[Upd-discuss] Fwd: Action Alert: Tell WTO Trade Negotiators: "Hands Off Services"

[Zapopan Martin Muela-Meza]

Date:	 Sat, 19 Feb 2005 18:02:36 -0500
To:	alacoun@ala.org, srrtac-l@ala.org, plgnet-l@listproc.sjsu.edu
From:	"Mark Rosenzweig" <iskra@earthlink.net>  View Contact Details View
Contact Details
Subject:	Fwd: Action Alert: Tell WTO Trade Negotiators: "Hands Off
Services"

>
Please read and take action as suggested. Libraries are very much at 
stake in this.
Mark R.



Once again the WTO (World Trade Organization) and its business
allies are gearing up to sell off services to the private sector.
The USA and 15 countries have forged an alliance and pressuring
other countries to open up their economies to private sector service
corporations.

At the same time, service industry cartels like the US Coalition
of Service Industries (USCSI) working in concert with the US
Department of Commerce have been collaborating to advance their
agenda to pry open markets around the world for transnational
corporations like Suez, American Express, Halliburton, FedEx, UPS,
AOL Time Warner, and the Motion Picture Association.

The wealthy countries and their corporate backers have their eye
on a critical 3 week negotiations window taking place at the WTO
headquarters in Geneva right now until till February 25 of this
year.

This meeting is part of the negotiations to advance the GATS -General
Agreement on the Trade in Services and is a pivotal gathering where
trade negotiators are expected to make commitments that will expose
their national economies to the forces of privatization.

Trade ministers and negotiators alike are under increasing pressure
to expose more services, like education, healthcare, culture, water
and energy services as well as courier, telecommunication and the
information technology services of our national economies to the
market powers of transnational corporations.

Tucked away in Geneva, the WTO gang is once again eager to see a
deal made away from the critical eye of public opinion. Now is the
time for a concerned citizen's movement to send a message directly
to WTO trade negotiators that the world is watching and critical
services such as water, energy, healthcare and educational services
must not be traded away nor subject to privatization by stealth.

The most aggressive countries pushing this round of negotiators are
the USA, the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, Chile, Hong
Kong, Iceland, India, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore,
Switzerland and Taiwan.

There is an urgent and global need to send a message now -directly
to these particular country trade negotiators who are making deals
that threaten to privatize a host of services.

Click at
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/polaris_project/public_service/letter_WT
O.cfm and with just one fax you can send each of them your message,
which you can personalize and point to essential services you believe
must not become subject to backroom WTO deal making.

Sample letter:

Dear WTO GATS Negotiator,

< Your personal note here>

Your recent call for WTO member countries to undertake more substantial
commitments that will open up service markets such as telecommunications,
financial services, transport, construction and environmental
services, is a mistake.

Of particular concern is the aggressive push to open up water and
waste management services for the benefit of water corporations
eager to charge high tariffs and provide questionable service. As
you know there has been growing campaign demanding that water
services be exempt from GATS negotiations. Continuing to put pressure
on WTO member countries to expose this sector to the private sector
will jeopardize citizen's equitable and affordable access to this
essential service.

Similarly, pushing countries to expose other components, like
telecommunications and financial or postal services to the market
interests of transnational corporations like American Express, AOL
Time Warner or UPS jeopardizes the ability of local firms and public
bodies to fully serve all of their citizens cultural, fiscal and
developmental needs.

Once again the WTO and a few countries and corporations that stand
to gain the most are failing to listen to communities or engage
them in meaningful consultation and decision making in the GATS
negotiations process.

Services are too important to simply leave in the hands of Geneva
based dealers - citizens must have a significant role in how and
who delivers them.

Sincerely

============================================================ View

-- 
MARK C ROSENZWEIG


=====
ENG: "Corporations are not democratic institutions --their directors and managers owe no accountability to anyone but the shareholders that employ them."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ESP: "Las corporaciones (empresas) no son instituciones democráticas: a sus directores y gerentes no se les puede fincar responsabilidades ante nadie excepto ante sus accionistas que les emplean."

-- Bakan, Joel. (2004). The Corporation. The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power : La corporación (empresa). La búsqueda patológica de ganancias y poder. London: Constable & Robinson, p. 151


		
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