From: Juliette Beck (juliette@globalexchange.org)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2002 - 16:46:09 EST
On Tuesday, February 5th at 10:00 PM please tune in to the Bill Moyers
documentary on PBS entitled: "Trading Democracy", an hour-long investigation
into one of the most insidious aspects of NAFTA: Investor-to-State lawsuits.
(check www.pbs.org for local listings; Trading Democracy will air in the San
Francisco Bay Area on KQED on Friday, Feb. 8 at 9pm)
"Trading Democracy" explains in interviews with William Greider of
Georgetown University, Martin Wagner of Earthjustice, Howard Mann of the
International Institute for Sustainable Development, and California State
Senator Sheila Kuehl how the rules codified in Chapter 11 of NAFTA allow
corporations to sue governments to overturn legitimate public interest laws
and regulations when they believe their actual or potential future profits
have been undermined.
During the seven years since NAFTA has been in effect, corporations in the
US and Canada have used Chapter 11 to challenge and roll back regulations
designed to protect public health and safety and the environment. For
example, the Canadian-based Methanex Corp. is now using NAFTA's "corporate
courts" to sue for $970 million in lost profits because Californians are
demanding the phase out of MTBE, a toxic gasoline additive that is
contaminating our water supply.
Take action to Prevent the Expansion of Corporate Rights Above Human Rights!
Amazingly, the Bush Administration is now in negotiations to expand this
dangerous NAFTA investor provision to 31 more countries in the hemisphere,
through the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). If such powers
are expanded, practically every government regulation in the hemisphere will
be at the mercy of multinational corporations seeking to maximize profits.
Here are three simple and important things you can do to stop the expansion
of NAFTA Chapter 11:
1) FEBRUARY 6th: ALL-CALL DAY TO YOUR SENATORS! Urge your Senators to oppose
these outrageous "investor-to-state" provisions in trade and investment
agreements and DEMAND that they vote against the Baucus/Grassley Fast Track
bill (for more info on Fast Track check www.globalexchange.org.fasttrack/).
The language contained in the foreign investment section of this bill would
lead to further corporate assaults on public interests protections. Tell
your senator that Chapter 11 investor rules undermine our democratic rights
to choose our own laws to protect the environment, as well as our health and
safety, and that a meaningful and substantial revision of this onerous NAFTA
provision is necessary. YOUR SENATOR CAN BE REACHED BY CALLING THE U.S.
CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD AT 202-224-3121 OR 202-225-3121.
2) Tell everyone you know about the program and urge them to watch this
incredible expose. (You can send electronic postcards by visiting
www.thirteen.org/moyers/trading_democracy/index.php). Tape the show and
arrange for a screening of it to friends/family/colleagues later on.
3) Send a letter to the editor about Chapter 11. You can find some sample
letters on the Public Citizen website:
www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/CH__11/articles.cfm?ID=6687.
More info on the Trading Democracy documentary:
Bill Moyers Reports: Trading Democracy
Premieres February 5 at 10:00 p.m. (ET) on PBS
(Later date in San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Boston - check local
listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/indepth/020102_td.html)
Excerpt from Bill Moyers¹ press release:
In the latest in their series of exposés on the secret recesses of American
democracy, Bill Moyers and Sherry Jones uncover how multinational
corporations have acquired the power to demand compensation if laws aimed at
protecting the environment or public health harm them financially. The
one-hour documentary, BILL MOYERS REPORTS: TRADING DEMOCRACY, premieres
February 5 at 10:00 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).
³When the North American Free Trade Agreement became the law of the land
almost a decade ago, the debate we heard was about jobs,² notes Bill Moyers.
³One provision was too obscure to stir up controversy. It was called
Chapter 11, and it was supposedly written to protect investors from having
their property seized by foreign governments. But since NAFTA was ratified,
corporations have used Chapter 11 to challenge the powers of government to
protect its citizens, to undermine environmental and health laws, even
attack our system of justice.²
Speaking with legislators, public policy experts, community leaders and
citizens about the lawsuits filed under NAFTA¹s Chapter 11, BILL MOYERS
REPORTS: TRADING DEMOCRACY unravels the hidden repercussions of a treaty
that was supposed to promote democracy through free trade, but now appears
to have given deep-pocketed corporations the means to undermine democracy
across international borders.
