A trade partnership between nations, or an economical agreement is about the control of a nation by the other. Rich countries manipulate trade agreements in order to ensure profitability. What is trade when the US military is taken over a nation's resources? Trade has no meaning except when the US is getting richer at the expenses of all other nations, including Canada, and at the expenses of the global life-support systems. The military is used against domestic dissidents, like a police force. It is also used to expand markets and keep international dissidents in line. Governments of poor countries that try to take control of their own resources and develop their own economies (instead of remaining areas of cheap labour and raw materials for rich countries) are declared enemies, terrorists, and attacked, officially or otherwise. Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and the Middle East  are examples. U.S. military is "to protect U.S. interests and investments" and that includes making other nations safe for U.S multinational corporations. And that is exactly what is happening in the Middle East where the U.S. military is protecting its strategic economic interests especially the continue flow of oil at the cheapest price, thus making global warming worst by ten-fold. We have estimated that there is, worldwide, one hundred years left of oil and most of it is found in the Middle East. The U.S. has taken over the oil for its citizens back home.

We have estimated that there is, worldwide, one hundred years left of oil and most of it is found in the Middle East. The U.S. has taken over the oil for its citizens back home.

The argument for 'free trade' states that countries should specialize in certain products that they are good at producing and buy from other countries what they are not good at producing, so that the economy is more efficient. What kind of efficiency is it when the pieces of a product are sent half way around the world to be assembled in a country with cheap labour, then shipped back to be sold? It may be profitable, but it is a waste of time and energy as well as resources, and moving products this way is not environmentally friendly and is a threat to the global life-support systems. What kind of efficiency is that? Huge amounts of money are spent on marketing to get people to buy things that they don't need. Where is the efficiency in that?

Because governments of poor nations had to promote 'free trade', this situation cause barriers to trade to be eliminated and now we are seeing the globalization of 'free trade'. Poor nations are now asked to produce only the products they are good at producing and buy from other countries the products they are not as good at producing. This way the economy of a nation will function at maximum efficiency. So now governments are told to open up their borders and to stop meddling in markets, so that competition will be free internationally. Often what is called trade is really moving of resources across borders between subsidiaries of the same corporation. Nothing to do with free competition. Economic activity is centrally-managed and planned by the corporate elite. Capital move freely across borders as restrictions on the flow of money have been removed. Corporations can relocate their operations to the countries with the lowest wages, the least active unions and the lowest environmental standards. The reality is that more polluting industries are encouraged to relocate to poorer countries. A polluting industry tends to increase the chances that people in the surrounding area will have health problems. If pollution kills someone or makes them unable to work, the cost to the economy, or to the industry in the case of a law-suit, would be roughly equal to the projected wages that the person would have earned in the rest of their life. In a country with low life expectancy and low wages, this cost will be lessened. It costs less to dump a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country.

Of course it is a bad idea to be a member of the World Trade Organization ( WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). There are no advantages! It just does not work for anyone except when you have an army to knock down any member who does not do your five wishes and plus. Memberships in the WTO and the FTAA are not needed and nations should instead seek relationships with fewer other nations only if needed. Certainly it is better to seek an economic relationship with another nation we can trust than with a hundred nations we have no control on and everyone of those nations has a say in the governing of our nation, its environment and social structure. The WTO only offers illusions to profit the few wealthiest people on Earth. They say "become an industrialized nation as we are". But that is the biggest illusion of all. To become an industrialized nation is far from being the best solution. The best way and solution for any nation is to follow the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. Right on top of the scale are the ecological rights, the global life-support systems, and the primordial human rights of this generation and of the next generation. Economic and social rights come next and are not the most important. That makes a lot of sense! The effect of IMF and World Bank policies in the world caused the destruction of the economies of the poor nations (now we call them 'developing' countries). They impoverished the people by taking away basic services and devaluating their currency. They opened up the national economy to be ravaged by competition with richer nations. Poverty lead to other problems causing the ecological destruction of a poor nation.

