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Note #8081 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Trade agreements and alternatives to globalization discussed
04034
January 20, 2004

Trade agreements and alternatives to globalization discussed at North
American churches' consultation

by Ann Walle
Church World Service

STONY POINT, NY - Representatives from more than 100 North American church
and grassroots organizations met here Jan. 11-14 January for a consultation
entitled "Just trade agreements? Churches in North America discuss
globalization."

	The consultation was convened by the Education and Advocacy Program
of Church World Service and by the Canadian Council of Churches as a "joint
ecumenical process for clarification and critique of policies as they exist
and for the offering of alternatives."

	In addition to Church World Service, ecumenical groups represented
included the World Council of Churches, the World Association of Reformed
Churches, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, and the Lutheran World
Federation.

	Consultation conveners spoke of a "spirituality of resistance", and
of using a "communal lens to transform economic organization, and a
theological imperative to think together to find the 'moral nerve'" needed to
address globalization issues.

	They identified a contradiction between the mandate of the churches
and the thrust of economic globalization, and urged churches to criticize the
"engine of growth" and promote alternative actions.

	In his keynote address - "God, globalization and free trade: for
whose good?"
 M. Douglas Meeks, economics professor at Vanderbilt University, suggested
that the churches must speak concretely about God, justice and peace.

	In candid reports on what globalization looks like in North America,
participants from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. touched on experiences related
to industry take-overs, free trade and price depression,

	"What we see in Mexico is poverty and loss of the country's economy,"
said Dora Esther Davila Cordillera of the Centro de Estudios Ecuminicos. She
noted that the Mexican economy has grown less than one percent since the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed. Factories are being
moved to Mexico in order to take advantage of lower wages but even so,
existing contracts are being lost to Asian markets, where workers receive
even lower hourly wages.

	Most social services have been taken away, including health and
schooling, she
 reported.

	Maria Riley from the Center of Concern in the U.S. commented on the
undemocratic nature of how regional trade policy is negotiated: "NAFTA
dissembled defined policies that were important to the people, such as health
and the environment," she said.

	"Canada's economic dependence on the US has gone from 30 to 60%,"
said John Dillon from KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. "So,"
he noted, his country "makes an effort not to upset the U.S., but to
harmonize with its policies on immigration and refugees and militarization."

	For Dillon, "just trade" must incorporate a right to development.

	Alvaro Salgado Ramirez from the Centro Nacional de Aydua a las
Misiones Indigenas reported that corn from the U.S. was brought to Mexico,
replacing a 9,000-year-old seed line and bringing contamination and
allergies.  Not only is the population losing its right to the seeds it has
farmed for centuries, but it now depends on those who provide the new seed.
Corn, the national staple, is now private property and royalties are charged
for a gene, Ramirez explained.

	Representing the Independent Farmworker Center in New York state,
Aspacio Alcantara reported that ninety percent of the agricultural workers in
the state are economic refugees from Mexico. The Center works for justice,
dignity and respect of these notoriously exploited workers, who have no right
to insurance, organization or overtime.

	"Behind these trade agreements are people," said Lina Aresteo from a
Mexican union of women textile workers. The union is campaigning for
amendments to the Textile Labeling Act so that US consumers will know where
products are made and can assess the likelihood that they are made in
sweatshops.

	Stephen Bartlett of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Agricultural
Missions warned that "suicide is the number one cause of death among U.S.
farmers, along with cancer from pesticide exposure.  Of every ten former
dairy farmers in Wisconsin, only one is now still producing milk because of
depressed prices."

	The Stony Point consultation was the last in a series of six. The
first was held in 1999 in Asia, and subsequent consultations took place in
Central and Eastern Europe and the South Pacific in 2001, in Western Europe
in 2002, and in Latin America in 2003.	Participants in the earlier
consultations reported to the North American gathering.

	The consultation produced a document on "Fair and just trade" and a
plan of action that will be released later this month.

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