Mass. chapters educate on the Security and Prosperity Partnership, outreach to support globalization impact bill

Several members of the Boston/Cambridge Alliance and North Bridge AfD are working in coalition with local groups to host a two-part forum on the SPP and the Colombia FTA. The first part of the program, Sunday, March 9 at MIT, features Carleen Pickard, Council of Canadians, Hector Sanchez, policy education coordinator for Global Exchange’s Mexico program, and Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies. They are on a nationwide SPP tour sponsored by Global Exchange. Speakers on the Colombia FTA include author Maria Clemencia Ramirez of the Colombian Institute of Athropology and History, and Luis Fernando Castro of Colombia Vive.
For more information on the event, visit www.newenglandalliance.org. For action alert, flyers, powerpoint presentations and articles on the SPP go to www.thealliancefordemocracy.org and scroll down to “Featured Today.”

Chapter members are also building support for a bill pending in the Massachusetts Legislature to create a state commission to advise lawmakers on the local impact of international trade agreements. HR 374 has been introduced in the past, always “dying” in committee, but with “free” versus “fair trade” getting renewed attention as an election issue, AfD members hope that by educating the legislators the bill will get to a House vote this time around.

The local AfD chapters will be hosting Canadian anti-globalization activist Janet Eaton speaking Monday, March 24 at the Boston Public Library. AfDers hope to arrange a meeting between Janet and interested state legislators to introduce them to the SPP and its impact on Massachusetts and the region.