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Australian Greens Send Letter of Support to Green Party for Opposing the FTAA. |
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Wed 19th November 2003 The attached letter was received today, from the office of Australian federal Senator Kerry Nettle, one of two Greens elected to the Australian national parliament (and one of the vocal protesters at George Bush's recent speech to the parliament in Canberra). At our Green Party press conference in Miami tomorrow, this Australian support will be announced. We have also made arrangements for Deputy Leonardo Alvarez of the Mexican Green Party, a member of Mexico's Congress, to speak at our press conference. Every day, our connections with Greens in other countries grow stronger, offering new opportunities for joint work and resistance to corporate globalization, militarism, and ecological devastation. AUSTRALIAN GREENS LETTER OF SUPPORT TO GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES ANTI-FTAA CAMPAIGN Dear friends, The Australian Greens write to offer support in this critical moment of your campaign against the FTAA and for fair trade. While you fight the unfair FTAA, we are staring down the barrel of the proposed US-Australia free trade agreement. The US FTAA represents a similarly unacceptable move away from democracy and toward the increased power of unaccountable corporations. We are campaigning to maintain our access to affordable medicines; to protect Australian cultural industries that shape and reflect our identity; for the right to regulate and label GM produce; for the right to maintain government supply of essential services such as water, health and education. Like you we are campaigning to stop this 'free' trade agreement. Our governments are pursuing these trading agreements in secret, without the meaningful participation of civil society or even the consent of our elected representatives. We must work together to defeat these unfair trading agreements and further our work towards building an international trading system that is environmentally, socially, economically and culturally equitable. The Australian Greens enjoy taking our activism into parliament, working to raise community awareness and marching with a growing movement in the streets. We stand firm on our commitment to working towards a more just society and to making Australia a global citizen we can be proud of. As you work towards achieving these ends in the US and with your networks throughout the Americas, we in Australia are standing beside you. Our collaboration represents the joining of two fair
trade activist networks, and the strengthening of an international
movement. We wish you the best of luck for this week of protest and look
forward to working more with the Green Party of the United States and
other Green parties around the world. |