wfn.org | WCC: Peace laureate

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update UP-03-19
For Immediate Use
1 May 2003

Nobel Peace laureate warns churches against Free Trade Area of the Americas

Cf. Press Updates, UP-03-18 and UP-03-17, of 30 and 29 April 2003
Cf. Press Release, PR-03-16, of 24 April 2003

Free photos available, see below.

Economic integration being pushed in Latin America by the United States is
like a bear hug: it is better to keep your distance. 

The image sums up what Latin American church representatives heard at a
"Globalising the fullness of life" consultation in Buenos Aires this week.
Speakers from different countries in Latin America agreed that the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA), scheduled for implementation in 2005, will
increase exclusion and poverty in the region. 

According to 1980 Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Pirez Esquivel, "The FTAA
represents a clear and concrete annexation of Latin America by the United
States." It is an example of the "globalised totalitarianism that the US is
attempting to impose on the entire world" through commercial agreements,
militarisation and the so-called "single thought".

Pirez Esquivel stated that "the FTAA will benefit the transnational companies
and not the people of Latin America," and would lead to "greater poverty and
exclusion" and the "death of local culture" in the region.  
 
The Nobel laureate warned that while it is pushing the FTAA, the US is
stepping up its military presence in the region.  Its strategy has been to
set up military bases in countries like Ecuador, Colombia, and along the
border shared by Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, and then carry out joint
manoeuvres with national armies. 

Pirez Esquivel also warned that drinking water is one of the resources that
Washington seeks to control in the region, and suggested developing
"alternative proposals" to the FTAA rather than simply following "a policy of
outright rejection". Churches should be "alert to their role of raising
awareness" and participate in this process, he said.  
								  
He challenged participants to "develop their creativity" and their "critical
thought" so as to shape a "strategy of prevention" towards the FTAA. He
referred to the referendum on the FTAA held by the Roman Catholic Church in
Brazil. "Churches should bear witness. They cannot be indifferent to these
issues," he said. 

Jim Hodgson of Kairos Canada warned that "more trade does not necessarily
translate into greater prosperity. There are signs everywhere that free trade
agreements have taken us to places we did not want to go." 
 
He emphasised that Canada and Mexico now live with a "unilateral and
interventionist" neighbour. However, "one positive result not foreseen by
those who designed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been
the generation of new alliances crossing traditional boundaries". 

In Canada these alliances include churches, unions, women's, indigenous
non-governmental organisations and environmental activists' groups. "Canadian
churches are openly opposed to the FTAA. We are seeking alternatives,"
Hodgson concluded. 

Gabriela Rangel of the Mexican Action on Free Trade Network denounced
commercial integration plans, such as Puebla Panama Plan, which "exclude us
and bring more poverty for our regions. We have already lost too much with
the Free Trade Agreement. Mexico is an important example of what should not
happen," she warned. 

Shefali Sharma of the Information For Trade project warned participants that
when countries "sign agreements without knowing what they are signing, they
are actually giving global business a blank cheque". 

For Sharma, churches should oppose the upcoming negotiations on the FTAA
slated to take place in Cancun, Mexico and should be more active, joining
organisations that are already working on these issues. 

Convened by the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) and co-sponsored by
the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
(WARC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the consultation will
end today, May 1. 

Approximately 100 representatives participated, mostly from Latin America and
the Caribbean but also from Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the
Pacific.

Free photos to accompany articles based on this update are available on our
website:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/argentina-e.html 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 / 61 53

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which
meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in
1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland