To: Fair Trade list <fairtrade-AT-egroups.com>, A16 Int'l list <a16-international-planning-AT-egroups.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 12:08:46 -0700
Subject: [a16-international-planning] *URGENT* ALERT: Dump the WTO, House Vote Tues 6/20


[Please forward to anyone you think would be interested.  (Apologies for
cross-posting!)]

* URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT *

                    --- Just Say 'NO' to the WTO ---

     U.S. House VOTE scheduled for TUESDAY, June 20 on H.J. RES. 90
             to WITHDRAW U.S. approval of the WTO Agreement

* URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT * URGENT *


The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote TOMORROW, June
20, on H.J. Res. 90 (House Joint Resolution 90) to withdraw the approval
of the United States from the Agreement establishing the World Trade
Organization.

(U.S. readers) Please call or fax your Representative in Congress right
away, and ask him/her to vote for H.J. Res. 90, to withdraw
Congressional approval from the WTO Agreement.  You can call the
Congressional Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 or toll-free at (888)
449-3511 (it may take a while for the operator to answer your call) and
ask to be transferred to the office of your Representative, or you can
call or fax your Representative's Washington, D.C. or local office
directly.  Phone and fax numbers for Members of Congress are usually
listed in the front of most phone books, or if you don't know who your
Representative is, you can find out on the Web from Project Vote Smart
-- just go to http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml and enter your
9-digit zip code, and it will tell you the names of your federal and
state elected officials, and you can click on them to get their office
phone numbers, fax numbers, addresses and other information.

Although we received extremely short notice on this and the WTO has way
too many supporters in Congress, I think it's important to get as much
support as possible for H.J. Res. 90 and to let our representatives know
that we demand policies that work for people, not global economic rules
made up by corporate bureaucrats to ensure that the biggest
megacorporations and the wealthiest investors get to own and run the
world for their own benefit!

This resolution has received very little media or public attention, even
on WTO-related e-mail lists, so please pass this on to anyone else you
think might be interested, and with the extremely short time frame on
this, please consider calling people you forward this to, to let them
know to check their e-mail and get right on this!

Further information and Website references for H.J. Res. 90 and the WTO
are provided below.

Please contact me if you are interested in further updates on this
legislation or information that may not be distributed to this list on
other issues related to globalization, corporatization, militarization,
privatization and the global grassroots renaissance of democracy,
liberty, peace and human values.

Thank you,

Ron Rowe
Santa Barbara Alliance for Democracy
(Citizens' Alliance of Santa Barbara)
P.O. Box 2170
Simi Valley, CA 93062
(805) 581-3250
Fax: (805) 579-3825
E-mail: rogor-AT-delphi.com

+++

          HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 90 (H.J. RES. 90)
     TO WITHDRAW U.S. APPROVAL FROM THE WTO AGREEMENT

H.J. Res. 90 was introduced in March by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), and has
been cosponsored by Reps. Hunter (R-CA), Norwood (R-GA), Chenoweth-Hage
(R-ID), Taylor (D-MS), Ney (R-OH), Traficant (D-OH), Coburn (R-OK),
Duncan (R-TN) and Metcalf (R-WA).

The resolution does not formally order the U.S. to withdraw from the
WTO, but withdraws the approval of the U.S. Congress from the Agreement
that established the WTO.  It simply states:

                        H. J. RES. 90

                      JOINT RESOLUTION

     Withdrawing the approval of the United States from the
     Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization.

     Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,
     That the Congress withdraws its approval, provided
     under section 101(a) of the Uruguay Round Agreements
     Act, of the WTO Agreement as defined in section 2(9) of
     that Act.

H.J. Res. 90 was unanimously opposed by the House Ways and Means
Committee with a "recommend[ation] that the joint resolution do not
pass."  In their report, the Committee refers to the President's
five-year report on U.S. participation in the WTO, citing the
"accomplishments that took place during the last five years, including:
(1) expanded market access; (2) protection for intellectual property
rights; (3) development of a sound and effective system to settle
disputes; (4) expansion of the rule of law; (5) conclusion of historic
agreements governing financial services, basic telecommunications
services, and information technology; (6) progress on the so-called
``built-in'' agenda to continue to liberalize agriculture and services;
(7) progress on negotiations on electronic commerce; (8) growth in WTO
membership from 119 nations in 1995 to 135 in 1999; and (9) the
significant progress toward accession of China and Taiwan, two countries
comprising over 21 percent of the world's population."

The Committee stated that it "concurs with the results of the
President's five-year review of the WTO that U.S. participation in the
global trading system is vital to ``America's long term economic and
strategic interests, continued prosperity and strengthening the rule of
law around the world.'' "  It praised the WTO's dispute settlement
process, noting that "[t]he United States has prevailed in 25 of its 27
complaints acted on so far", but expressed its "great concern" that "the
European Union has refused to come into compliance with WTO rulings
against their import restrictions on bananas and hormone treated beef."

The Committee's report further stated: "Although the WTO Ministerial
meeting, hosted by the United States in December 1999, failed to result
in agreement to begin a new comprehensive round of WTO trade
negotiations, Member Governments did succeed earlier this year in
launching talks to reform further agriculture trade and to expand
commitments from WTO Members with respect services trade. The Committee
views both of these sectors as critical to U.S. economic growth. Agenda
items supported by the Committee in relation to the future operation of
the WTO include addressing new issues such as biotechnology and
electronic commerce."