Memberships in the WTO and the FTAA are not needed and nations should instead seek relationships with fewer other nations only if needed. Certainly it is better to seek an economic relationship with another nation we can trust than with a hundred nations we have no control on and everyone of those nations has a say in the governing of our nation, its environment and social structure.

Instead of partnerships what nations should agree upon are symbiotical relationships.

A global symbiotical relationship between nations is more than just a partnership, or an economical agreement such as the WTO. The WTO is about a trade partnership between nations. On the other hand, a global symbiotical relationship between two or more nations can have trade as the major aspect of the relationship or it can have as many other aspects as agreed by the nations involved. The fundamental criteria is that a relationship is created for the good of all nations participating in the relationship and for the good of humanity, all life on Earth. The relationship allows a global equitable and peaceful development.

The emphasis of a global symbiotical relationship is not so much on how much money a nation should have or how high a GDP should be although money can be made a part of the relationship. We all know developed countries live off developing countries so the emphasis has no need to stress out the profit a rich nation is making off a poor nation. The emphasis of the relationship should give more importance to the other aspects such as quality of life, protection of the environment and of the global life-support systems, the entrenchment of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of Earth Government into our ways of life, justice, peace, spiritual freedom, security, and many other important aspects as described in the global ministries (health, agriculture, energy, trade, resources, etc.).

The emphasis of the relationship should give more importance to the other aspects such as quality of life, protection of the environment and of the global life-support systems

Free trade and the Way of Life of the West that is, the way of doing business, have been given a bad reputation in the world, especially in the Middle East where oil and arms sales have always been strategic interests of several Western nations. The West has relentlessly exploited the oil producing nations of the Middle East. By their behavior and ways of doing things, America and the European Union nations have shown that free trade and globalization meant the absence of ethical and moral values, the absence of responsibility and accountability to products and people, abuses of human rights, cause for terrorism, social and economic injustice, poverty, and pollution. They have given to trade a bad name.

The WTO tribunal is illegal and arbitrary. It is not a Higher Court such as the Earth Court of Justice. It has no base for Justice.

The effects of globalization and the creation of planetary trade blocks give rise to global problems such as:

1. building social and environmental concerns into their trade rules;
2. including ethical and moral values, responsibility and accountability in all situations and places;
3. developing a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations;
4. making a transition from global competition to global co-operation which allows communities the freedom to pursue social and environmental objectives;
5. assuring that globalization and planetary trading blocks serve the Earth Community, the Human Family;
6. developing a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards;
7. adopting the Scale of Human and Earth Rights; and
8. becoming citizens of the Global Community.

a) tariffs and similar restrictions on the easy flow of capital (and that includes no global tax on transactions stemming from speculation), and
b) non-tariffs barriers to trade.

A)     heavily supportive of privatization of health care and education
B)     in favor of complete trade liberalisation
C)     using unsustainable and exploitative production contributing to global deforestation, air pollution, climat change, desertification and loss of topsoil
D)     guaranteeing less control over:

*     the management of natural resources
*     environmental and safety standards

E)      giving more control to profit driven multinational corporations and investors leading to environmental degradation and human right abuses especially of women

The  Earth Community Organization (ECO) is aware of what the 34 National Governments are trying to achieve and decided to help them designing an agreement between themselves in line with the Earth Charter of our organization. Several articles in our Newsletters were written especially to help you find sound solutions.

Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. in 1994 describes the right of foreign investors on national governments. These rights will be intensified in the FTAA. It lets corporations sue governments directly for breaching trade deals they never signed. Companies can claim damages when they believe their rights under the trade pact have been violated by government regulations or decisions. They are allowed to sue for anything that gets in the way of profits. This elevates corporate rights far beyond those of the average citizen and their human rights. In the past, it has led government to cancel anti-pollution or environmental measures. The agreement disempower people and communities. It is the most powerful corporate tool to challenge democratic governance. In effect, no government should enter into an agreement such as the FTAA when citizens know it violates their own constitution. A constitutional referendum and an election with the issue of the FTAA as a priority would have to be conducted by each member nation before considering such an agreement. Government must negotiate the FTAA openly, transparently and honestly.


