, corporate monopoly of genetic material and life processes and slashing of public services. As neoliberalism destroys the livelihoods of people in poorer countries, they are increasingly forced to leave to work in wealthier countries, driving an explosion in migration worldwide and separating families.

Resistance to this model has been growing steadily. Throughout the 1990s, widespread strikes and mobilizations against International Monetary Fund-imposed restructuring took place throughout the Global South. Meetings of trade negotiators and international financial institutions have been the targets of consistent protests, often both massive and militant, which have in some cases contributed decisively to derailing the negotiations (Seattle in 1999, Cancun in 2003, Mar del Plata in 2005). In the spring of 2006, immigrant workers in the U.S. engaged in the largest mass mobilization in our nation's history.

The social and environmental justice movements which have been at the center of resistance to corporate globalization and neoliberalism have from the beginning sought to develop relationships across borders and to propose alternatives. The most prominent and global example of this is the World Social Forum, which has been held yearly since 2001 and has inspired regional, national and local social forums throughout the world. The social forum model promotes the integration of different social struggles into a broad discussion, and has been a valuable space for grassroots movements to articulate alternatives based on their own experiences. The first U.S. Social Forum, spearheaded by U.S. grassroots organizations, will be held in Atlanta, Georgia in June of 2007.

In this context, the U.S. elections of 2006, in which many successful Democratic candidates campaigned strongly against the current trade model, must be seen as reflecting the growing strength and momentum of a worldwide movement for economic and environmental justice. However, the election of Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress does not by itself create the conditions to enact a true alternative. The forum on international trade hosted by Senate Majority Leader Reid on March 2nd, featuring presentations from Walmart and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a clear indication that the Democrats are not, as a whole, reliable allies. For our movement to propose narrow procedural reforms, such as an improved version of "fast track," under such conditions is a recipe for disaster.

The discussion of "what we want" cannot be driven from inside the Washington, D.C. "beltway"; it must reflect the actual experiences, needs and aspirations of those most affected by corporate and economic globalization and neoliberalism. While the inclusion of core labor standards in the text of trade agreements would clearly be an improvement over the current practice, it does nothing to address the issues of environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, biopiracy, indigenous sovereignty, debt and many others which are equally affected by "free trade" regimes. Nor will it halt genetic resources becoming the intellectual property rights or private property of corporations through patenting, to be owned, bought and sold as commodities. It will not even do much to stem the tide of jobs moving to low-wage regions. Only a repudiation of the neoliberal model, and its replacement by a different approach which allows all nations to develop their own economies in a sustainable fashion, will do that.

Now is the time to intensify the struggle for an alternative model of economic integration, an alternative which must come from the grassroots and communities most impacted by economic globalization. We must continue in principled opposition to all alleged "free trade" agreements, international financial institutions and procedural mechanisms such as "fast-track" which serve only to enrich multinational corporations at the expense of the rest of us. We invite all those who believe in a just trade model to join us on the road to the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, to work together to visualize an alternative and strategize how to achieve it. Another U.S. and another world is possible, but we must work together to make it real.

(En Español @ www.ggjalliance.org)