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| Volume 4, Issue 5 -- June 2007 |
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Fast Track I’d like to talk about the Holy Spirit. Having just celebrated Pentecost, I’ve got the Spirit on my mind and in my heart. I was participating in a reflection group that was talking about the Holy Spirit when I was struck by one woman group said. She shared that whenever she sees or hears something beautiful like a flower, sunset or bird’s song, she knows it is the Spirit talking to her. Certainly, this is a common enough experience for many of us. It was what she said next that struck me. She said that she struggles to find the Spirit in things that are considered generally by society as ugly or undesirable, such as poverty or sickness. I appreciated her honesty and courage as she shared about her own failures to see God in all things. I wondered if I had enough courage and honesty to do the same self-evaluation. I just finished reading “The True Cost of Low Prices: The Violence of Globalization” by Vincent Gallagher, which also got me thinking about the Spirit. In his book, Gallagher writes about how people like migrants, women and children suffer because of global economic and political structures. He also talks about how lifestyle choices can either increase or decrease the suffering of our sisters and brothers. The author urges us to examine our choices, but the book goes beyond simple feel-good solutions, such as boycotting a particular store or buying a particular product. Instead, Gallagher reminds us of the importance of finding God and hearing the Spirit in the face of the child who must live on the street because he has no home, or the young girl who will die alone in an AIDS clinic in Haiti, or the migrant who has walked for days in the harsh desert. We must not turn our heads or keep silent to these injustices. What we must do instead is seek out the child living on the street, the girl dying of AIDS and the migrant crossing the desert, for it is in our encounter with people who are vulnerable and suffering that we experience the Spirit and see the face of God. This was not an easy book to read. Not because it was hard to understand. On the contrary, it was all too clear. How many times in the day do I close my eyes, ears and heart to the Spirit? How many times do I choose my own comfort over the well-being of others? How many times do I find the Spirit only in the “beautiful” things? More importantly, what choices have I made that keep me protected from seeing pain and suffering so that I don’t even have to choose? The focus of this month’s newsletter is “Fast Track,” the trade legislation that limits Congress’ power to amend or change in any way a trade agreement such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) or the Peru and Korean free-trade agreements that have been negotiated by the U.S. trade representative. Fast Track is scheduled for review in June, and many economic justice activists are working hard to block its renewal. In this newsletter, we will look at the ways in which Fast Track legislation does not promote the common good. In fact, if Fast Track is re-approved, it will be like closing our eyes and hearts yet again to the Spirit. By taking away Congress’ ability to really question and modify these trade agreements, as is the case with Fast Track, we are blindly reinforcing the structures that keep millions of people oppressed and enslaved around the world, keeping them at a safe distance from our own comfort zone. As members of Congress are faced with the choice to renew or reject Fast Track, may the Holy Spirit guide them to choose a policy that breaks down the structures that keep so many people in suffering rather than a policy that pushes them further into the darkness.