The FTAA will include a new constitution leading to rights and freedoms for corporations that override national rights. Investments will be protected in the agreement and investors will not lose their business as a result of government expropriation. The agreement is entirely business oriented. Profit is the goal to achieve. Business leaders are successful as long as they produce profits for their shareholders. Furthermore, they have to account for their performance every quarter, and they are not free to act in ways that would jeopardize their company’s financial health. The agreement would be a strong incentive to businesses to obtain and accumulate profits.

The World Trade Organization, foreign corporations and world business leaders claim that the FTAA agreement will bring sweeping democracy to all of the Americas. They claim trade globalization is a forerunner of democracy in nations where it is non-existent. The Earth Community Organization does not believe democracy will automatically succeed in a global free market. In fact, the FTAA is itself a flagrant abuse of democracy.

The FTAA will entrench corporate power at the expense of democratically elected officials from local communities, municipal governments, provincial governments, national governments and states. Such a free trade agreement is a form of "world anti-government" (such as the European Union block) as citizens lose the ability to act in their best interests and find sound solutions to their own problems. Citizens become disconnected with the decision-making process. In such scenario, democratic principles lose meaning and no longer prevail.

All that we have worked for over the past decades to build sustainable communities will be all gone in the signing of an agreement, the FTAA. People were never asked to discuss and were never invited in its development. The principles of a sustainable development are let go and replaced by the desire of the world business leaders to make larger profits.

Global Community citizens believe all citizens have the right to share the wealth in the world. Foreign investment and the trade agreement must protect and improve social and environmental rights, not just the economy. A sustainable development in the hemisphere would mean finding a sound balance among the interactions designed to create a healthy economic growth, preserve environmental quality, make a wise use of our resources, and enhance social benefits. Free trade cannot proceed at the expense of the environment, labour rights, human rights and the sovereignty of a nation. The FTAA will lead to an increase in poverty by giving investor rights priority over government decision-making. Employers will be looking for more concessions from workers. Small businesses will find it more difficult to grow and compete against large corporations.

People are concerned about the lack of public consultation in free trade negotiations. The agreement is being negotiated without public scrutiny. The actual process of developing the FTAA is itself undemocratic as it excludes anyone but government officials and business interests. Civil society groups were left outside the gates during the conference. The decisions by trade bodies must not be allowed to take away the rights and responsibilities of local communities. A local community will find it impossible to make decisions about planning, public health, local control over water, waste, zoning, or environmental issues because the rights of corporations to profits would be deemed to take precedence.

The process of the Summit of the Americas had several other wrongdoings: decisions were made in secrecy; misappropriation of taxpayers’ money; violent suppression of free speech; and the sacrifice of Canadian interests for the profit of big corporations. None of the national governments had a referendum on the free trade issue. There were no discussions at home and in communities. People were not asked for their opinions and recommendations. Freedom of speech is a major aspect of democracy. So where is democracy? Citizens were not told what is at stake in the trade deal. The process of developing an agreement must include all citizens in order for democracy to expand freely across the Americas and Caribbean.

Other implications of the FTAA:

