1959 Highlander Way · New Market,
TN 37820 · phone: (865) 933-3443 · fax: (865) 933-3424
e-mail: hrec@highlandercenter.org
|
1959 Highlander Way · New Market,
TN 37820 · phone: (865) 933-3443 · fax: (865) 933-3424 |
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Grassroots Action for Global ChangeCreating Fair Trade & International PoliciesOrganizations | Books Regional trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central American Free Trade Agreement have provided ample provisions for corporate interests without ensuring viable protections for working communities. Below are many resources to help you understand international trade agreements and how they impact your community. The organizations listed below are also great resources for understanding corporate globalization and for learning ways to work for fair trade policy that protects working communities at home and abroad.  There are so many ways to approach organizing for fair international policies. You may want to hold a particular company accountable for its policies and practices by organizing joint actions with workers in another country that pressure the company to change. You may want to organize consumers to stop purchasing a product made in a sweatshop by exposing production issues and coordinating a boycott with the workers. Whatever your strategy, it is critical to involve affected workers in the development of any action, particularly a boycott. Disconnected boycott strategies may result in undesirable worker lay-offs, alienating the very people you hope to assist from your organization and leaving them in even less desirable economic conditions. For this reason, a very effective organizing strategy has been the development of worker-to-worker solidarity, an approach that brings a sector of workers together across national borders to develop relationships and mutually beneficial organizing strategies. “Fair trade” is a phrase that has been adopted by many proponents of the “free trade” policies that are harming workers and the environment across the globe. We must work even harder in these times to develop an understanding of what “free trade” means for working communities, and why it differs from “fair trade.” Fair trade products are one way to exemplify this ideology with a specific product. Fair trade coffee, for example, is made in conditions that are environmentally healthy while rewarding coffee farmers with a livable wage. These fair working conditions are one aspect of the types of fair international trade policies we wish to see across the globe. To learn more about fair trade, read “Alternatives for the Americas” in the Alternatives section above and check out the resources below. Organizations50 Years is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice 50 Years Is Enough “is a coalition of over 200 U.S. grassroots, women's, solidarity, faith-based, policy, social- and economic-justice, youth, labor and development organizations dedicated to the profound transformation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Network works in solidarity with over 185 international partner organizations in more than 65 countries. Through education and action, the Network is committed to transforming the international financial institutions' policies and practices, to ending the outside imposition of neo-liberal economic programs, and to making the development process democratic and accountable.” 50 Years was “founded in 1994, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the World Bank and IMF.” They focus on “action-oriented economic literacy training, public mobilization, and policy advocacy.” The 50 Years is Enough site has a great list of links guiding users to resources on debt reduction: http://www.50years.org/link. Campaign for Labor Rights CLR describes itself as the “Grassroots Mobilizing Department of the US Anti-Sweatshop Movement.” CLR’s mission is to “mobilize grassroots support throughout the US to promote economic and social justice by campaigning to end labor rights violations around the world.” CLR’s campaign strategies are “designed in collaboration with workers struggling to gain the right to organize, the right to earn a living wage in a clean, safe work environment, and the right to bargain collectively with their bosses.” The CLR website contains numerous articles and links to organization working on labor rights issues. Center for International Education The CIE is a program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee “committed to promoting and sustaining international education initiatives.” The CIE hosts an annual conference for people interested in educating themselves and others about global issues. The CIE website links users to online user guides on the topics of their conferences. Go to http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIE/Resources/guides.html for the following guides and more: Understanding Globalization & the History of Globalization; Understanding Youth Culture and Commerce in a Globalized World; Understanding the New World Disorder, with links to resources on human rights, water, health, and media; Understanding the Face of Globalization, with links to resources on globalization, economics, the technology revolution and the digital divide, culture, human rights, the environment, and general educational resources. Citizens Trade Campaign CTC is a national coalition of environmental, labor, consumer, family farm, religious and other civil society groups founded in 1992 during the fight over the North American Free Trade Agreement. CTC is a leading advocacy vehicle to fight for international trade policy that will serve the interests of the majority. CTC has great background information on trade and globalization on its website, as well as other general tools for organizing. CTC is a major mobilizing force behind lobbying efforts as new trade legislation is placed before the U.S. House and Senate for debate and voting. CTC also organizes regular conference calls for organizers working on trade policies. Contact them if you would like to participate in these calls to gain more insight on what’s happening on the hill and with other organizing efforts in the U.S. and beyond. Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras CJM is a coalition of organizations that strive to support “worker and community struggles for social, economic and environmental justice in the maquiladora industry.” Their goals include raising salaries, improving and monitoring occupational health and safety standards, promoting workers’ organizations, protecting and restoring the environment surrounding maquiladoras, defending the rights of women workers, and pressuring companies to help meet these goals. Convergencia de Movimientos de los Pueblos de las Americas
The Development Group for Alternative Policies Since 1977, The Development GAP “has worked to ensure that the knowledge, priorities and efforts of the women and men of the South inform decisions made in the North about their economies and the environments in which they live. Through its collaboration with citizens' organizations overseas, The Development GAP is able to demonstrate practical alternatives to prevailing policies and programs.” The Development GAP is highly involved with the Hemispheric Social Alliance and the Alliance for Responsible Trade. Global Exchange Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, it has increased the U.S. public’s global awareness through speaking tours, local and international coalition building, “Reality Tours” to build solidarity and awareness within and amongst communities around the world, legislative campaigns, and development of “fair trade” merchandise such as fair trade coffee, tea, chocolate and crafts. The Global Exchange website contains background information and action materials on a wide range of issues, including travel and reality tours; the global economy; speaking tours; war, peace and democracy; international and national bike-aid tours; and other information and activist initiatives. Fair Trade products, as well as a variety of books and videos, may also be purchased through the Global Exchange website. Grassroots Global Justice GGJ is “an alliance of US-based grassroots groups who are organizing to build an agenda for power for working and poor people.” GGJ “understand that there are important connections between the local issues we work on and the global context” and see themselves as “part of an international movement for global justice.” GGJ organizes collaborative efforts amongst its members, such as educational forums, actions, and international delegations to the World Social Forum and other international gatherings. The Halifax Initiative The Halifax Initiative is a Canadian coalition of development, environment, labor, human rights and faith groups deeply concerned about the international financial system and its institutions. The Initiative began in 1994, working through research, education, advocacy and alliance building to “fundamentally transform the international financial system and its institutions to achieve poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, and an equitable redistribution of wealth.” The coalition’s work has primarily focused on the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, debt and the “Tobin Tax,” a proposal by Nobel-prize winning economist James Tobin to place a small tax (.1-.5%) on all foreign exchange transactions as a means of stabilizing currency markets. The Initiative’s website contains links to information about the Tobin Tax and other global justice issues. Red Mexicana de Acción Frente al Libre Comercio RMALC is a coalition of unions, farmers, environmentalists, indigenous groups, women’s groups and human rights groups who began organizing in 1991 to stop the North American Free Trade Agreement. RMALC was a key player in forming an international movement against NAFTA and continues to work for alternatives to neoliberal economic policies. Third World Network TWN is a network of organizations working on research and advocacy around trade and finance issues. Their offices are in Malaysia and Ghana. The TWN website offers a wealth of information on trade, economics, biotechnology, the environment, women’s rights, gender issues, human rights, the United Nations, peace and security, tourism, and climate change. TWN produces numerous publications, accessible through their online bookstore, also at http://www.twnside.org.st/. World Bank Bonds Boycott WBBB is “an international grassroots campaign that is building moral, political and financial pressure on the World Bank. Launched in April 2000 by organizations in 35 global south countries and the U.S., the campaign links organizations and social movements in the global south which are challenging harmful World Bank policies with activists and institutional investors in North America, Europe and Asia where the World Bank issues bonds that finance most of its operations.” The WBBB website is available in Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Creole, Portuguese and other languages. World Development Movement The World Development Movement “tackles the underlying causes of poverty.” They “lobby decision makers to change the policies that keep people poor,” such as international debt; “research and promote positive alternatives;” and “work alongside people in the developing world who are standing up to injustice.” BooksGlobalizing Civic Engagement: Civil Society and Transnational Action This book, edited by John Clark and published by Earthscan Publications, http://www.earthscan.co.uk, is a project of the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The book contains case studies including the goals, efforts, successes and challenges of civil society efforts such as the World Social Forum and organizations such as Amnesty International and Jubilee 2000 that are working internationally. This is a great resource for gaining ideas and insights on organizing in a global context. 