Brazil Begins FTAA Plebiscite

  
Monday, September 1 marked the beginning of a national plebiscite in Brazil aimed at rejecting the FTAA. Thirty-four organizations, including the Catholic Church, are acting as sponsors. The plebiscite will run for the week between September 1-7, 2002 as part of a hemispheric plan being promoted by the Hemispheric Social Alliance to create a popular expression of repudiation of the current round of trade negotiations. Each country will be taking a different approach to creating a public reaction to the FTAA.

In the US, for instance, the San Francisco Labor Council has reiterated its opposition to the FTAA and declared its support for the National People's Consultation. It called on all California unions to maximize the number of union members who "become aware of the dangers of the FTAA, to allow more of us to effectively lobby our members of Congress, so that finally, when the FTAA comes before Congress for a vote, it will be defeated." Many such votes at the labor and municipal government level are contemplated here in the United States. In addition, a series of town meetings are being organized as a way to show popular repudiation of the negotiations.

Several million voters are expected to participate in Brazil's plebiscite. The union movement alone has pledged that it will gather three million votes. The total could reach 10 million, according to the organizers. Thirty thousand volunteers are involved in promoting the activity. Significantly, the Workers Party of front-running presidential candidate Luiz In�cio "Lula" da Silva decided not to participate in the campaign. Lula says he is in favor of negotiating a FTA, but not the one currently under consideration. Instead, he advocates strengthening Mercosur, a strategy similar to the current Brazilian administration's support for a building block approach based on a "South American Free Trade Treaty." This idea was scuttled by the economic meltdown of the southern hemisphere. Current Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has also been critical of the content of the current trade negotiations. He recently made strong remarks against provisions on agriculture and protectionism in both the FTAA and the WTO.

The plebiscite ballot has three questions: Are you for or against the FTAA? Are you for or against Brazil's participation in the negotiations for a FTAA? And, are you for or against the ceding the Alcantara (Maranh�o) Base to the United States? This last question has to do with a space launch facility that the US wants to lease from Brazil to send up unmanned rockets with civilian and military payloads.

It is doubtful that any other country has the social organization to stage such an ambitious consultation as the one in Brazil. However, Brazil's example will weigh heavily on other countries and social movements as they plan their own reaction to the FTAA negotiations. The "official" results of the Brazilian plebiscite will be announced on September 17 in S�o Paulo.