Sun, Sand, Sedition, Miami, November 2003

Sun, Sand, and Sedition:

Come to Miami in November and this is what you'll see......

In November 2003, Miami, Florida is hosting both the 8th round of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) trade negotiations and the eight Americas Business Forum. Trade Ministers from 34 nations in the Western hemisphere, and hundreds of their closest commerce-inclined friends, will descend on this city for a week of business and pleasure: the business of advancing capitalism's parasitic agenda, the pleasure of getting away with it.

At the Summit of Americas held in Miami in December 1994, 34 heads of state agreed to construct the FTAA. Since then, business and government representatives from these Countries have been secretly drafting this plan with the aim of creating the largest free trading block in the world by 2005. This is to be our region's principal contribution to the much-heralded age of globalization - the inevitable era of opulence and prosperity capitalism promised from its inception. Soon history will draw to a close, and everyone will benefit from the forethought and benevolence of their leaders and elite, Right?

Did somebody say 'Free Trade'?

The FTAA would expand corporate free trade policies of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which applied to Canada, Mexico, and the United States, to encompass all of the Western hemisphere. It is an integral part of the logic of capitalist globalization, generating profits while at the same time accelerating the loss of workers' rights, wage decreases, the triumph of corporate agribusiness over family and subsistence farms, the displacement of indigenous peoples and the privatization of public industries. Alongside the imposition of militarization and natural resource-focused accords like Plan Colombia, the Andean Regional Initiative, Plan Puebla Panama and the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the FTAA is designed to concentrate wealth and power into a few corporate hands at the expense of everyone else.

Elements of Refusal

Much has happened since 1994: NAFTA and the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, arrived simultaneously onto the world stage, the former to destroy communities for the sake of profits; the latter to remind Mexico of its indigenous glory and inspire future resistance across the world. Subsequent years saw a revival and dynamic growth of popularly organized, independent struggles to resists free-market regimes and create a humane and egalitarian alternative, from the courageous efforts of the Landless Rural Workers Movement in Brazil, to the struggles against public sector privatization in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and across nations in Central America, to the 2001 rebellion in Argentina, the current uprising in Peru, and the regional response in Quito, Ecuador, to the most recent round of FTAA negotiations' the peoples of the hemisphere speak in a decisive voice of opposition. And now all eyes are upon us.

Mobilize for Miami!

Come to Miami in November, and this is what you will see . . . Yes, it is a steaming crock pot of vibrant cultures and ethnicities, but the division among classes and races is stark and deep. Yes, it is a tropical hub of international commerce, but poverty is rampant and social exclusion pervades. Yes, the issues relevant to the lives of everyday residents -- unemployment and underemployment, gentrification and displacement in working-class communities, unlawful detention and persecution of immigrants -- are common across the hemisphere, but Miami was also home to the largest pro-war, pro-Bush demonstrations in the United States (thoughtfully declaring 'First Saddam, then Fidel!'). This is the context for November. Residents of what is touted as the poorest large urban center in the United States will foot a good portion of the $10 million it will cost to host the meetings. Further, they will be asked, for a week, to patiently bear the militarization of the city's downtown -- miles of barricades, public transportation and movement restrictions, columns of paramilitary -- while the leaders go about the high stakes business of negotiating details that will impact the lives of everyone in the hemisphere. This is where we come in.

305 Take it to the house!

This is the invitation that you and 800 million of your closest friends have been waiting for. We, the undersigned groups and loose associations, are calling for creative, decentralized, autonomous actions in response to the FTAA ministerial November 20 - 21, 2003.

Some of the immediate goals:

- Delay, disrupt, and topple the FTAA meetings.

- Spoil the City of Miami's hopes for a flawless ministerial and their plans to house the permanent FTAA Secretariat.

- Engage in the globalization debate alongside our excluded brothers and sisters in the South, so that our actions resonate across the hemisphere, and we demonstrate that we can and will play a part in this struggle.

Make no mistake, Miami police Chief John Timoney (of RNC Philly 2000 fame) is gearing for a conflict the likes of which this city has never seen. We can expect everything from infiltration and preemptive strikes, to brutal repression and trumped up charges. It is important that we begin preparing now, forming tight affinity groups, educating and mobilizing our communities, and rounding up legal, medic, and media resources. Out of town guests should understand that the activist infrastructure here is extremely limited; self-sufficiency is key. Our task: lay out the welcome mat. Your task: be bold, creative, strategic and unprecedented.

La lucha es larga y ellos son muchos, pero nosotros somos muchos mas. Siempre seremos muchos mas.

Come to Miami in November. History beckons you. Perhaps paradise awaits . . .

800 Million vs. 34 Coalition, Miami/Dade County, Florida

FTAA Wrecking Crew, Broward County, Florida

Running Dogs of Global Justice, Palm Beach County, Florida

Check out http://www.stopftaa.org or http://www.infoshop.org for more information
or contact:

eighthundredmillionvs34@hushmail.com