Economic Justice: The Trade Landscape as Fast Track Expires U.S. trade policy is a complicated web of lofty ideals, corporate influence, arm twisting and word games played with often seemingly innocuous-sounding language. But more than a decade after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect and after a host of subsequent free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries from Central America to Jordan to Australia and still-pending agreements with South Korea and Peru, a clear picture has emerged of the effect of these policies and who are the winners and losers. Fast Track is the mechanism that gives the executive branch the authority to negotiate trade agreements, while simultaneously restricting congressional participation in the process to a simple up or down vote. The power has been devastatingly wielded and grossly misused to reward corporate allies at the expense of the common good. Fast Track is set to expire this July, and the Bush Administration has been pushing for its renewal. Should Fast Track be renewed, it will mean more of the same unfair trade agreements will be negotiated without congressional input, with complete disregard for the democratic process, and little reflection on what FTAs have really meant for U.S. citizens and for our global brothers and sisters. Economic justice activists, people of faith, migrant and indigenous communities, women and others have joined together to call for an end to Fast Track because of serious concerns about the harm caused by the NAFTA-based trade model. Some of the most critical consequences of the FTAs, both in the United States and in the countries with which we have trade agreements, are loss of jobs and stagnating wages, growing income inequality, health and environmental regulations challenged, and further consolidation in the agricultural sector. The difference is that the United States has safety nets in place and is a larger and wealthier economy than many of the countries that enter into FTAs with us, who feel the negative effects much more harshly. For example, the government of Peru cannot afford to pay the sharp fines it will face should it decide to enact new laws to protect the biodiversity of its Amazon River region or restrict genetically modified organisms. There are no government programs to help Mexicans displaced from their livelihoods transition into a new sector of the Mexican economy, nor are there subsidies for small-scale farmers in Guatemala. Coca farming and migration to the north become the escape valves for those unable to compete under the conditions of the trade deals, further destabilizing often young or tenuous democracies. Furthermore, while U.S. citizens are relatively unaware of how Fast Track undermines democracy and accountability, citizens in the countries with which FTAs have been negotiated are extremely troubled about the undemocratic nature of the negotiations and the often-violent repression of protests against the FTAs. This has been true in South Korea where a trade agreement was reached just before a deadline in early April and the text of which was released only on May 25. Recently, Democratic leaders struck a deal with the Administration that could pave the way for pending trade agreements to be approved, including the Peru FTA, and even ultimately Fast Track. The full details and legal language have not been released, nor has it been made clear how the concession agreed to would be enacted. The compromise seems to be a step forward on labor rights, environment and access to medicines, but the consensus is that it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Plus, many fear, depending upon how new language is worked into the pending trade deals, that it may not even be legally binding. Even more troubling, the compromise was reached while excluding many important stakeholders, including labor unions, environmental groups, faith communities, public health experts, and even other members of Congress, from participating or giving meaningful input. The complex and always-shifting trade legislation landscape makes it unclear how the pending agreements will proceed. But with Fast Track set to expire in early July, it seems likely that June will be a key time for determining the fates of the pending trade agreements and a possible renewal of Fast Track. Stay tuned! We’ll do our best to keep you informed. Migration: Unjust Trade Agreements Lead to Forced Migration More and more, the root causes of migration are beginning to be raised in the overall immigration reform debate. People are beginning to question why migrants are coming not only to the United States, but to many other countries. This is an important issue because we know that there are a huge number of migrants worldwide due to economic push-pull factors. Given that reality, we need to examine how U.S. international trade agreements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA and the Peru FTA, are creating conditions that force people to migrate. It is not enough to just make the connection and not have policies that break that dynamic. We must be advocates for just migration and just trade policies if we hope to really address the complex migration reality in the US. Unfortunately, if Fast Track is renewed in June, we will have lost the opportunity yet again to have any meaningful civil society debate about U.S. trade policy. Congress will be forced to continue the “yes” or “no” approach to trade agreements that will, in turn, create more of the same conditions that force people to migrate in the first place. Unless our migration policies account for that reality, we will be faced with an on-going socially and politically divisive national debate about migration in this country. We have the opportunity this month to make a significant difference in the way trade policy is negotiated. We need to give back to Congress the power to participate in the negotiating U.S. trade policy. If we don’t, any immigration reform will be far from comprehensive. From the American Friends Service Committee Trade Matters Program:
Trade Agreements Lead to Migration With a growing gap between the rich and poor and the cost of essential goods increasing in most developing countries, generalized economic growth statistics fail to reflect the hardships of the poor. The situation is made worse when sending countries enter into unjust trade agreements with the United States. Migration from Mexico to the United States has more than doubled since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994. New trade agreements, such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), based on this model are likely to have the same effect.
