Act Now for Trade Justice – Replace NAFTA!
For some, October 12th is commemorated as the day that Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas. For many more, it marked the beginning of over 500 years of foreign domination, cultural destruction and systematic exploitation. Over the last 15 years, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has perpetuated that tragic history.
Join with other justice-minded people to use this October 12th to push for the renegotiation and replacement of NAFTA and forge a new history based on mutual respect, human rights, and dignity.
Proponents of NAFTA promised that it would bring economic prosperity and development, but instead it has stagnated wages in the US and decimated livelihoods in Mexico. Around the world, US free trade agreements have resulted in a “race to the bottom” that has eroded governments’ ability to set food, environmental, consumer and labor protections in the public interest. The only winners in the era of “free trade” are transnational corporations, lobbyists, and their allies in politics.
Act now to help end corporate-led trade policies – tell the US Trade Representative and your members of Congress to renegotiate and replace NAFTA in a way that is fair to the average American, Mexican and Canadian.
On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to change US trade policy for the better, and it’s time to hold his Administration accountable to that promise. A 2008 poll by Rasmussen Reports showed that in the US at least 56% of the population wants NAFTA to be renegotiated and replaced with something better. In Mexico, only 10% of the population has seen a higher standard of living since NAFTA, and thousands have protested at great peril, as military and government crackdowns on non-violent activists have proliferated over the last decade and a half.
Let’s be sure that the Obama Administration hears our call for change loud and clear.
During the Global Week of Action on Trade we need as many voices as possible pushing for an end to the era of padding the pockets of a few while eroding workers’ negotiating power, consumers’ protections and family farmers’ ability to make ends meet. Please act now.