From: New Liberation News Service <nlns@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Date: 09 Sep 92 03:14 PDT
Subject: NAFTA & STUDENTS
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1296500344:000:9021
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!nlns    Sep  9 03:14:00 1992


Take Action Against Corporate Greed!  Continental Student Meeting:
Guadalajara, Mexico, November 27-30 1992 Amie Weinberg and J
Burger, INSTEAD

(NLNS)--What do the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the
Quincentennial of Christopher Columbus all have in common? They
all play a role in the New World Order that reaffirms the
mentality of the last 500 years of genocide and exploitation that
have reigned on this continent. October 1992 marks a time when
global leaders will be celebrating the re-colonization of the
world through international trade policies (such as GATT) which
are established by a handful of elites. Executive branch
negotiators seek to give this secret bureaucracy the authority to
undermine national laws of any country in the world and thereby
destroy our collective abilities to create an economically and
ecologically sustainable future. Because the future of GATT is
delayed due to the effective opposition worldwide, the NAFTA
proposal becomes the imminent danger.

What is NAFTA any way?

    In reading the papers or listening to any media source, one is
led to think that NAFTA has been passed. Don't believe the hype
that the proposal hasn't even been sent to the U.S. Congress.
Also, the papers aren't accurate; they accept the Bush
Administrations press releases at face value. They rave about how
great NAFTA will be for the economies of the three countries and
for the environment as well. But governments and corporations said
the same things about the Canadian-United States free trade
agreement (CUSTA).  They just forgot to tell us that since its
signing, Canada has lost over 700,000 manufacturing jobs.
Provincial reforestation plans are also being challenged by U.S.
transnationals as subsidies to the Canadian forestry industry. The
end result is that provincial governments no longer have the power
to define how to manage its own forests. In general, the only
thing free about this free trade it that it freely trades away our
freedom to live in a democratic and just society.
    NAFTA is not so much about trade, but rather a package of
proposals that will strengthen the abilities of transnational
corporations to do as they please--earn higher profits regardless
of the impacts on people and the environment. As students have
seen in campaigns to change the behavior of corporations such as
Coors, British Petroleum, Louisiana Pacifica, Levi Strauss, Waste
Management or Exxon, it is not enough to assume that these
businesses have societies' best interests in mind. Look at their
track record and make a decision of whether to trust them or not.
    Looking at Mexico can also give us clues to the real forces at
play in NAFTA. Maquiladoras or "free trade" zones as they are
called, are factories right over the border, where US corporations
exploit people's labor for $4 a day and pollute the surrounding
environment by dumping untreated toxins directly into rivers that
eventually irrigate crops. This mode of ill-development is
expected to continue and grow under NAFTA.

How does this affect students?

    As students we must understand the direct threat that NAFTA
poses not only to our future jobs and the environment, but to our
access to money for education as well. The Canadian, Mexican and
U.S. educational systems are under attack increasingly every year.
Funding to the Canadian post-secondary educational system has
suffered $3.2 billion in cuts since 1986. In Canada, just as in
the United States, when federal monies are cut from university
budgets, private sources start influencing the direction of the
institution.
    As Catherine Remus with the Canadian Federation of Students
explains, "for students, reading the NAFTA is like being thrown an
anchor when youUre drowning.  Here we are fighting for restoration
of adequate funding levels, and we learn that the Canadian
government is struggling to keep the ability to fund education at
all." Education is just one part of their overall social welfare
program that is being attacked. Under NAFTA, the same attacks to
will be felt against the environment and in general, the overall
democratic rights of students.

What are students doing about "free trade?"

    As students win battles against privatization and
corporatization of their institutions, the movement for democratic
control is strengthened.  Since the mid 1980's, students in Canada
and Mexico have taken direct action against the privatization of
their universities.  More recently they are connecting this
privatization to the larger economic plan of NAFTA. This past
summer in Mexico students successfully mobilized thousands of
classmates to resist a government plan that would begin requiring
tuition at their universities. In Mexico access to free education
through college is a constitutional right, something we need to
fight for here in the United States. Students all over the country
have been protesting and marching to voice their opinion against
these new economic policies. Throughout the past few years,
students all over Canada have been taking action through a variety
of activities ranging from teach-ins, political art and theater,
to colalition building and protests.
    In June 1992, students from Canada, Mexico and the United
States came together for a three day meeting in San Diego,
California to discuss how to best address and take action against
NAFTA. At the meeting, after days of exchanging information and
ideas, students from all three countries realized the need to form
a continent-wide student network. It was decided that we should
have a Continental Student Meeting to begin the formation of such
a network.
    On November 27-30, student organizations will be coming
together in Guadalajara, Mexico to form a Continental Student
Network. Youth from Canada, Mexico, the U.S., and indigenous
nations will gather to begin the open dialogue about how best to
fight the NAFTA and create a future based on justice, equity, and
ecology. At the meeting we will educate one another about the
implications of the NAFTA and GATT and global economic
integration. We will also learn much more about each others'
nations. If we are to work together effectively across national
borders, we must have a clear understanding about the cultural,
economic, and other aspects that make organizing in each country
unique. We will find out from each other how much action is
already going on in our student movements--action that the
mainstream media does not tell us about. Students have realized
that the time for further action is now!

Action you can take!

	To get things rolling in your group and on your campus,
the first thing you can do is educatate yourself and your friends
and fellow organizers about these issues. Last year, students in
the US formed a program called the International Student Trade
Environment and Development program (INSTEAD). INSTEAD, among
other things, has created and gathered many educational materials
such as factsheets about the free trade and its impacts on
education, environment, human rights etc. There is also a
bibliography of good books, pamphlets and videos, a resource guide
with organizational listings. We have created a Campus Action
Guide to Free Trade which has listings of speakers and ideas that
encompass the above information.
    A sure way to educate people in your school is by puttung on a
teach-in which can include local trade union members,
environmentalists, economists, students and professors. Set up the
agenda to include workshops and allow for plenty of questions to
be asked. In addition to this, get involved with local Fair Trade
Coalitions and host events together. Go to the Continental Student
Meeting in Mexico.
    Also, in October most major cities around the country will be
hosting events that either honor Columbus or tell the truth about
his conquest and what it has meant to all peoples ever since. Help
support events that shed light on the "Big Lie" of Columbus's
discovery of America. Help make the links between the Columbian
past and our present moment by showing people how NAFTA and Free
Trade are nothing but tools that will insure 500 more years of the
same unjust and genocidal mentality that had plagued this
contenent.
    NAFTA will give overwhelming power to the transnational
corporations, continuing the legacy of domination in the world. It
will allow them to consolidate their power internationally by
giving them essentially complete control over national borders. If
we are to develop power to fight them, we must also organize and
communicate across national borders. Ultimately we envision a
continental network of students which can act in a unified manner.
The continental meeting in Guadalajara will be a major step in
developing a principled unity between youth across the continent.

    For more information about this meeting, or a Campus Action
Guide please call or write to: INSTEAD, P.O. Box 13208
Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 379-3905

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