The NAFTA Example When Mexico fulfilled its NAFTA commitments and removed its controls on corn imports, U.S. corn (overproduced because of farm aid and exported at below-market prices) flooded the Mexico market. Unable to compete with large U.S. corporations, 1.7 million small-scale Mexican farmers and workers lost their livelihoods, creating a labor force available to the U.S., Canada and Mexican employers. There are an insufficient number of maquiladora (export processing factory) jobs that exist at the Mexico-U.S. border to absorb all those displaced from the agricultural sector. These and other trade-related economic factors forced rural workers and other Mexicans to migrate in search of employment. Now Mexico has lost its ability to ensure food security for its population. This was evident as demand for biofuel recently drove up corn prices in Mexico making the basic food staple of tortilla unaffordable to low-income families. Instead of leading all workers toward more economic security, new trade agreements, if crafted like NAFTA, will deepen the economic crisis of already vulnerable working class and rural communities in the United States and abroad. For more information about the links between trade and migration, visit the American Friends Service Committee website at www.afsc.org/trade-matters/issues/trade-migration.htm.Care for Creation: Peru FTA Falls Short on Environmental Protections From The Sierra Club’s Responsible Trade Program: The Bush Administration forced the controversial Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through Congress in 2005 with a slim two-vote margin. The extremely close vote was due to many fundamental concerns raised by members of Congress, including the lack of strong and enforceable labor and environmental provisions and the increasingly broad rights granted to corporations to attack public health and environmental provisions. Now the Bush Administration has presented Congress with another trade agreement. The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement is based on the same flawed provisions as those found in CAFTA. The agreement offers only token, unenforceable provisions on labor and the environment, while dramatically expanding the rights of corporations to attack legitimate public health and environmental protections in secret trade tribunals. Marked by snow-capped peaks, vast forests and the echoing cry of Andean condors, the tropical Andes is the richest and most diverse region on Earth. Of the tens of thousand of plant and animal species in the Andes, many are endemic and irreplaceable. Far too many are also threatened with extinction by expanding agriculture, deforestation, mining, dams and road building. In addition, oil exploration and development is a relatively new and serious threat on the eastern slopes of the Andes and the adjacent Amazonian lowlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Learn more about how the U.S.-Peru FTA may threaten Peru’s environment, biodiversity, and local indigenous communities at www.sierraclub.org/trade/agreements/peru/ Peace & Reconciliation: Bias in the Fields By Theresa E. Polk As a child, I was a rather shy and quiet girl. I struggled for a long time to find my voice and claim it. If you put me in front of a packed room today, it still struggles to blossom, but give me pen and paper, or sit with me over a cup of tea, and I have a story to tell. As do we all. Everyone has a voice, equally valid, whether spoken or written, danced or prayed, mimed, whispered or shouted. Our stories and experiences inform and inspire our daily lives and the decisions we make. And they should inform the decisions made by those who claim to represent us. The unfortunate reality however is that all our voices, though equally valid, are not equally heard. Some voices are magnified, echoed, reiterated, drowning the rest of the chorus, hiding the diversity and wealth of experiences among us. Backed by bullets or dollars, carrots or sticks, they rise to the forefront and dominate the debate. The Presidential Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), better known as “Fast Track,” is ultimately about voice. It is about whose voices are heard in the negotiating room and whose voices and concerns are allowed to be heard during trade-agreement negotiations. Lower prices for consumer goods are poor compensation for the large-scale loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs in the Midwest and Southeast, the challenge to environmental and health regulations in California and the inability of local governments to enact buy-local, green-purchasing and prevailing-wage policies for government procurement. Yet those most affected by these policies are left out of trade-agreement negotiations. They have no say about which countries we should have trade agreements with how the trade-agreement legislation is written. While powerful multinational corporations have privileged access to the negotiating table, labor unions, environmental groups, faith groups, public health experts, even local government and our elected representatives are, by and large, locked out of the process. And once negotiations are complete, Fast Track reduces congressional participation in trade policy to a simple up or down, yes or no vote. Trade agreements are the only legislation written by the executive branch, a privilege enabled by Fast Track, and dropped to Congress along with much arm-twisting and promises of favors in return for a vote of approval. No amendments that might mitigate the harm or spread around the benefits are permitted. According to Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, “Fast Track unnecessarily creates a situation where negotiators cannot be