R i g h t a r d i a: WIN: Just what America needs, another stinking free trade agreement

Monday, July 18, 2011

WIN: Just what America needs, another stinking free trade agreement

7/17/2011

For nearly 5 years, concerns about the oppression and killing of union leaders have held up the passage of a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. But Democrats and Republicans alike have lobbied hard for it this year, and Congress moves closer every day to passing the agreement. Human rights and labor rights activists here and in Colombia are making a last-ditch effort to stop the agreement, which they say will kill jobs here, and threaten communities in Colombia. Alice Ollstein has more:

This week, faith and labor leaders gathered outside the White House with students, environmentalists, and human rights activists to protest the pending Free Trade Agreement, or FTA, with Colombia.

Dan Kovalik, the senior council of the United Steelworkers, took the mic at the rally to criticize President Obama for going back on his campaign promise to oppose the Colombia FTA. Kovalik added:

Colombia didn’t deserve a free trade agreement in 2008, as Barack Obama the candidate realized. They don’t deserve a free trade agreement now, as the President Barack Obama should realize.

Labor leader Marino Córdoba, who fled Colombia for his life in 1995, now works as an organizer for the SEIU in DC. He says his people, afro-Colombians in the region of Chocó, will be especially hurt if the agreement passes.

CORDOBA: The free trade agreement will affect directly the afro-colombian and indigenous community, because they are located in a region which is very rich in natural resources and biodiversity. So business owners, they want to develop big-scale mega-projects in that region. So the free trade agreement will be a good opportunity for them to come and to take those lands.

Congress could pass the agreements as soon as this week. Since the agreements were signed by President Bush under the Fast Track Rules, when the White House sends the final versions to Capitol Hill, it’ll be for straight up-or-down votes with no amendments allowed.