St. Paul

By Fred Gaboury

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Nearly 2,000 anti-FTAA protesters, ranging from union members and environmentalists to clergy members and farmers, rallied on the steps of the Minnesota Capitol Building April 21.

Larry Weiss, director of the Resource Center of the Americas, slammed "the global corporate rulers and their political servants - George W. Bush included" who, he said, were gathered in Quebec City "to decide how best to increase their power and enrich themselves at our expense."

"With NAFTA they came for the industrial jobs, this time they're coming for the public sector jobs," Weiss warned, explaining that the FTAA would include provisions requiring public services - education, water and sewers, prisons, social services and more - to be open to private investment and ownership.

"We are here to demand a global economy that not only works for corporations," Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) said.

In an earlier interview, Wellstone told the World the "real fight" against FTAA would come later this year when President Bush is expected to ask for "fast track authority" that would limit congressional debate on the treaty and prohibit any changes in the agreement, something that Congress has rejected since 1995.

Tom Keegle, General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), called the anti-FTAA struggle a "fight for human dignity" and vowed the IBT will "stand up for workers' rights, no matter where."

"We have to fight to bring the standards of workers in other countries up to ours!" he said.

Dave Fredrickson, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, like other speakers, blasted the secrecy that surrounded negotiations on the treaty and the fact that, although organizations representing labor, environmentalists and other people's organizations were not allowed to know the terms of the agreement, representatives of multi-national corporations actually participated in drafting its text. "If they want us in the game, let us in the huddle," he demanded.

Dallas

By Jim Lane

DALLAS - About 60 protesters, representing students, immigrant rights groups, environmental groups and eight different unions, came to the area across the street from the old Texas Schoolbook Depository for a picket and rally against the undemocratic globalization of the FTAA.

Protesters handed out post cards addressed to Dallas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson urging her to vote against "fast track" authorization for the FTAA.

San Ysidro

By Ray Leos

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. - A boisterous crowd gathered at a city park here April 21 to protest the Summit of the Americas and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Protesters - representing a broad array of labor, environmental, youth, social activist and immigrant rights groups - earned cheers and appreciative car honks from a number of local residents and tourists.

The protest, sponsored by the San Diego Stop FTAA Coalition, culminated with a march from San Ysidro to the infamous U.S.-Mexico border fence just a few hundred yards away.

Many demonstrators continued marching across the border into Tijuana, where they were joined by Mexican protesters for a rally at the Playas de Tijuana park.

Speakers warned about the serious impact the FTAA would have on labor and human rights in the Western Hemisphere.

Jerry Butkowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego Labor Council, told the crowd that expanding NAFTA will continue the exploitation of workers, and scoffed at assertions by supporters of the FTAA that workers would be protected under the terms of the agreement.

Butkowitz added that all the talk in Quebec about "free trade" and modernization was just a smokescreen. "What this is about is profits. It's about [corporations] being able to close their plants [in the U.S.] and exploit our brothers and sisters on the other side of the fence."

Musician Tom Morello, told the protestors that fighting agreements like the FTAA and groups like the WTO was a matter of common sense. "Is it radical to say that people need access to jobs, is it radical to say that people should get a good day's pay for a hard day's work, that people should eat and live and work in conditions of peace and justice? If so, then I'm proud to be called a radical."

Chicago

By Emile Schepers

CHICAGO - An anti-FTAA protest, called by Jobs with Justice and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), among others, took place here April 21.

Speakers highlighted the situation of the Henderson Spring Company, which has just announced that it is moving operations to Mexico, leaving about 250 workers out of work.

Leo Gerard, president of the USWA, denounced the repression being directed against workers who protest the ill effects of free trade policies and blasted President Bush for promoting such policies.

Gerard warned that the Free Trade Area of the Americas would destroy the lives of thousands upon thousands of working people throughout the hemisphere.

He also warned of an expansion of NAFTA's Chapter 11, which allows private corporations to sue communities if labor or environmental regulations enforced by those communities interfere with foreign investment and profit-making.

Instead, Gerard said, "we need to build a global economy that raises everybody up and does not push everybody down."

Buffalo

By Eileen Reardon

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A rally and march to the former Trico plant were the finale to a weekend of peaceful activities and demonstrations in Buffalo to protest the FTAA. Protestors represented unions, student, environmental, peace and community groups.

During the rally, a large contingent of protestors marched to the Peace Bridge, where they were met by police in full riot gear.

The weekend also included a "funeral for jobs and the environment," which spotlighted corporations that were given tax breaks or government subsidies and then left Buffalo or the country. At the rally, speakers, including Jason Kazlowski, Secretary of CWA 14177, spoke about plant closings in the Buffalo area.

Dave Thomas from the Canadian Auto Workers, who had driven from the demonstrations in Quebec, criticized the Summit of the Americas because Colombia, which has a repressive government, was invited but Cuba was not.

Tuscon

By Joe Bernick

TUSCON - Demonstrators gathered downtown for a rally before taking to the streets and marching down to the Federal Building and courthouse. While most of the demonstrators were students and youth, there were also leaders of the Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, the Tucson Education Association, many local unions, environmental organizations and peace groups in attendance.

Speaking at the rally, Steve Valencia, Tucson Jobs with Justice leader, lambasted the FTAA and the corporate ideology that supports free trade and privatization. Valencia pointed to the diverse crowd, "here we are with one of the most active movements in the country, Black, Brown and white; men and women; young and old. This is the type of coalition that will stop capital from pursuing its greedy objectives."