held accountable by the public, and legislators are denied their constitutional authority to set the terms of trade agreements.” The good news is that Fast Track, last approved in 2002 by a slim margin of two votes, is set to expire in July 2007. A large and diverse chorus of voices has united in calling for Congress to reassert its authority over trade policy and not renew Fast Track. As stated by the Interfaith Working Group on Trade and Investment: “Because there is not open debate and an opportunity for citizen input and Congressional involvement in trade policies before these agreements go to Congress, the democratic process is undermined by TPA legislation. Full public participation is needed to create a moral and legal framework for trade agreements. The full statement can be read at www.tradejusticeusa.org/iwg/tpa.htm. A voice in our representative government is far more than a vote. Call or write your representatives and senators. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative’s office. Ask to speak to the legislative aide that handles trade issues. When we meet with many of these offices, we are too often told that they are not hearing from constituents, leaving their stances on trade issues to be informed entirely by corporate lobbyists. Tell them trade policy is too important and too wide-reaching for our elected representatives not to be involved in the process. Share how your community has been affected by bad trade policies, or a sister community or parish in Latin America or elsewhere. Ask them to vote no on Fast Track. Take Action: Justice for Immigrants A C T I O N A L E R T Contact your senators regarding bill S. 1348, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
Background: The Way Forward. S. 1348, the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, contains some good elements and some about which we need to express concern. To date, the U.S. bishops have neither opposed nor supported this piece of legislation, but have chosen to raise concerns about the legislation and to improve it as the legislative process goes forward. The bishops believe that the Senate debate marks the beginning of the legislative process, and that there will be several opportunities to improve the legislation as the process moves forward. We must work together to make these important changes to the bill. It is our obligation to try to obtain the most humane legislation possible for millions of our fellow human beings. Please call, visit, fax or e-mail your U.S. senators. The Capitol Switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121. For more information, talking points and to communicate to your senators through our interactive website, please go to www.justiceforimmigrants.org/action.html. Thank you,
The Justice for Immigrants Campaign Columban News: Columban Eco-Theologian Visits Washington, D.C. Like many other religious communities, people of faith and society at large, Columban missionaries have taken up the issue of climate change. It has been named one of our top JPIC priorities. Columban Father Sean McDonagh, has studied, written and taught extensively on ecology and theology from a missionary perspective for nearly 40 years and is a leading voice internationally on environmental issues including climate change. In his most recent book, “Climate Change: The Challenge to All of Us,” he examines the scientific challenges we face and the moral, ethical and theological reasons why we, as people of faith, need to be engaged personally and as part of structural change. As part of Fr. McDonagh’s U.S. speaking tour to raise awareness on climate change, he visited the Columban JPIC Office in Washington, D.C. to give a talk to many of our Catholic and ecumenical partners. With the room filled to capacity, it is evident that religious communities and people of faith in general are looking for ways to respond to the moral and ethical implications of climate change. We are grappling with ways to be real agents of change through our personal choices and as international institutions and networks. It was most beneficial to have so many diverse groups around the table beginning the discussion. We look forward to much more joint reflection and action. In addition to the event with our Catholic and ecumenical collaborators, Fr. McDonagh visited congressional offices to share an international and faith perspective on climate change. He urged members when voting on legislation to be guided by moral principles of justice, care for creation and solidarity among others. Fr. McDonagh’s visit was timely as there is a host of legislation on climate change being considered. We expect much activity on this issue by Congress this summer.
Life Journey as a Columban Lay Missionary: Aurora Luceno Resources & Events:
-- Stop Free Trade in Its Tracks!
-- Ecological Footprint Quiz
-- Of Migrants and Minutemen: Inside the Immigration Battle
This being as “progressive” as an immigration bill gets in Washington these days, it’s clear that the struggle for comprehensive change in U.S. policy is far from over. We hope this report provides information and analysis that pro-immigrant stakeholders in this debate need to keep up the fight.
-- U.S. Social Forum
Reminder: Jubilee Grassroots Training & Organizing Conference The conference will include speakers from the Global South, skill-building sessions for grassroots economic justice activists (advocacy, media work, engaging congregations, etc.), and workshops that will deepen participants’ understanding of debt and economic justice issues. For more information, please visit www.jubileeusa.org/get-active/special-events/grassroots-conference.html IN OTHER NEWS:
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