2003, 194 pages, $29.95 paperback. Material World – A Global Family Portrait “In Material World: a Global Family Portrait”, sixteen of the world's foremost photographers traveled to 30 countries to spend a week living with statistically average families, documenting the intimate details of their daily lives, and creating a final portrait of the family outside the home surrounded by all of their possessions. The resulting photographs are astonishing and poignant. From Bosnia to Vietnam, Guatemala to Spain, Israel to Haiti, Material World shows us the meaning of material wealth around the world -- and the struggle for survival. The striking photography compels us to consider where we are as a species, what values we share, and where we are headed. “Material World is a vivid portrait of humanity at the end of the millennium.” By Peter Menzel, Charles Mann and Paul Kennedy. Published by Sierra Club Books. VideosBanking on Lies and Debt Banking on Lies and Debt, a Maryknoll World Production, “visits three countries (Ghana, Brazil and the Philippines) where influences of the international banking community have resulted in diminished living conditions. It shows how millions of children are sacrificed for the sake of financial stability.” Narrated by Martin Sheen. Bill Moyers Reports: Trading Democracy “While the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement are still being argued, the perils of one of the treaty’s most powerful secrets are beginning to emerge. Bill Moyers Reports: Trading Democracy is the first television investigation of what has been called an "end run around the Constitution." Corporate investors are using the obscure NAFTA provision to challenge laws designed to protect the public health, environmental regulations—and even jury verdicts. The cases are heard not in open court, but before international trade tribunals that make rulings in secret. The program details a system of private justice that is enabling companies to obtain covertly what they have failed to achieve publicly in America’s legislatures or courts.” This video is also available through Films for the Humanities & Sciences, http://www.films.com/Films_Home/ The Debt Crisis: An Unnatural Disaster “Using animation, skits, music, interviews, and film footage from across the Caribbean, this lively video shows the origins and growth of the region's debt. It reveals basic weaknesses in local economies and the links between international financial institutions and burdens on the Caribbean people: high prices, low wages, few jobs, poor housing, and declining health and education systems. It offers no ready-made solutions, but encourages discussion about the debt problem. Study guide included.” $39.95. The Revolution will not be Televised Directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Brian, this film focuses on the election of Hugo Chavez. Chavez, elected president of Venezuela in 1998, is “a colorful, unpredictable folk hero, beloved by his nation's working class and a tough-as-nails, quixotic opponent to the power structure that would see him deposed.” Bartley and O’Brian “were inside the presidential palace on April 11, 2002, when he was forcibly removed from office. They were also present 48 hours later when, remarkably, he returned to power amid cheering aides. Their film records what was probably history's shortest-lived coup d'état. It's a unique document about political muscle and an extraordinary portrait of the man The Wall Street Journal credits with making Venezuela ‘Washington’s biggest Latin American headache after the old standby, Cuba.’” The film’s website lists resources for learning more about the relationships between the U.S. and Latin America. Other ResourcesAFL-CIO Solidarity Center Reports Of the many reports available on this website, two are particularly notable: The Globally Competitive South (Under Construction) report focuses the opportunities and challenges globalization presents to the U.S. south. The report encourages southern states and communities to respond to globalization by acting on their own to create better jobs and increase wages. The report includes research on the gap between what the South exports and what it could export, and the number of jobs lost or unrealized as a result of this under-performance. Recommendations in the report include increasing exports and improving education, as well as building relationships with foreign communities at home and abroad. Examples of how the South’s public, private and academic sectors are addressing globalization are also included in this report. Interhemispheric Resource Center: Articles on the North American Free Trade Agreement’s Impacts on Mexico “NAFTA, Foreign Direct Investment, and Sustainable Industrial Development in Mexico” “NAFTA’s Promise and Reality,” by John Audley, Demetrios G. Papdemetriou, Sandra Polaski and Scott Vaughan, examines the impact of NAFTA after ten years, finding increasing income inequality, greater pressure on Mexican workers to find work in the U.S., and few overall benefits for Mexico. 2003. |
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