Alliance News

February 01, 2012

STOP A "NAFTA OF THE PACIFIC!" RALLY VS SECRET NEGOTIATIONS HELD IN SOFITEL HOTEL IN LA

Los Angeles: As Trade negotiators from throughout the Pacific Rim are gathering in Sofitel Luxury Suites, Los Angeles, activist to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement, groups opposed to the “NAFTA of the Pacific picketed outside the hotel in Beverly Hills.

Trade negotiators from nine countries that includes the the U.S. to Vietnam are pressing for a NAFTA-style deal that encourages offshoring, expands downward corporate pressure on labor and environmental standards, raises drug prices, and bans "Make it in America," among other problems.

STOP THE FTAA

The protest dubbed as RALLY TO STOP A "NAFTA OF THE PACIFIC!" was sparked because of the negotiations are being done out of the public eye, trade ministers and corporate lobbyists (over 600 of ...whom have certified "corporate adviser" status). Protestors asked : “will this become a "NAFTA of the Pacific?"

An anti-FTAA activist Manila Ryce remarked : “If Corporate America has their way and keeps theses negotiations behind closed doors, it almost certainly will. Another speaker from AFL-CIO pointed out to outsourcing of jobs like the call centers in the Philippines, a US partner for the FTA agreement.

Activists from California Fair Trade Coalition, along with the AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, Health Gap, Moana Nui , People’s CORE and local members of the labor, environmental, Latino, and Asian-Pacific Island attended the one hour and half peaceful but noisy rally.

There will be another mass action on February 3rd in San Diego, California, the rally organizers said.

For more information please call (213)241-0995 or email at pilipinokami76@yahoo.com