[pf] NAFTA blown out of the water. By Murray Dobbin, of Canada.

· At 02:38 PM 2001-07-13 +1200, H.B. on the GreenViews-NZ list wrote,
{Original Murray Dobbin piece in the Dialogue section of NZ Herald, is at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyprint.cfm?storyID=199730 ; his photo's at: 
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pics/r13dobbin.JPG } :-

NAFTA blown out of the water

"NAFTA simply a tool for US to dominate others' economies"  versus  "Large,
affluent market a platform for our success". [prev. headlines in NZ Herald]

Yeah well, I am a sucker for these stark Dialogue pages in the NZ Herald!
If you do nothing else - read today's Herald - Friday 13th.  (Their WEB
page actually shows something else - don't know why).

Murray Dobbin, a Vancouver based freelance writer who is on the board of
the Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives makes a brilliant case why New
Zealand should NOT take ex- Canadian Premier Brian Mulroney's recent advice
and join NAFTA.  On the other side is Auckland's Chamber of Commerce Chief,
Michael Barnett with his head still stuck so firmly up the !&%$#*&!.
(sorry ....!!! ... must wash my mouth out.)

I have learnt more things about free trade agreements from this one article
than I have from just about everything else I have read.  Neat stuff.  The
REALITY of the Nafta deal on Canada is detailed and thoroughly
thought-provoking, but the outlines of Chapter 11 - (remember Canada having
to pay out millions to a US corporation because Canada had tried to ban
their  petrol additive suspected of being a neurotoxin) - is frightening.

Dobbin - " It (chapter 11) highlights a fact about these deals largely
hidden from the public:  they are not mainly about trade at all, but about
freeing American capital from the constraints of democratic governance.

He goes on to say that there is only one certainty if NZ signs Nafta: the
US will get everything it wants because it refuses to sign deals if it
doesn't. He points out that Canada's economy is one-tenth the size of the
US, and NZ one-hundredth.  "The US doesn't need NZ so it will only allow it
into Nafta on its own punishing terms.  NZ will thus be open to harassment
from US trade remedy laws, and US corporations will have the powerful
chapter 11 tool to challenge any law or regulation intended to strengthen
the NZ economy or environment."

Mind you .... none of this is as frightening as the words of Barnett
........

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sent-on to Positive Futures by David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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