Anti-CAFTA Day of Action and Outreach! Dec 8th!

Hello fellow Bay Area global justice activists,

Please consider coming out for the day of action and outreach against CAFTA (The Central America Free Trade Agreement). Folks from the Bay Area Anti-CAFTA coalition will be converging Monday, December 8th at 4:30pm at 24th and Mission to hand out educational materials.

We also encourage you all to make a call to congress (for what it's worth) and pressure them to vote no on CAFTA. We are running out of time with this so-called "free trade" agreement. A vote could be up in Congress as early as Jan 2004. You can reach reps in D.C. by calling 1-800-839-5276 or you can let SF rep Pelosi know how you feel by calling 415-556-4862.

The local action will coincide with the final round of CAFTA negotiations taking place in Washington D.C. From Dec 8th-12th. Anti-CAFTA actions are being organized in most major cities across the U.S. and in Central America.
The action also happens to be the day after the Bay Area Immigrant Worker Leadership Conference. Taking a stand against CAFTA/FTAA and for Immigrant Rights is crucial as the racist backlash against immigrants and communities of color spirals out of control.

Thank you and hope to see you on Monday, December 8th!

The Bay Area Anti-CAFTA Coalition
(MITF, NICCA, Food First, SHARE, CISPES, Guatemala Nunca Mas, among others)

P.s. If you are interested in getting involved in the Bay Area Anti-Cafta Coalition just reply to this email for details on our next meeting.


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

The next battle against the FTAA is CAFTA! When the protests and
workshops are over in Miami, it will be 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 national 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 http://www.quixote.org/quest

* Another America is Possible! Come to D.C. for a rally against CAFTA
on Sunday, December 7, 2003, 2:00 Mt Pleasant Park - e-mail Dave
Johnson (dave [at] share-elsalvador.org) for more information.

* 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
(http://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 (http://www.transfairuse.org) for
list of certified fair trade distributors.

* Have a teach-in at a local university. Contact Tom Ricker
(tomr [at] 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
(http://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 anyway 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: Quixote Center, NISGUA, CISPES, Share
Foundation, US El Salvador Sister Cities, Witness for Peace, Nicaragua
Network and more.