Hundreds of students converged on downtown Montreal yesterday evening to denounce the veil of secrecy under which they say the Free Trade Area of the Americas is currently being negotiated.
The anti-FTAA march drew just under 1,000 people - mainly students from area universities and colleges - in a hastily organized demonstration.
"We're mostly students and public education is threatened by this agreement that doesn't discriminate between lumber, canned goods and university classes," said Éric Martin, a Université du Québec à Montréal student who attended yesterday's march.
"Everything state-funded - be it agriculture, education, health - is threatened and, as students, we are specifically threatened by this," Martin said.
Protesters fear funding to those social programs would be severely cut if the agreement is ratified.
Trade ministers from 34 countries across the Americas, excluding only Cuba, approved a watered-down framework yesterday in Miami for the world's largest free-trade bloc.
Yesterday's declaration will now be turned over to negotiators for more work, which all acknowledged would be difficult.
The final FTAA agreement, due to be reached by January 2005, will likely change what food consumers buy in supermarkets from Alaska to Argentina, as well as dictate the future jobs of the hemisphere's workers.
Martin said protesters want public input into the agreement, which has a January 2005 ratification deadline.
"People must be informed and consulted before these negotiations are concluded and must be consulted whether they want to be a part of this agreement or not," Martin said.
There were no arrests, but a police motorcycle was damaged by an overzealous protester.
Otherwise, protesters danced and sang in the streets downtown, briefly snarling rush-hour traffic.
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