Protesters Gearing Up for anti-FTAA protests in Quebec City and elsewhere

Protesters prepare for anti-globalization protests

Revolutionary Worker #1098, April 15, 2001, posted at rwor.org

Quebec, April 19-22, is promising to be another major flashpoint in the spirit of
Seattle, Washington, DC, and Prague. Momentum is building toward a showdown
between anti-globalization protesters and the Summit of the Americas-- where the
heads of 34 countries in North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean will
be discussing the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement).

On one side the U.S. and Canadian imperialists are determined to silence and
suppress opposition to their plans to expand their plunder of poor nations of the
Western Hemisphere. They want FTAA in place so capital is more free to flow to
seek the greatest profit, more free to exploit labor without the hindrance of health
and safety laws, and more free to expand into areas it hasn't been allowed in --like
public services. With FTAA, the Western Hemisphere will be an even more
integrated global market serving the needs of U.S. capital. And FTAA will increase
the impoverishment and environmental destruction of the people and lands of the
oppressed nations of South and Central America.

Once again, the lords of capital have assembled a massive machinery of repression.
Once again, they stand in complete fear that they will lose control and be dealt an
embarrassing defeat--as they were when tens of thousands of protesters disrupted
the WTO's annual meeting in Seattle.

One activist posting to the Center for Media Alternatives Quebec (CMAQ) website
noted, "Not since the War Measures Act, 30 years ago (when the army occupied the
city of Montreal after two public officials were kidnapped by the FLQ-Quebec
Liberation Front), has there been a greater display of the armed might of the state in
Canada than there will be in Quebec City," and not since then "has there been a
greater need for people of conscience to speak out against the repression of dissent."

FTAA Protest Plans

Many activists have been building opposition to the FTAA, and preparing for the
Quebec Summit for well over a year. Organizing activity has gone on all over
Canada and the east coast in the U.S. The protests in Quebec are building on other
actions against globalization that have taken place in Canada, including against
meetings of the OAS in Toronto in 1999 and Windsor, Ontario last year.

A wide range of different forces are planning activities for Quebec. A large
"People's Summit of the Americas" will be held April 17-21. The summit is being
headed by the RQIC (Reseau Quebecois sur L'integration Continentale-Quebec
Continental Integration Network) and includes the major Canadian labor unions. It
will bring together activists, scholars, representatives of labor and peasant groups,
and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) from all over the Western
Hemisphere. There will be forums and plenary sessions on education, agriculture,
human rights, the environment, and labor. The People's Summit is also involved
with the organization of a large permitted demonstration for April 21.

Another broad coalition organizing for protests is called Occupation Spring Quebec
2001 or OQP2001. OQP2001 includes about 30 different groups. It's also part of a
broad grouping called The Convergence Table (TAB), which includes unions,
student organizations, NGO's, religious groups, etc. TAB supports plans for direct
action against the Quebec summit. TAB was launched by a group called SalAMI that
has called for non-violent direct action at the summit as well as a people's teach-in.
A call for a women's action has also gone out all over the world.

Some of the most active and radical opponents of the summit are the Anti-Capitalist
Convergence (CLAC) and its sister group CASA-Summit of the Americas
Welcoming Committee. These two groups have called for a "Carnival Against
Capitalism" from April 17-22. CLAC is planning on opening a convergence center
to help organize and meet the needs of protesters. Plans for the carnival include
outreach to the population of Quebec city, a torchlight march to "welcome" the
opening of the summit, a day of action against the summit that allows for "a
diversity of tactics," and spokescouncil organizing meetings. CLAC describes itself
as anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. Its basis of unity statement says, "We
fundamentally reject a social and economic system based on the private ownership
of the means of production and exchange. We reject a system driven by an
exploitative logic that sees human beings as human capital, ecosystems as natural
resources, and culture as simply a commodity. We reject the idea that the world is
only valuable in terms of profit, competition and efficiency."

CLAC has especially been singled out by the authorities for its radical opposition.
Because they refuse to disavow in principle the right of the masses to fight back and
resist, they have been targeted for "advocating violence." In the face of this, it's
become especially important for activists to unite and oppose these "distancing"
tactics, as well as other efforts by authorities to isolate and set up radical forces for
attack.

A number of defiant and creative border actions are planned as part of opposition to
the FTAA. Ya Basta, a New York City collective, has called for a People's Caravan
to mobilize from all points in the Americas, to cross the Canadian border at
Cornwall, New York. The crossing is being coordinated with a group from the
Mohawk Indian tribe, who have people living on both sides of the border and have
historically resisted oppression by both the U.S. and Canadian governments. A
group of traditional Mohawks has reportedly pledged to open the bridge at Cornwall
across the border.

