11/7: Calls Against Fast Track Needed!

[Guest guest]

If we continue to speak up, we can defeat Fast Track -- and refuse to

give the Bush Adminstration blanket authority to sign off

on trade agreements that would serve to escalate the global AIDS crisis.

Please join the national All-Call Day on Wednesday, November 7,

using the Toll Free number below...

Fast Track trade authority gives the President sweeping powers to

negotiate trade agreements, meaning Congress gets only a thumbs-up or

thumbs-down vote once the Bush Administration has decided all the

details. The Bush Administration has continued to push

harmful positions in FTAA, WTO and other trade negotiations that

would continue to block greater access to HIV/AIDS medication, and

fast track is a rubber-stamping of their willingness to write off the

lives of people with HIV worldwide.

The interests of people with HIV are not served by giving up

democratic decision-making on vital trade agreements

that impact access to medicine... What folllows are two alerts with

information on how to work to stop the political opportunists

seeking to sneak through Fast Track during this difficult period

after the September 11 attacks.

Note that you only need to know your Zip code to get connected to the

right Representative via a toll-free number.

Please mention that you are calling as a person living with HIV or

concerned with the global AIDS epidemic, and who is not fooled by

un-enforcable language in the bill that directs the President to take

health concerns into account when negotiating trade agreements.

For more information on US policies and trade issues that impact

access to HIV/AIDS medication worldwide, check out

www.globaltreatmentaccess.org

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November 7 is National All-Call Day Against Fast Track

1-800-393-1082*

Let your Representative hear you loud & clear: NO FAST TRACK/NO H.R.

3005!

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The corporate lobby (Business Round Table et al), the GOP

leadership, the corporate media, editorial writers and now the White

House have all agreed: Fast Track (H.R. 3005) is on their short list

of votes they want to push through before Congress adjourns.

The GOP Leaders have said this for a while, but now the White House is in

gear and the pro-Fast Track lobby has intensified its efforts in

recent weeks. They view the upcoming 4thMinisterial of the World

Trade Organization (WTO) from November 9-13 as an excellent excuse

for setting a specific vote date to ram Fast Track through. We could

see a possible floor vote as early as the week of November 5!

The corporate lobby and House GOP leaders have been fighting a

desperate game for months of trying to dig up, bully up, shore up

votes which - thanks to your excellent work - do not exist. Now they

are started to playing hardball - offering deals and twisting arms

in exchange for votes. As we know, this stage of a any trade bill

push is a very dangerous time for us - weaselly Members have traded

their votes in the past for empty promises.

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How do we keep our Fast Track victory?

Join the national call in day against Fast Track on November 7th.

Call early and often to hold your member accountable to what matters

most: her/his constituents!

The number to call is 1-800-393-1082* - all you have to do is enter

your zip-code.

If you would like to call more than just your own

Member, e-mail gtwfield@... and we will tell you about other

undecided Members of the House to call.

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Talking Points (for more information on Fast Track visit

www.tradewatch.org):

* This is not the time to bring up such a

controversial issue. Few issues are more divisive than Fast Track at

a time when we need the unity and bipartisanship that was created

after September 11th. There are many urgent things that MUST BE done

for the millions who are suddenly without a job, to safeguard us

from future attacks.

* The bill (H.R. 3005) is a slap in the

face - it is the same old anti-labor, anti-environmental garbage

that was in the 1997 and 1998 Fast Track with some new rhetoric. It

does not address the issues of labor and environment in any

meaningful way, nor does it beef up Congress' role in trade to hold

negotiators accountable and stop these NAFTA type deals.

* H.R. 3005 allows foreign corporations to challenge domestic

environmental, zoning and other laws. Under NAFTA there have been

lawsuits by foreign corporations challenging a whole array of

democratically determined local policies, and ' bill does

nothing to address this (for more information go to

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7076).

* Toll-free number is provided courtesy of the AFL-CIO

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is

distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior

interest in receiving the included information for research and

educational purposes.

Margrete Strand Rangnes

Field Director

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch

215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington DC, 20003 USA

mstrand@... & www.tradewatch.org

Ph: + 202-454-5106, Fax: + 202-547 7392

From: Doug Hunt, NEER/UCC

--

" an eye for an eye will only blind the world " Ghandi

s

ACT UP Philadelphia

Health GAP Coalition

c/o Critical Path AIDS Project

1233 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

215-474-9329