[Imc] Locals Travel to Quebec City Protests - updated contact

[Danielle Chynoweth]

- second posting with updated contact phone number -

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Danielle Chynoweth
(217) 637-2018
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
218 West Main, Suite 110, Urbana, IL 61801

*********************************************************************************
Local Citizens and Independent Journalists Travel to Protests
Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas
Daily Communications Provided by the Independent Media Center:
http://urbana.indymedia.org
*********************************************************************************

PRESS CONFERENCE
On Tuesday April 17, 6:45 PM, local citizens and independent journalists
traveling to the protests in Quebec City against the Free Trade Area of
the Americas (FTAA) are holding a press conference at the Urbana-Champaign
Independent Media Center (UCIMC) at 218 West Main St. in downtown Urbana.
Protesters will describe their opposition to the FTAA.  Independent
journalists will explain why it is necessary to travel to Quebec City to
make on-the-ground reports.

DAILY COMMUNICATIONS
Thursday, April 19 through Sunday April 22, the Independent Media Center
will be providing daily communications from Quebec City in audio and print
format through the web site: http://urbana.indymedia.org.  Additionally,
the IMC will act as a liaison to provide journalists with up to the minute
contact numbers for Urbana residents in Quebec City.  Minidisc and/or CD
recordings of daily communications may be available upon request.  Please
contact Danielle Chynoweth at 637-2018 to make arrangements.

INFORMATION ON THE FTAA
Free Trade Area of the Americas, an international free trade agreement
currently under negotiation that, if implemented, will extend the
provisions of NAFTA to 34 countries of North and South America, excluding
Cuba.   The next round of negotiations will be held during the Summit of
the Americas meeting in Quebec City from April 20-22.  Tens of thousands
of activists from across the Americas are expected to descend on the city
in protest.

Attendees include some Urbana residents who attended protests against the
World Trade Organization in Seattle in November of 1999 and against the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C. in April of
2000.

Reporters from the UCIMC are planning to cover the negotiations, protests,
and security measures.  These measures include increased security at the
U.S. - Canadian border and a two-mile long 9 foot fence fixed in concrete
barriers tipped with barbed wire erected around central Quebec City to
keep protesters out.

Protesters have repeatedly accused the numerous treaties and organizations
that manage the global economy - NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, etc - of being secretive and
undemocratic.  FTAA critics cite that only Canada has made public its
official negotiation texts.  Not even the US House of Representatives has
been given access to the US position, while over 500 corporate
representatives have been given access both to negotiating documents and
to the negotiators themselves.  In addition, the latest round of
negotiations are being held in Quebec City - the only walled city in North
America.

Critics of the FTAA believe that the new trade agreement would weaken
environmental safeguards and workers rights and disproportionately harm
women and people of color. The agreement would restrict the ability of
countries to adopt environmental and worker protection laws if such laws
are determined to be "barriers to free trade."  The FTAA would encourage
privatization of public services, such as schools and utilities, making
these essential services a for-profit endeavor, and activists point to a
number of historic examples of failed privatization schemes. Activists
cite NAFTA's record to support their position: an estimated half million
US jobs lost,  8 million Mexican families pushed out of the middle class
and into poverty, and approximately 28,000 small business closures in
Mexico, and a drastic increase in forest clear-cutting, soil erosion, and
improper waste disposal in Mexico, the US, and Canada since NAFTA's
implementation in 1994.

Proponents of the FTAA counter that free trade, deregulation, and
increased economic integration are essential for improving the quality of
life, working conditions, and environmental safeguards across the
Americas.  The free market, they argue, will increase overall economic
activity, which will in turn improve the standard of living overall.  They
cite the 1990's US economic expansion to support their view that the
provisions of NAFTA has been successful.  Some supporters of the FTAA view
protesters as misinformed but well-meaning individuals frightened by
progress; others accuse their opponents of being protectionists or
isolationists who oppose trade.

Behind the debate over the specific provisions of the FTAA lies a deeper
schism on the future of the global economy.  It is clear from the recent
history of protests, that a grassroots movement against free trade is
growing in size and intensity.