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This section contains writings that focus (at least primarily) on matters of genocide, colonialism, decolonization, and activism.

This section is devoted to legal material and various other writings to help you get a handle on the reality of states and corporations. The rest is for reference purposes.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) were created at the Bretton Woods Meetings in 1944, where finance ministers from the countries emerging victorious from WWII met to design a new archtiecture for the modern international economy. The Bank was set up to help rebuild war-torn Europe, but soon thereafter turned its focus to the "underdeveloped" world to bring poor countries into the international economy... (from http://www.ifg.org/analysis/imf/imf.htm)

  • The IMF and Corporate Welfare The IMF and Corporate Welfare 73KB
  • Resistance to IMF Policies in Poor Countries Resistance to IMF Policies in Poor Countries 73KB
  • ART_20 Questions about the IMF 20 Questions about the IMF 30KB
  • Top 10 Reasons to Oppose the IMF Top 10 Reasons to Oppose the IMF 34KB

    • The World Trade Organization (WTO) is among the most powerful, and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 149 nation-states, including the U.S., have ceded to its vast authority and powers. The WTO represents the rules-based regime of the policy of economic globalization. The central operating principal of the WTO is that commercial interests should supersede all others. Any obstacles in the path of operations and expansion of global business enterprise must be subordinated. In practice these "obstacles" are usually policies or democratic processes that act on behalf of working people, labor rights, environmental protection, human rights, consumer rights, social justice, local culture, and national sovereignty. (from http://www.ifg.org/analysis/wto/aboutwto.htm)

  • The WTO Erodes Human Rights Protections The WTO Erodes Human Rights Protections 12KB
  • ART_Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the WTO Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the WTO 8KB
  • ART_WTO-Derailed-a-concise-history WTO Derailed -- a concise history 46KB

    • Sometimes dubbed "NAFTA on steroids", the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) would expand NAFTA to 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere (it excludes Cuba). The FTAA has nine negotiating groups responsible for drafting chapters on market access, agriculture, investment, services, government procurement, dispute settlement, intellectual property rights, subsidies, antidumping and countervailing duties and competition policy. The US and Canadian governments want to extend and deepen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA - between Canada, the USA and Mexico) to another 31 countries, impacting the lives and environments of 800 million people.

    From Canada to Argentina, the FTAA has been strongly opposed from Canada down to Argentina, by social movements, trade unions, NGOs and communities mobilizing against the neoliberal policies which it promotes.

    A January 2005 deadline for concluding FTAA negotiations now seems unlikely. A number of governments, such as Brazil and Venezuela, have been increasingly vocal in their criticism of the US agenda in FTAA negotiations, and so it comes as no surprise that the US has been increasing its push to conclude the subregional Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and far-reaching bilateral free trade and investment agreements with several countries from the region. (from http://www.bilaterals.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=16)

  • How the FTAA Affects You How the FTAA Affects You 25KB
  • ART_top ten reasons to oppose the FTAA.pdf Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the FTAA 57KB

    • NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Agreement - is a comprehensive, groundbreaking free trade and investment agreement which took effect on 1 January 1994, involving the governments of Canada, Mexico and the USA.

    It is an expansion of the 1989 Canada-US Trade Agreement (CUSTA) and is seen as a landmark in setting higher standards in a range of areas, including agriculture, investment, intellectual property, and services.

    NAFTA, dubbed a “death sentence” for Mexico’s campesinos and Indigenous Peoples, has led to strong and sustained resistance from a broad spectrum of Mexico’s population. It was one of the catalysts for the Zapatista uprising. Since it came into effect, cheap, subsidized US corn has flooded the market, sold at prices below the cost of production, with which campesinos cannot compete. This has led to massive displacement, poverty, and hunger. (from http://www.bilaterals.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=14)

  • The Mexican rebellion and NAFTA The Mexican rebellion and NAFTA 17KB
  • Indepth Reports on NAFTA Indepth Reports on NAFTA 62KB
  • ART_GATT-NAFTA-and-the-subversion-of-the-democratic-process GATT-NAFTA-and-the-subversion-of-the-democratic-process 17KB

    • After years of experience with the structural adjustment policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the people of Central America know all-too-well the impact of neo-liberal policies on farmers and the working poor. Following the advice of the World Bank and the IMF, these countries opened their markets to U.S. agriculture products. The flood of cheap, U.S. government-subsidized foods has driven thousands of family farmers off their lands and into urban slums where the only opportunities are sweatshop jobs, begging and street crime.

    CAFTA will exacerbate this situation by locking these countries into dangerous policies that undermine their governments' ability to protect food security, workers rights, and public services such as water, healthcare and education. CAFTA makes it impossible for nations to ensure that foreign investment serves development goals. (from http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/cafta/background.htm)

  • Top ten reasons to oppose CAFTA Top ten reasons to oppose CAFTA 56KB
  • What Rhymes with NAFTA but smells worse? What Rhymes with NAFTA but smells worse?

    • Plan Puebla Panamá encompasses a wide range of projects designed to facilitate the exploitation of resources in Mesoamérica, and to transform areas of its land to create more "efficient" trade routes for global markets. Mexico and Central America is the isthmus linking North and South America between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.This region is extremely rich in resources, especially farmland, forests, fossil fuels, biodiversity, and human labor. Disguised as a development project by its funding institutions, such as the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank, the PPP offers these resources up to transnational corporations. It builds the infrastructure needed to conduct big business and export goods, including transporation infrastructure (e.g. roads, railroads, and ports), energy infrastructure (e.g. hydro-electric dams, mines, oil and gas piplines), maquiladoras (sweatshop factories), and the biotech-friendly Mesoamerican Biological Corridor...But, this "development" project offers little to the people of the region. from http://www.beehivecollective.org/english/ppp1.htm)

  • PPP: Plan Puebla Panama, or Private Plans for Profit? PPP: Plan Puebla Panama, or Private Plans for Profit?
  • Frequently Asked Questions about the Plan Puebla Panama Frequently Asked Questions about the Plan Puebla Panama
  • Plan Puebla Panama: Battle Over the Future of Mesoamerica Plan Puebla Panama: Battle Over the Future of Mesoamerica

    • The purpose of this section is twofold. First it's to give people an accurate picture of where indigenous people generally stand on the issues. Second, it's to further illustrate what Taiaike Alfred and Jeff Corntassel pointed out in A decade of rhetoric for indigenous peoples--- that, while there's certainly no lack of skill toward articulating our rights, wants, needs, and concerns, it's getting to the point where we are becoming saturated with words. This distracts us from finding and implementing the solutions we speak of.


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