As most of you know, the next major trade ministerial meeting to discuss the FTAA will take place at the end of October in Quito, Ecuador. There are various activities planned in the Montreal-area against the Free Trade Area of the Americas in the upcoming months. This e-mail, which is by no means comprehensive, includes some info about the anti-FTAA organizing in the Montreal-area.
This notice is divided into the following sections: CLAC FTAA ACTION COMMITTEE; STUDENT STRIKE; UPCOMING EVENTS; ACT-MTL; WEBPAGES. Information about Ecuador will be sent in a separate communiqué.
-----> CLAC
The CLAC (Anti-Capitalist Convergence) has formed an FTAA Action Committee (comité de luttes) to continue the organizing work -- ranging from popular education to direct action -- that dates back to the creation of the CLAC in
March of 2000 (a full year before the Summit of the Americas in Quebec
City). In the recent months, CLAC members have organized several information
events on the FTAA, Plan Puebla Panama and Plan Colombia. One major focus is
the organization of a "Solidarity Assembly" at the end of the month, in
collaboration with student allies. We are also in touch with anti-FTAA
groups, as part of the Peoples' Global Action (PGA) network, in Brazil, and
will be sending out a joint call-out very soon. Much of the long-term
strategizing for this committee still needs to be sorted out.
NEXT MEETING ---> FRIDAY, October 4 at 6pm at the Commensal on St-Denis (corner of Ontario, near metro Berri-UQAM). This meeting is open to everyone in basic agreement with CLAC's basis of unity
(http://www.quebec2001.net/principles_en.html). Please confirm at
clac@tao.ca if you can attend.
-----> STUDENT STRIKE:
The main event against the FTAA locally will be the continental student
strike at the end of the month. In Montreal, this strike is due to happen
for two days between October 31-November 1. According to ASSÉ (Association
pour une solidarité syndicale étudiant) there will be gathering points at
3pm in front of Concordia, and at 5pm in front of Place-des-arts. There is
also supposed to be a "Solidarity Assembly," -- organized by the CLAC is
conjunction with various student allies -- to take place on the evening of
October 31. The Solidarity Assembly will involve speakers from Mexico,
Ecuador and elsewhere, as well a direct link to protesters in Quito,
Ecuador.
At Concordia, the Solidarity Network to Stop the FTAA meets every Thursday at 6pm at 2149 Mackay. For more info, phone 931-2377 or e-mail webmaster@education-action.net.
At McGill, an anti-FTAA mobilizing committee meets every Wednesday at 6pm in the Student Center (Shatner Building) on MacTavish on the McGill campus. For more info, phone 398-6798 or e-mail external@ssmu.mcgill.ca.
At UQAM, there is supposed to be a general assembly to vote on the continental strike on October 30 at 12:30pm in the Centre Sportif. Meanwhile, the ASÉ (Association Solidarité Étudiante, not to be confused with ASSÉ) at UQAM is organizing various events. The events are listed below in the section "Upcoming Events". ASÉ can be contacted at 987-3000, poste 2760, or in their office A-2480 at UQAM. Their e-mail is unite@altern.org.
At UdeM, the main group organizing against the FTAA is called CIEL (Coalition inter-departamentale des étudiant-e-s libres). For more info, write Marie-Christine at mariec_81@hotmail.com.
There are of course organizing committees at various CEGEPs. For more info, phone either the Canadian Federation of Students-Quebec at 931-2377,
webmaster@education-action.net or ASSÉ at 390-0110, asse-solidarite@hotmail.com.
A webpage, compiling most of the student strike info, is supposed
to be up soon at: http://www.snsf-rscz.com. You can also visit the CFS-Q
page at
http://www.education-action.net
or the ASSÉ site at
http://www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca
-----> UPCOMING EVENTS:
October 7 at 12:30pm in room R-M120 at UQAM there will be a lecture on the FTAA with Dorval Brunelle (in French). Organized by ASÉ. ASÉ has events organized throughout October at UQAM. Contact them at 987-3000, poste 2760, e-mail unite@altern.org or visit their office at A-2480 at UQAM for more info.
Also, on October 7, at 7pm, an activist from Mexico City will be presenting on the History of Social Struggles in Mexico. The event is presented by the anarchist collective Bete Noire, which is a NEFAC member. You can contact NEFAC at nefacmtl@yahoo.fr.
There is also an anti-FTAA film series called "Cine-Resistance" that is being presented every Monday in October (October 7, 14, 21 and 28). All events will take place at Casa Oscura in the Plateau. You can check the schedule by visiting http://www.casaobscura.org
For more events, consider subscribing to the act-mtl activist e-mail list (next section).
-----> ACT-MTL
All the groups mentioned above -- CLAC, ASSÉ, CFS-Q, ASÉ, CSU, NEFAC, etc. -- will be organizing more events in the coming weeks and months. Consider subscribing to the act-mtl e-mail list for updated info about activist
events in Montreal. To get more info about act-mtl, e-mail montreal@tao.ca.
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to lists@tao.ca with a blank subject
line and "subscribe act-mtl" as the main text (without the quotation marks).
-----> WEBSITES
Resist the FTAA page: http://www.oocities.org/ericsquire/ftaa.htm#mtl
Stop the FTAA page: http://www.stopftaa.org
CLAC: http://www.quebec2001.net
Peoples' Global Action Network: http://www.agp.org
ASSÉ: http://www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca
CFS-Q: http://www.education-action.net
Ecuador Indymedia: http://ecuador.indymedia.org
[-- Compiled by Jaggi, for the CLAC FTAA Action Committee. If you have more info, please e-mail clac@tao.ca or jaggi@tao.ca.]