a)         Services offered to the public can be managed by private, foreign providers; these providers are allowed to bid for contracts in all sectors such as energy, transportation, agriculture, forestry, fishery, health, education, sewer and water services. Truly, all sectors of life are affected.
b)         Resources are opened for trade and may no longer be controlled by a national government; energy, rain forests and water are affected. In effect, business leaders of large corporations become the real owners of our resources.
c)        Environmental decisions, education initiatives, health policies and cultural programs will be affected if they represent a threat to a corporation’s potential profit.
d)         Canadians will have to accept continental economic and social policies and the U.S. dollars as our currency. The U.S. dollars will eventually become the currency of all 34 member nations. What it means to be a Canadian will be gradually diluted to fulfill the desires of business leaders. What it means to be a citizen in any country will be diluted to nothing.
e)        Government will no longer have an independent financial policy.
f)         Labour rights will be subjected to the primary goal of making profit.
g)        Viability of social programs in a community will be subjected to scrutiny and control by the FTAA.
h)         Operation of government will be restrained and dependent on economic goals.
i)        The sovereignty of a nation will be chipped away. Government will give away sovereign and constitutional powers to secret FTAA tribunals whose only goals and objectives are to protect investments and investors.
j)         The quality of life of every nation in the hemisphere will be diminished and subjected to economic goals.
k)         Environmental degradation: lowering of plant and biomass diversity, increase of air pollution, natural resource depletion and pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, endangerment and extinction of life species. The legacy to our children and to the future generations thereafter will be a wasteland.
l)        U.S. military is "to protect U.S. interests and investments" and that includes making other nations safe for U.S multinational corporations. When will the military issue be discussed? How will the military be part of the FTAA? Are we seeing here in the Americas a scenario that has occurred in Europe before the Second World War? The FTAA should entrench a strong statement that says that military should not be an option as a solution to any situation arising in the hemisphere. The Earth Court of Justice was created to deal with any situation and, therefore, the military is not needed. The military should also be subjected to the Earth Court of Justice for any violation of human and Earth rights including environmental rights as defined by the Scale of Human and Earth Rights.

The military should also be subjected to the Earth Court of Justice for any violation of human and Earth rights including environmental rights as defined by the Scale of Human and Earth Rights.

m)         What impacts will the FTAA have on women and children, indigenous Peoples, on poverty?
n)         Degradation and disrespect of national standards (engineering, health, environmental, etc.).
o)         If U.S. interest rates go up what will be the impacts of the cost of debt servicing of the 32 (out of 34) poor countries? Investments in those nations have to be serviced through any export surplus.
p)         Future generations will be affected by entering into an agreement that obligates the present generation to irrevocable conditions. The FTAA would violate the basic principle of a sustainable development in the hemisphere and endanger the survival of Life on Earth.
q)         If Canada and the U.S. were serious about the FTAA and a sustainable development in the poorest nations would they not accept removing now all tariffs for the very poorest members?

NAFTA has led to the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs in Canadian plants as companies relocated to Mexico to take advantage of the cheaper and weaker environmental and safety standards. Thus we are now seing a flow of capitals out of Canada to Asian countries. Rich Canadians mega-corporations are taking their profit elsewhere at the expenses of Canadians and the Canadian economy. The same thing will happen with the new agreement. The FTAA will have the effect of lowering down wages and working conditions in Canada and in the U.S. thereby adding more profits to business leaders.

The human rights abuse and environmental degradation are two of the many unresolved social issues in countries that want the trade agreement. Human rights violations would constitute unfair trade subsidies.

The process of designing the FTAA is obviously undemocratic and will lead to an "unsustainable development". Earth Communityhas worked hard to find sound solutions and better ways to improve the quality of our lives and that of the future generations. We are not going to let go the "Belief, Values, Principles and Aspirations of the New Age". We will form our own ways to manage the Americas and the Caribbean. We will form the Earth Government. The people of the Americas and Caribbean will be first in forming Earth Government to manage the hemisphere.

Earth Community has initiated a global dialogue to discuss a sustainable development as a widely-discussed alternative to currently unsustainable economic development patterns. It is all the more attractive because it may be cast in terms compatible with the market economy. However, there must be a social dimension to the concept, a vision, for it to become a viable alternative to unrestrained economic growth. The Earth is no longer a self-regulating planetary system. Its future will depend on human action and the continuation of natural ecosystems will be achieved because people want them to be preserved. Acceptance of sustainable development by society may depend on cultural values and even spiritual notions about the relationship of humankind to the Earth.

People will not accept a view of sustainable development that recreates a technologically more advanced version of a basic peasant society, especially if they have only recently developed economically. For societies to accept a sustainable development and to continue to grow within, the new way of living must accept cultural diversity, encourage individual expression, allow social change, offer opportunity, and examine values. There must be ways to permit opportunity and growth without ecological compromise. Achieving sustainable development may therefore be linked with policies emphasizing community, the value of information, originality in ideas, and the arts.

