CANADA: Thousands rally against corporate globalisation

WINDSOR, Ontario — On June 4, 3000 people demonstrated against a meeting
of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Windsor, Ontario.

 The OAS, which is based in Washington, involves the heads of state
of all countries in the Americas except Cuba which has no voting rights.
The immediate agenda of the OAS is to establish the Free Trade Area of
the Americas (FTAA).

An extension of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the FTAA
aims to consolidate the western hemisphere into one “free trade” zone through
a process it calls “economic unification”. Any extension of “free trade”
in the Americas will inevitably result in even greater exploitation of
workers (particularly those in the Third World Americas), infringements
on human rights and destruction of the environment.

The June 4 protesters demanded that human rights, workers' rights and
the preservation of the environment take priority over the profits of transnational
corporations and capitalist governments. A wide range of organisations
participated, including the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the Canadian
Auto Workers, Students Against Sweatshops, the National Action Committee
on the Status of Women and environmental groups.

Activists from the United States also joined the demonstration, although
dozens were detained or turned back at the US-Canada border.

The demonstration was organised by the OAS/FTAA Shutdown Coalition,
which is made up of labour, human rights and environmental activists.

When demonstrators tried to hang a banner on one of the barricades that
police had set up throughout Windsor, the police reacted violently. According
to a reporter from one Canadian television network, the police gave no
warning before pepper-spraying and arresting activists. Dozens of protesters
were arrested and nine remain in police custody.

The demonstration in Windsor was followed, on June 13, by another protest
action at a meeting of the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Alberta.
A particular target was BP Amoco's group chief executive, John Browne,
whose keynote address was disrupted by two activists who unfurled a banner
stating: “BP Amoco and PetroChina: Get out of Tibet”.

BP Amoco, along with Enron and Agip, is involved in the construction
of the Sebei-Lanzhou gas pipeline through Tibet, which activists say will
severely adversely affect the Tibetan people and environment.

BY BECKY ELLIS

From GLW issue 409