[asia-apec 1734] Action Alert on FTAA

[Anuradha Mittal]

An Action Alert from Public Citizen.

Please Post Widely

DON'T FORGET:  Tomorrow is the day that EVERYONE calls their Members of
Congress to tell them that citizens say "NO to NAFTA for the Americas - 
NO to the FTAA"!  They're all at home on recess this week, so check your 
local blue pages for their home office numbers.  Then call their trade 
staffers back in Washington via the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 
and/or their local offices ( see contact info for Bay Area legislators 
below) to deliver the same message.  Check out the action alert below 
and pass it on to friends, family and activist allies.

Please post widely!

ACTION ALERT - ACTION ALERT - ACTION ALERT

All-Call Day of Action Thursday, February 22:
"NO NAFTA for the Americas - NO FTAA"!

Thousands of fair trade activists delivered "wake-up calls" to the U.S.
Congress last month to demand that our Representatives get involved in
breaking the silence around secret negotiations to create "NAFTA for the 
Americas." Formally called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), 
it is an expansion of NAFTA to all 35 countries in the western 
hemisphere but one (that's Cuba).  We reminded Congress that FTAA is 
NAFTA all over again, and that we won't stand for sending living-wage 
jobs to union-busting sweatshops to save Big Business a buck, for 
endangering regulations that protect public health and safety and the 
environment, and the "investor-to-state" rules that allow corporations 
to sue governments -- at taxpayer expense! -- anytime they feel that 
laws designed to protect people and communities limit their profit 
margins.

Now you have their attention.  Last month, a bipartisan group of 63
Representatives sent a letter to the White House, demanding that the 
U.S. Trade Representative start consulting Congress about the 
negotiations, as required by the Constitution, and that the negotiations 
process be opened so that all documents on FTAA are available to the 
public.  So Congress is growing more aware of our concerns.  But the big 
challenges are still ahead of us!  Trade negotiators are going ahead 
with planned meetings this April on FTAA -- without input from citizens 
or our elected representatives.  We must keep the pressure on Members of 
Congress to join the fight against
NAFTA for the Americas!

HERE'S YOUR CHANCE: CONGRESS IS COMING HOME! The first recess period of 
the 107thCongress is coming up, February 16-26, and this is your chance 
to speak up again while they're on your home turf.

YOU can help stop NAFTA for the Americas!  This week, here's how:

 Get a meeting!  The best way to make an impression is to talk to your
Representative face to face.  Put together a diverse group of people 
from your district (union representatives, environmental leaders, local
officials, students, human rights advocates...) and request a meeting at 
your hometown office, or go on your own.  Don't take no for an answer!  
If the Representative can't meet, find out if a staffer is available or 
ask about the schedule for town hall meetings so that you can address 
your concerns there.  Talking points and sample meeting request letters 
are at

www.tradewatch.org.

  Be part of the national All-Call Day on FTAA on Thursday, Feb. 22!  
Call your Representative and Senators at their district offices.  These 
local numbers can be found in your phone book blue pages, or from their 
official websites (check www.house.gov and www.senate.gov).   Then call 
their trade staffers in Washington through the Capitol Switchboard 
(202-224-3121).  Ask them to commit to oppose the "NAFTA for the 
Americas"!

Write a letter to the editor!  Samples are online at www.tradewatch.org. 
If your Representative hasn't stated his or her position on "NAFTA for 
the Americas" yet, this is a good place to ask them, publicly, to do it 
-- especially if he or she turned down your request for a meeting!

  Report back!  If your Representative or Senators tell you about their
positions on FTAA, we want to know so that we can thank fair trade 
champions and keep the heat on those who favor profits over people.  
Call us at 202- 546-4996 and ask for the Global Trade Watch field team, 
or email alesha at citizen.org.

Call:
US Senator Barbara Boxer-
  (202) 224-3553;
  e-mail:  <senator at boxer.senate.gov>
  112 Hart Building, Washington, DC, 20510;
   (415) 403-0100;  (415) 956-6701 (fax);
  1700 Montgomery St. #240, SF/CA/94111;
 
  US Senator Diane Feinstein-
  (202) 224-3841, (202) 228-3954 (fax);
  e-mail:  <senator at feinstein.senate.gov>
  331 Hart Building, Washington, DC, 20510;
  (415) 536-6868
  525 Market St, #3670, SF/CA/94105;

   US Congress Member Tom Lantos-
  (202)  225-3531;
  2217 Rayburn Bldg., Washington DC, 20515;
  (650) 342-0300;  (415) 566-5257;
  (650) 375-8270 (fax);  400 S. El Camino Real,    #410, San Mateo, CA,
94402;

   US Congress Member Nancy Pelosi-
  (202) 225-4965, (202) 225-8259 (fax);
  e-mail:  <sf.nancy at mail.house.gov>;
  2457 Rayburn Bldg., Washington DC, 20515;
  (415) 556-4862;
  450 Golden Gate Ave, #145380, SF/CA/94102


For more information on "NAFTA for the Americas" and how YOU can be part 
of the "Campaign of Inquiry" to uncover the truth about these 
negotiations, visit www.tradewatch.org or call Public Citizen's Global 
Trade Watch at 202-546-4996.

Alesha Daughtrey
Senior Organizer/FTAA coordinator
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
+202-454-5103 (tel)/+202-547-7392 (fax)
215 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington, DC  20003   USA
alesha at citizen.org
www.tradewatch.org

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