Humanity embarks on a new path in history, the inevitability of World societies living, sharing, and creating global economic symbiotical relationships interactively is, beyond doubt, that which we must confront and making sure these relationships are for the good of all humanity. Our creativity today may influence tomorrow's socio-economic strategies and contribute to the evolution of human societies - an evolution directed towards a global partnership with each other, and, most importantly, with our natural environment. Many socio-political infrastructures created for global industries neglect the environment and do not promote environmental sustainability. It is proposed the restructuring of knowledge that governs society, a strategy aimed to change the focus of the capitalist economy and considered Indigenous peoples and their nurturing of spiritual and environmental partnership with nature - a valuable and integral part of their socio-economic structure.

A corporation will now be required to operate its business as per global ehtics:

*        Be concerned with issues such as climate change, bio-diversity, pollution prevention and adopt high standards
*         Minimize environmental degradation and health impacts
*        Be responsible for the environmental impact of its products and services throughout their cycle
*         Adopt a wide environmental code, and policies, health and safety practices and procedures aimed at reducing resource and energy use in each stage of a product or service life-cycle
*         Set up appropriate management systems to implement policies
*         Conduct annual checks and balances and provide reports to the community
*         Respect the political jurisdiction of national communities
*         Respect human rights, social and cultural rights
*         Recognize its political and economic impact on local communities
*         Contribute to the long-term social, cultural, environmental and economic sustainability of the local communities
*         Respect the rights of indigenous peoples, their culture and land, and their religious and social customs; provide employment and training opportunities
*         Ensure that each employee is treated with respect and dignity and is not subjected to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or abuse
*         Respect employees' right to freedom of association, labour organization, and free collective bargaining
*         Provide equal pay for work of equal value
*         Recognize the responsibilities of all workers to their families, and provide for maternity leave, and paternity leave
*         Ensure that their be no barriers to the full participation of women within the company
*         Participate in the creation of child care centres and centres for the elderly and persons with disabilities where appropriate
*         Ensure no discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, or culture
*         Ensure that persons with disabilities who apply for jobs with the company receive fair treatment and are considered solely on their ability to do the job; provide resources and facilities which enable them to achieve progression in employment in the company
*         Provide training to all employees to conduct their activities in an environmentally responsible manner
*         Work with organizations concerned with children's rights, human rights and labour rights to ensure that young workers are not exploited
*         Ensure that a mechanism is in place to address ethical issues of concern raised by employees
*         Make sure that the company's policies balance the interests of managers, shareholders, employees, and other affected parties
*         Adhere to international standards and protocols relevant to its products and services
*         Adopt marketing practices which protect consumers and ensure the safety of all products
*         Conduct or support research on the environmental impacts of raw materials, products, processes, emissions and wastes associates with the company and on the means of minimizing such adverse impacts
*         Make a sustainable use of renewable natural resources such as water, soils and forests
*         Conserve non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful planning
*         Conserve energy and improve energy efficiency of internal operations and of the goods and services being sold

Earth Government will do everything possible to give free trade the proper guidance for humanity. Free trade will become a global co-operation between all nations. The kind of behaviour that happened in the Middle East and in many other parts of the world will not be allowed again.

There are no such thing as an anti-globalization movement as we have defined and developed the concepts: "a global community", "the Global Community", "global governance", and in developing a model of Earth Government to handle the planetary problems within the spirit of a global co-operation.

National governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for Free Trade to become a global co-operation between all nations. Surely, if we can cooperate in fighting against terrorism, then we should also be able to cooperate in fighting against the effects of the type Free Trade and the emergence of the planetary trading blocks as applied by national governments members of the World Trade Organization(WTO). It has already been shown that these effects will be desastrous socially and environmentally and are a direct threat to the existence of Life on Earth. The Earth Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation.

The Earth Community has made clear that globalization and planetary trading blocks should be serving the Earth Community and not the other way around, the people around the world serving the very few rich people. The September 11 event was the result of bad trading of arms and oil in the Middle East. By applying proper moral safeguards and accepting responsibility and accountability of all products (arms and oil in this case), we would make free trade and globalization serving the Human Family.