The Ya Basta call states, "As world capitalism relentlessly promotes 'investment'
and the 'free market' to the detriment of the freedom of people, indeed exploiting
and destroying everything in its path, we will travel to Quebec City as citizens of the
world, defying the archaic notions of nation-states and borders, and asserting the
right of free movement of people across all borders."

On the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego/Tijuana, a mass mobilization of people
from both sides of the border will gather to demand "Liberate the Border, No More
Blockades!" The organizers of this action are demanding an end to militarization of
the border, NAFTA sweatshops, the FTAA and WTO, and respect for the rights of
indigenous people. A protest in Seattle plans to march to the INS building to oppose
the FTAA and "highlight issues of immigration and amnesty."

Organizers in Kingston, Ontario have announced plans for an "anti-FTAA border
caravan" to Quebec City. Activists are planning on clogging highway 401, a main
artery for Canada-U.S. trade, and proceed to the border to hook up with people
coming across from New York state. They say if people aren't allowed to cross,
"We will close down the border. If they can't pass, nothing will." From there the
caravan plans to go to the crossing point at Cornwall and shut down the locks of the
St. Lawrence Seaway if people aren't allowed across the bridge. Border support
actions are also planned for Buffalo, New York, Vermont and the border near
Vancouver, B.C. Other solidarity protests will be held in over 50 other locations
throughout the Americas.

Many thousands of students, workers, farmers and people's organizations are
expected to protest a meeting of the Ministers for the Economy and Trade from all
countries of the Americas on April 6-7 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This meeting is
helping prepare the FTAA text for Quebec City.

Opening Shots

Things have been heating up in Quebec as the summits draw near. In the past
several months harassment and repression by the Canadian state has increased.
According to an article in the Link, a newspaper from Concordia University in
Montreal, the RCMP began making surprise visits and phone calls in January to
activists organizing for the summit protests. Through internet spying, they
developed a list of groups and individuals to target. A spokesperson for the RCMP
told the Link that they were trying to determine how many people from each group
were coming to Quebec City and who was in charge of security for the different
groups. In a blatant effort to try and encouraging snitching and divisions within the
movement, the RCMP said if groups acted as informers to turn in demonstrators
who "break things" then police would only target these demonstrators instead of
"the whole group." One activist who was called by the RCMP said, "Cops try to
become friends with you and take you under their wing before demos. But they're
really interested in repressing us."

In March, two members of CLAC and a member of the Independent Research
Collective (CRAC) were stopped from leading a workshop on capitalism and the
FTAA. The workshop, planned for Sorel-Tracy College in Quebec, was cancelled
by the school administration. Authorities gave little explanation, stating only that
that CLAC had a "confrontational attitude" towards the FTAA. At Concordia
University, two leaders of the Concordia Student Union had charges brought
against them in March for violation of University rules arising from student protests
in February. Students were demonstrating against the Canadian Armed Forces and
CSIS for their role in suppressing and criminalizing dissent in the summit protests
and in general. Meanwhile, the Concordia University senate voted unanimously to
allow students to defer final exams in order to attend the protests!

People have been outraged at Canada's repression against anti-summit activists.
Calls have been circulated for tearing down the security wall around Old Quebec
City where the summit will occur. A Quebec lawyer filed an injunction in March in
Quebec Superior court against the erection of the wall and to prevent police
interference with demonstrations.

There is broad opposition to the FTAA on many levels. One of the demands of
several of the organizing groups in Quebec has been for the FTAA draft agreement
to be made public. But the Canadian (and U.S.) government has refused to even
allow people to see the contents of this plan--which will increase exploitation,
poverty, and hardship for millions!

In Ottawa on April 2, 400 people organized by SalAMI gathered outside the foreign
ministry building to demand the release of the FTAA text. Eighty-seven people were
arrested when they climbed over barricades to conduct a "Citizens Search Warrant."
Meanwhile, Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced that the release of
the FTAA text was "absolutely unacceptable."

Thousands of riot police, miles of steel fences and at least one prison have been
readied for the protesters. Liaisons between the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted
Police), CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) and the Canadian military
have been established. Border enforcement teams are scanning IDs and faces for
known activists coming in from other countries. A number of people from the U.S.
have already been prevented from crossing into Canada. And public opinion is
being created by the police to try to intimidate protesters and cut off their support
from the people.

On the other side, thousands of ordinary people from all over Canada and the U.S.,
from Mexico and South America, are mobilizing to descend on Quebec, full of
determination that a different future will be written through their actions.

An excellent situation is shaping up for the people, with growing and broad
resistance to the FTAA, imperialist globalization, and the whole people-destroying
workings of the system. April 19-22 promises to be an exciting time as two very
different futures, on different sides of the barricades, line up in Quebec City.

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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