In introducing H.J. Res. 90, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) stated that "the World
Trade Organization is nothing other than a vehicle for managed trade
whereby the politically connected get the benefits of exercising their
position as a preferred group; preferred, that is, by the Washington and
international political and bureaucratic establishments.  As a
representative of the people of the 14th District of Texas and a Member
of the United States Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution of this
country, it is not my business to tell other countries whether or not
they should be in the World Trade Organization. They can toss their own
sovereignty out the window if they choose. ... I can, however, say that
the United States of America ought to withdraw its membership and
funding from the WTO immediately."

Co-sponsor Rep. Jack Metcalf (R-WA) quoted Emile Durkheim: "The
corporations are to become the elementary division of the state, the
fundamental political unit.  They will efface the distinction between
public and private, dissect the democratic citizenry into discrete
functional groupings which are no longer capable of joint political
action."  Metcalf went on to say that the WTO "has assumed an
unprecedented degree of American sovereignty over the economic regime of
the nation and, the world.  Then who are the sovereigns?  Is it the
people, the "nation" in nation-state?  I do not believe so.  I would
argue that who governs rules; who rules is sovereign.  And the people of
America and their elected representatives do not rule nor govern at the
WTO but corporate diplomats (a word decidedly oxymoronic). ... We are
not yet the United Corporations of America!  Or are we?? ..."
  -- http://www.house.gov/metcalf/spwto.htm

In an addendum to the House Ways and Means report on H.J. Res 90, Rep.
Pete Stark (D-CA) stated: "The lack of leadership from our
Administration in the WTO has allowed transnational organizations to
dictate U.S. trade policy while consumer protections, labor, environment
and human rights have not been considered relevant issues in the world
body. The Executive Branch has fought fervently for intellectual
property rights but lacks the same zeal when it comes to the survival of
the species. ... No one will dispute that trade increasingly involves
broad public policy matters, yet there are no representatives of labor,
environment, or human rights non-governmental organizations on most WTO
trade advisory committees. Industry representatives are the sole members
on the vast majority of trade advisory committees and this is simply
wrong.  We cannot expect to have the interests of labor, the environment
and the oppressed represented by those who are motivated by the bottom
line. ...  On more than one occasion, the Administration has pressured
other countries not to enact protections for the environment or public
health. The U.S. lobbied against Japan's consideration of new fuel
economy standards as well as Europe's proposals to protect children from
toxic toys. Again, the public was unaware that this was taking place
until after it had transpired. ... The U.S. must set the standard for
improving domestic and global conditions, not lead in the race to the
bottom for the sake of multinational profit."

In the preface to "Whose Trade Organization?  Corporate Globalization
and the Erosion of Democracy" by Lori Wallach, Ralph Nader writes: "In
approving the far-reaching, powerful World Trade Organization and other
international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade
Agreement, the U.S. Congress ... has ceded much of its capacity to
independently advance health and safety standards that protect citizens
and has accepted harsh legal limitations on what domestic policies it
may pursue.  Approval of these agreements has institutionalized a global
economic and political structure that makes every government
increasingly hostage to a global financial and commerce system ... that
favors corporate interests. ... This new system is not based on the
health and economic well-being of people, but rather on the enhancement
of the power and wealth of the world's largest corporations and
financial institutions.  Under this new system, many decisions affecting
people's daily lives are being shifted away from our local and national
governments and instead are being made by a group of unelected trade
bureaucrats sitting behind closed doors in Geneva, Switzerland. ...
Moreover, once the WTO's secret tribunals issue their edicts, no
independent appeals are possible.  Worldwide conformity is required."

The Congressional Research Service confirmed: "As a member of the WTO,
the United States does commit to act in accordance with the rules of the
multilateral body.  It [the U.S.] is legally obligated to ensure
national laws do not conflict with WTO rules." (8/25/99)

The International Network on Disarmament and Globalization reports: "The
WTO's agenda of promoting unfettered capitalism at the expense of a
government's ability to control its economy for the benefit of its
people contributes to poverty, human rights violations, environmental
degradation - all of the root causes of war. ... The result is the
creation of the 'global war system.'  In the emerging economies of the
south, corporations demand weak labour and environmental standards to
extract natural resources or build goods destined for northern markets.
The economic interests of transnational corporations are protected by
the technologically advanced militaries of their allies in northern
governments. And occasionally, 'cruise missile diplomacy' is used
against a non-conforming nation."
  -- "The WTO and War: Making the Connection", http://www.indg.org

Canadian economics professor Michel Chossudovsky, the author of "The
Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms" wrote:
"The only promise of the 'free market' is a World of landless farmers,
shuttered factories, jobless workers and gutted social programmes with
'bitter economic medicine' under the WTO and the IMF constituting the
only prescription. ... There can be no other alternative but to reject
the WTO as an international institution, ... citizens' movements around
the World must pressure their governments to withdraw without delay and
cancel their membership with the WTO. Legal proceedings must also be
initiated in national courts against the governments of member
countries, underscoring the blatant violation of domestic laws and
national constitutions. ... [T]he citizens' platform in Seattle and
around the World must be geared towards disarming this economic system
and dismantling its institutions.  ... We must question the legitimacy
of a system which ultimately destroys people's lives. ... A major thrust
is required which brings together social movements in all major regions
of the world in a common pursuit and commitment to the elimination of
poverty and a lasting World peace."
  -- "Seattle and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order" by Michel
Chossudovsky,
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm

Further information on H.J. Res. 90 is available at:
  http://thomas.loc.gov
and at:
  http://www.stopwto.org

Further information on the WTO is available at:
  http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/tradehome.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.




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