It's not just Miami-Dade County that will be the site of marches and other protests next month, when business groups and trade ministers gather in Miami to craft a 34-nation Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Protesters also will cross Broward County on Nov. 16-18 in a 34-mile march south to Miami. Participating farm workers and other grassroots groups reject free trade as "a race to the bottom" that hurts the poor, organizers from South Florida's Root Cause coalition said Tuesday.
The coalition called a news conference in front of the Inter-Continental Hotel Miami -- where Americas' trade ministers will meet Nov. 19-21 -- to draw attention to the high stakes of free trade and to show their events will be civil and open, full of placards and slogans, but not violence.
"Our demonstrations will be absolutely peaceful … in the best tradition of our democratic right to protest," said Gihan Perera of the Miami Workers Center, while fellow free-trade critics held signs reading "Stop FTAA."
"We are trying to have a pro-active program," Perera said.
Authorities expect 20,000 to 100,000 protesters, ranging from British songwriter Billy Bragg to Canadian author and corporate critic Naomi Klein, to U.S. labor leaders and even politicians from Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, an 11-term incumbent and labor advocate, said she'll join members of Congress and the Teamsters union in Miami, after the group visits Mexico to denounce the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, that links the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Kaptur has long opposed NAFTA, arguing it would send U.S. jobs overseas. And she contends an extension of NAFTA across the Americas will hasten the U.S. job exodus, without boosting living standards abroad. Real wages have decreased in Mexico since NAFTA, she said.
To redress the problems, Kaptur, Root Cause and other free-trade critics say they want labor, environmental and civic groups to have greater input in the accords drafted by government trade ministries.
"It's not fair that a handful of people are trying to decide the fate of more than 800 million people in an FTAA," said Sushma Sheth of Root Cause.
The South Florida coalition said it will issue "Community Impact Reports" the week before FTAA trade talks detailing the impact free trade will have on South Florida's poor in wages, housing and immigration.
Other FTAA-related events announced Tuesday include:
FTAA forum in Pembroke Pines, Nov. 15: Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Broward County from 10 a.m. to noon at Southwest Regional Library, 16835 Sheridan St. in Pembroke Pines. Speakers include Thea Lee, AFL-CIO trade specialist, and Dan Seligman of Sierra Club's trade program.
Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.
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