Another America is Possible
Indigenous People Defend their Culture and Livelihoods, Oppose the FTAA
“You couldn’t possibly understand, you who were born in golden cradles and have never suffered. But we don’t have food to feed our children. Our markets are flooded with cheap imports. Imported milk is dumped in Ecuador for half of what it costs to produce it… We have no way to live, and the FTAA will only make it worse. When we complain, the U.S. government calls us terrorists. We are not threatening anything, but we are hungry and tired and things have to change.” -- Leonidas Iza, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)
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| The Hemispheric Social Alliance, a network of hundreds of social organizations throughout the Americas, was formed to oppose and develop viable alternatives to the FTAA. It was one of the main conveners of the Quito parallel events, together with Oxfam partner CONAIE, and many others. Their main slogan for the continental movement against FTAA is “Another America is Possible.” By: Thea Gelbspan/Oxfam |
Indigenous people across South America are mobilizing to defend their culture and way of life from the most serious threat to their survival of the new millenium: free trade.
Plans to take the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and bring it south to Central and South America in the form of a proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) are alarming citizen organizations across the hemisphere. In their eyes, NAFTA has brought poverty and ruin to countless Mexican farmers, and forced them to work in low-wage factory jobs by driving down agricultural prices in the face of subsidized U.S. crops. Taking this concept and forcing it on the rest of the hemisphere through the FTAA is a threat that has galvanized the highly committed and organized indigenous federations of South America.
Indigenous people stand to lose the most from the FTAA. They are the most impoverished and vulnerable people in the region, and face daily obstacles to true economic opportunity and social advancement, due to racial and other forms of discrimination. In the face of centuries of colonialism, oppression, and poverty, indigenous people are energetic defenders of their cultures and worldviews, which are based on very different principles than those promoted by the modern free trade economic system. They fear that imposing a North American style economy on the region will overcome their traditional ways of working, and spell the end of their culture.
Since government representatives often fail to represent their interests, indigenous organizations fear that the secret nature of the FTAA negotiations will exclude the concerns of their members and offer little to help them.
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| Indigenous people in South America are concerned that free trade will impose the privatization of government social services and utilities such as water, raising fees and prices beyond the means of some impoverished people. This sign reads "Water sustains us; they won’t privatize it." By: Thea Gelbspan/Oxfam |
To make their concerns known to the world, hundreds of indigenous and citizen organizations gathered in Quito, Ecuador, the site of a closed-door meeting of government ministers negotiating the FTAA in late October, 2002. The Hemispheric Social Alliance, a network of organizations including Oxfam partners opposing the FTAA and generating alternative development proposals, held a series of parallel conferences, workshops and discussion panels, and staged a colorful mass mobilization that brought over 10,000 people to the streets.
A statement from the parallel conference said “The full force of our own forms of life and ways of thinking demonstrate that another America is indeed possible.” The people of South America know that it is not enough to simply protest the FTAA – they must communicate their vision of another America, in which their culture and traditional systems can flourish. Oxfam’s partners were prominent in these discussions. They are developing a variety of alternatives to the FTAA, which put people at the center of trade, and make trade work for the poor, protect the environment, and ensure a healthy future for all people in the hemisphere.
Click on the following links to see how Oxfam’s partners in South America are confronting the threat of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and seeking alternatives to it:
CONAMAQ - Bolivia
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES) - Ecuadorart3803.html
Amazon Defense Front (FDA) - Ecuadorart3807.html
ECUARUNARI - Ecuadorart3806.html
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)art3809.html
Coordinator of the Indigenous Communities of the Amazon (COICA)art3808.html