April 23, 2001
No Country Eligible to Join FTAA
"We have agreed on a democracy clause," Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced today at a Summit of the Americas press conference. "Only countries with democratic governments will be able to participate in the Free Trade Area of the Americas."
NFU Women's President Shannon Storey commented, "Then we won't have an agreement. We know of no democratic governments in the western hemisphere."
Storey's remark was based on a poll taken at the April 17-18 Agriculture Forum, organized by the NFU as part of the alternative People's Summit of the Americas. The Agriculture Forum drew leaders and organizers belonging to a wide range of farm, peasant and indigenous peoples' organizations from about 15 countries across the western hemisphere to Quebec City.
"We asked participants to stand if they came from democratically governed countries," Storey recalled. "No one stood. Not the Brazilians, not the Mexicans - not such a surprise, perhaps, but neither did the people from the United States and Canada. Not one of the hundred and ten people present believed that they came from a democratic country. Our experiences as farmers and farming people have taught us that we do not have real democracy in our countries. We are governed by people who look after corporations, not citizens."
In addresses to the Agriculture Forum and on April 21st to the People's Summit marchers, Jose Bove of Europe's Confederation des Paysans Europeen reiterated, "Democracy has been betrayed by governments everywhere. Violence is inside the barrier here in Quebec, not outside of it."
In a presentation to the Agriculture Forum, Blanca Chancoso of CONIAE, an indigenous people's group in Ecuador which played a key role in forcing the resignation of Ecuador's president last year, had some hard comments to make about the so-called democratic structures that exist in her own country. "We thought we had won a victory," she said, "but we made a mistake. We changed only some people. We did not change the structure of government. And so we have the same problems."
Ecuador is among the supposed democracies participating in this week's official Summit of the Americas.
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For more information, contact:
Shannon Storey (306) 227-3697 or
Darrin Qualman at (306) 221-5421 or (306) 652-9465.