Call for Local Actions: Mobilize against the Central America Free Trade Agreement,
December 8-12!

The next battle against the FTAA is CAFTA!

We stopped the FTAA in Miami at least for now. It's time to get mobilized to stop the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) - the next step toward the FTAA and the Bush administration's cynical use of "free trade agreements" to expand a system of corporate rule.

The Bush administration has been moving quickly and quietly for the past 10 months to "negotiate" a free trade agreement with five nations of Central America in order to regain momentum toward the hemisphere wide FTAA. The CAFTA is to be completed during the final round of negotiations in Washington, D.C. the week of December 8-12, 2003.

Defeating CAFTA will set back the already reeling FTAA process, perhaps for good. Throughout Central America and the U.S. people have been organizing. Thousands have marched in Managua, San Salvador, and San Jose. Negotiations have been picketed in Cincinnati, Houston and New Orleans.

The coalition against CAFTA (see partial list below) is calling for local actions during the week of December 8-12, to express opposition to this agreement. CAFTA may go to a vote in Congress this spring, so the office of your member of Congress is a good target for a local action.

Some suggested actions

• Congress will go home after Thanksgiving, so organize a delegation and meet with your representative. Lobby materials are available at www.quixote.org/quest
• Organize a Workshop on CAFTA for a community organization - materials (in Spanish or English - English version will be completed soon) are available from United for Fair Economy (www.ufenet.org).
• Hold a "fair trade" sale, with fair trade coffee and other products. Raise money for a local action and raise awareness about alternatives. Check with Transfair USA (www.transfairuse.org) for list of certified fair trade distributors.
• Have a teach-in at a local university. Contact Tom Ricker (tomr@quixote.org) for help if you need a speaker.
• Picket a local Federal Office Building
• Collect ballots against CAFTA and deliver to your member of Congress. Witness for Peace has a CAFTA/FTAA ballot available(www.witnessforpeace.org). Feel free to adapt to raise local issues.
• "Cookies, Call Against CAFTA" - Set up a table with a cell-phone handy and give away some a cookie to anyone willing to call their member of Congress.

Visit http://www.stopcafta.org for a list of actions and local contacts, or to post an event.

From the Stop Cafta Coalition: Campaign for Labor Rights, Quixote Center, NISGUA, CISPES, Share Foundation, US El Salvador Sister Cities, Witness for Peace, Nicaragua Network and more.