Abstract

Fiasco in Miami

The author comments on the outcome of a recent meeting in Miami of 34 trade ministers to discuss the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the demonstrations surrounding the meeting. The ministers' final declaration essentially lays out a road map for a free-trade nonagreement. Caving in to pressure from Brazil and other nations, US officials agreed to allow countries to pick and choose which parts of the final FTAA they will sign on to, in addition to some minimal, as yet undetermined, mandatory obligations. If the reaction of the big-business community is any barometer, the new "FTAA à la carte" approach is good news for free-trade critics. The decision to adjourn early may also have been driven by a desire to escape the clouds of tear gas and general mayhem in the streets of Miami. The ACLU is gathering evidence of police brutality, and the United Steelworkers of America has called for a Congressional investigation into whether the Miami police violated protesters' rights. Local residents are also questioning whether the city government overreacted. Miami budgeted some $12 million for costs related to the meeting, most of it for security. Downtown Miami was shuttered for most of the five-day event. Nevertheless, the broad coalition of groups, including the AFL-CIO, Citizens Trade Campaign, Jobs with Justice, the Miami Workers Center and others that came together for Miami were successful in pulling off the first major anti-corporate globalization demonstration in the United States since 9/11.