Global Policy Forum

By Marcela Valente

Activists taking part in this week's civil society gathering parallel to the fourth Summit of the Americas, which opens Friday in Argentina, are already celebrating what they see as a rolling back of U.S. influence over the hemispheric agenda. U.S. President George W. Bush "is anticipating defeat," said Argentine trade unionist Juan González, coordinator of the third People's Summit, running Tuesday through Saturday in the Argentine resort of Mar del Plata, 400 km south of Buenos Aires. "We know that the United States wants the documents emerging from this summit to include some kind of commitment to giving a new boost to the negotiations for the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), but we also know it's all very complicated," González told IPS.

The heads of state and government from 34 countries of the Americas – all of the countries in the hemisphere except Cuba – will meet Friday and Saturday amid tight security in Mar del Plata, under the theme "Creating jobs to fight poverty and strengthen democratic governance". The official delegates had no problem in quickly reaching an agreement on the overarching theme and its main objectives, but differences with respect to the FTAA persist. Some governments see the continent-wide free trade bloc as essential, while others demand that the United States first eliminate its farm subsidies before they will join in.

In an interview published Wednesday, Bush admitted that "the FTAA has stalled for now". But he added that "at this point in time, the Doha round (in the World Trade Organisation) really trumps the FTAA as a priority, because the Doha round not only involves our neighborhood, it involves the whole world." The Doha round of multilateral trade talks, launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital, will continue at the December WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. González interpreted Bush's remarks as a diplomatic way of admitting the failure of the Washington-driven FTAA.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutiérrez made a last ditch effort Wednesday in Buenos Aires to put the FTAA on the summit agenda, arguing that free trade is key to generating employment and fighting poverty, but he met with little success. The United States, Canada, Mexico and Chile have reportedly proposed that the FTAA be mentioned in the final declaration and action plan adopted by the summit. Venezuela, on the other hand, flatly rejects any mention of the projected free trade bloc, while Argentina and Brazil only want it to be included within the broader framework of a discussion of farm subsidies.

The divisions over the question of the FTAA are seen as an achievement by the leftist and progressive social and political organisations that have held their own regional meeting parallel to each summit of the Americas. Resistance to the creation of the FTAA and calls for an alternative model of hemispheric integration have been constant themes at each of the three People's Summits. The activists taking part in the counter-summit also reject bilateral or regional free trade accords that the United States is negotiating, based on the blueprint of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which links Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Taking part in the third People's Summit are hundreds of students, workers, artists, church leaders, indigenous people, women and human rights activists from throughout the Americas. The two previous editions were held in Santiago, Chile in 1998 and Quebec, Canada in 2001.

"In our final declaration, which we are still drawing up, we are going to ask that the FTAA talks be called off once and for all, and we are going to call for a stop to negotiations for an agreement on a continent-wide fight against terrorism, which the United States is seeking," said González. According to the organisers of the civil society gathering, the countries of the region should integrate and defend their sovereignty in the face of what they consider a process of militarisation of the region promoted by the United States.

To build an alternative, the People's Summit has offered a space for reflection and debate and for setting forth proposals. This year, the gathering consists of more than 150 workshops, panels and artistic events, and on Friday it will culminate in a final declaration and a huge demonstration, whose main focus will be to reject Bush's presence in Argentina. The People's Summit kicked off with a press conference whose participants included, besides González himself, Argentine Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Beverly Keene, coordinator of Dialogue 2000/Jubilee South, Mexican activist Héctor de la Cueva with the Hemispheric Social Alliance, and Nora Cortiñas with the Argentine human rights group Mothers de Plaza de Mayo.

"Look, I understand not everybody agrees with the decisions I've made, but that's not unique to Central or South America. Truth of the matter is, there's people who disagree with the decisions I've made all over the world," Bush told journalists Tuesday, referring to the demonstration that will be held to protest his visit to Argentina, which will be attended by football legend Diego Maradona as well as internationally renowned musicians and artists.

González underlined that violent incidents like the ones that occurred Tuesday in the Buenos Aires working-class district of Haedo only have negative repercussions on the counter-summit. In Haedo, demonstrators who did not identify with any specific group set fire to 15 train cars and looted shops in the train station. The centre-left government accused the ultra-leftwing group Quebracho of being behind the incidents, which it described as "sabotage". Officials also blamed leaders of the union of railway workers who are active in leftist groups. The incidents, which left around 30 people injured and nearly 100 under arrest, created a tense climate in the run-up to the summit.

Buenos Aires provincial Security Minister León Arslanián admitted that the gatherings in Mar del Plata had pulled police officers off of their normal beats, which is why it took longer to get the rioting in Haedo under control. "We find it curious that an event like this, which generates a climate of terror, would occur right now, just when the times are favourable to the advance of our peoples," said González. "What these incidents do is strengthen the basic arguments in the U.S. campaign for the fight against terrorism."