catapult magazine

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discussion

Free Trade?

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Kris
Nov 19 2003
05:43 am

I live near Miami, where the big free trade conference/riot is happening this week…I’m a little unclear about the whole controversy, even after making it through Dordt. Can someone put this all in a nutshell for me? A lot of students are asking questions, and I’m really confused about the Christian stance on this whole thing.

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laurencer
Nov 19 2003
06:09 am

here’s a pretty basic article, from the Fair Trade Federation outlining why free trade is not a very just system:

http://www.fairtradefederation.com/ab_whyft.html

on a bit of a side note, i’ve been re-reading ron sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger for an ethics class and i’ve really been realizing the need for a more biblical approach to economic issues. money is such a corrupting power and the church doesn’t seem to address issues of economic justice nearly enough.

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laryn
Nov 20 2003
07:40 am

I was planning to type something (maybe still will…but don’t have time at the moment.)

Anyway, if you don’t have plans tonight, this looks informative and interesting:
-———————————————————-
A Debate on Ten Years of NAFTA
Thursday, November 20

8:00-9:30pm First United Methodist Church 400 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Florida (Four blocks from the Inter-Continental Hotel/Hyatt)

Featuring:
-Lori Wallach, Director, Global Trade Watch (US)
-Naomi Klein, Nation columnist, author (Canada)
-Alberto Arroyo, RMALC (Mexico)

vs.

-Frank Vargo, President, NAM (US)
-Peter Clark, Canadian trade consultant (Canada)
-Luis de la Calle, former NAFTA negotiator (Mexico)

Moderated by Jane Bussey, International trade reporter, The Miami Herald

FREE Admission. Please arrive early. (Spanish translation provided.)
Presented by Public Citizen and the National Association of Manufacturers and co-sponsored by The Nation magazine.

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laryn
Nov 26 2003
03:43 am

Kris,
here’s a very short synopsis, as I see it.

The US is pressuring developing countries to enter a free-trade zone and remove tariffs, etc. (Hence the name “free-trade”) In the meantime, they heavily subsize industries at home and slap tariffs on products to help producers at home (see: steel, agriculture..). This creates a very beneficial economic situation for the US, but cripples a developing economy and makes it dependent on the US.

This is also tied in to IMF and World Bank policies—which seem to do the opposite of what they were intended for and end up tanking the developing economy and then letting foreign corporations (US, Europe) come in and buy everything up while the country cycles deeper and deeper in debt…which becomes a cycle because the policies make them sell off more public assets to pay the interest on the last debt, which brings them deeper in debt…

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laryn
Nov 26 2003
04:14 am

By the way, when they sell off the public assets, it’s probably not locals buying. It’s…[drum roll please]…foreign corporations (from NA and Europe, probably).

Just like they’re doing to Iraq.

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laryn
Nov 26 2003
04:54 am

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dan
Nov 26 2003
04:56 am

Which is why it is confusing, simplistic, and somewhat deceptive when Bush and others trumpet the coming of ‘freedom’ to Iraq. While Iraqis will have some political freedoms, their country will be unfree in the sense that most of the economy will be owned by foreign [read American] corporations.

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dan
Nov 27 2003
05:56 am

My main problem with the FTAA is that it is not a democratic process. Politicians and business leaders meet in secret to forge agreements that can affect everyone. Legitimate protests are brutally put down. Meanwhile, in the newspapers….Michael Jackson. Does nobody care that powerful elite cliques are making huge economic changes to the economies of the Americas and that citizens play no part in shaping the process?