Western North American Anti-capitalist/Anti-imperialist consulta for the FTAA

Denver, Colorado October 10th – during the Transform Columbus Day convergence.

This November history will be made. Upwards to 100,000 ready and willing, courageous people will converge on Miami to physically halt the gears of global injustice and destruction: the Free Trade Area of Americas.

The FTAA is more than a mere trade agreement or meeting for rich white men. It is the very manifestation of everything wrong and unjust of a global capitalist system and neo-liberalism. For the people of the global south the FTAA is the sealing of their fate—a complete disintegration of local autonomy and expediential increase in privatization. It is the final project of colonialism. For the more affluent in the first world, the FTAA represents a rejection of a social contract, giving increased power to corporations and privatization of formerly public sectors (public transportation, Schools, hospitals, and energy resources) The FTAA will reverse years of struggle by labor, environmental, indigenous, and social justice activists, as these laws, and protections won, will be seen as a barrier to free-trade.

We believe the struggle against global capitalism (i.e. neo-liberalism/neo-colonialism/globalization) to be the very same struggle, fought by peoples throughout the world against a culture of domination. We see a distinct connection between the arrival of Columbus and the project of colonialism—still being perpetuated today by the FTAA, the WTO, and other global-trade entities. It is because of this that we have purposely planned an FTAA Consulta during the convergence to Transform Columbus Day.

We invite all peoples sharing a world view encompassing a struggle against capitalism and imperialism living in the Western (Southwest/Aztlan, West coast, Northwest/Cascadia, and other western territories) US, to attend with a serious attitude to shutdown the meetings in Miami.

The proposed meeting agenda items:

-Report back from Colorado FTAA caravan

-Report back from mainstream organizers

-Report back from Pittsburg Organizing Group consulta

-Report back from on the ground radicals in Miami

-Padded Bloc discussion

-Other strategies/scenario discussion

and other agenda items… send to: co_consulta@ziplip.com

This meeting will probably be a vouched-for meeting. So prepare to have a contact for (there will be phones with long distance capabilities at the meeting point), or some people with you, who can definitely vouch for you. (the number of vouches needed is not made public purposely, so again, be prepared.)

And by the way…There will be a workshop and training for Padded actions October 17th and 18th in Ft Collins (housing will be provided)

Please send an email ASAP to: co_consulta@ziplip.com if you plan on coming, with:

-how many people are coming/will attend

-if you will need housing, how long you plan on staying (what day you will get in town)

-if you need special housing (without animals/smoking/drinking/children friendly…)

please bring enough money for food, or willingness to urban hunt/gather, and contribute the homes you stay at.

For The Fall,

-(for lack of a better term) the anti-authoritarian coordinating body in Colorado