The program explores the case of Methanex, a Canadian company that is the
world¹s largest producer of the key ingredient in the gasoline additive
MTBE, which was found to be a carcinogen. In 1995 MTBE began turning up in
wells throughout California, and by 1999 had contaminated thirty public
water systems. The state ordered that the additive be phased out. Methanex
filed suit under NAFTA¹s Chapter 11, seeking $970 million in compensation
for loss of market share and, consequently, future profits.
The program also explores other NAFTA cases including Metalclad, a case
which a U.S. corporation won against Mexico because of land use decisions by
state and local governments, and Loewen, a pending case against the United
States, which was brought by a Canadian funeral home conglomerate after a
civil court jury in Mississippi imposed punitive damages against the company
for fraud.
Learn more about NAFTA chapter 11 and international investor protection:
-- Public Citizen released a comprehensive report on Chapter 11 called:
"NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-to-State Cases: Bankrupting Democracy":
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7076
-- A Guide to Methanex vs. United States, by William T. Waren, Harrison
Institute for Public Law at Georgetown University Law Center (January 2002).
For copies contact Prof. Robert Stumberg <stumberg@law.georgetown.edu>
-- Private Rights, Public Problems: the Definitive Guide to NAFTA¹s
Chapter 11, by Howard Mann, International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD) (2001). Available at
http://iisd.ca/trade/private_rights.htm
-- The Right and US Trade Law: Invalidating the 20th Century, by William
Greider, The Nation (Feature Story, October 15, 2001). Available at
http://www.thenation.com/docPrint.mhtml?i=20011015&s=greider
<http://www.thenation.com/docPrint.mhtml?i=20011015&s=greider>
Video clips from Trading Democracy:
There are five video clips providing excerpts from a selection of interviews
in Trading Democracy that illuminate different aspects of the issues raised
by NAFTA Chapter Eleven. This streaming media, which uses REAL VIDEO PLAYER,
resides on our server so usage will not tax your computer system¹s
capabilities.
The video clips are available on the web site of the PBS affiliate in New
York, WNET, channel 13. Each video clip has its own link to the web site.
The video links are offered in two sizes to support low bandwidth (slow) and
high bandwidth (fast) connections. You should be able to activate the video
links directly from this document if your web connection is active, and you
should also be able to cut and past the links into an email message that you
can send to others.
The video links are:
William Greider of the NATION on the powers that Chapter Eleven gives to
foreign corporations. (clip length 58 seconds)
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/greider_lo.rm
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/greider_hi.rm
California Senator Shiela Kuehl, Chair of the legislature¹s International
Trade Policy Committee, and Martin Wagner, attorney for Earthjustice Legal
Defense Fund on MTBE and Methanex.
(clip length 1:52 seconds)
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/kuelhwagner_lo.rm
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/kuelhwagner_hi.rm
Senator Shiela Kuehl, and William Greider on the implications of the
Methanex case.
(clip length 1:57)
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/kuelhgreider_lo.rm
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/kuelhgreider_hi.rm
Edwin Williamson, legal counselor to State Department when NAFTA was
negotiated, on the Metalclad case in Mexico.
(clip length 1:40)
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/metalclad1_lo.rm
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/metalclad1_hi.rm
Edwin Williamson and Charles ³Chip² Roh, Deputy Chief Negotiator of NAFTA,
on NAFTA challenges to jury verdicts.
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/jury_lo.rm
http://realmedia.thirteen.org:8080/ramgen/wnet/now/jury_hi.rm
If you have any trouble accessing or using these tools, please contact Colby
Kelly at Kelly & Salerno by phone (203-863-1004) or email
(colby@kellysalerno.com).
-- Juliette Beck Economic Rights Coordinator Global Exchange 2017 Mission St. Ste 303 San Francisco, CA 94110 415-558-9486 ext. 254 415-255-7498 fax Check out Global Exchange's moderated listserves on the Global Economy; Fair Trade; and Human Rights in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Palestine, and California: http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/lists.html____________________________________________________________________ Global Exchange http://www.globalexchange.org To unsubscribe, email globaljustice-request@globalexchange.org with unsubscribe in the body of the message.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Mon Oct 28 2002 - 02:52:32 EST