Let free trade run its course, we are assured, and democracy and prosperity will flower. It is a seductive argument. There's a definite link between trade and the contact it produces and more open, prosperous societies. What they do question is the premise that free trade and unfettered investment are overarching values that should be considered apart from such values as human rights, labor rights, environmental protection and the values embodied in representative government and an independent judiciary. Of course not.
Free trade has to be put in perspective.
It is a value, not the value. When corporations are given the opportunity to buy access to political leaders through sponsorships, as happened last month in Quebec City, but the doors are closed to human rights, labor, and environmental groups, the limits of such a value are exposed. And while the fuzzy, feel-good assurances from Quebec City that free trade and democratic principles will be linked are nice, they aren't good enough. Just because Cuba wasn't given a seat at the table in Quebec City doesn't mean FTAA negotiators are latter-day Jeffersonians. Mainly, they're a bunch of elites looking out for their bottom lines, financial and political.