Colombia trade deal will increase repression – Latin American workers – Part 3
An interview with David Abdulah conducted by Ish Theilheimer for Straight Goods News.
recorded in Gatineau, QC, on 25 March 2009
David Abdulah, an economist, labour leader and political activist, was at the roundtable "What role for Canada in the Americas?" hosted by the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC).
Transcript
Straight Goods News: It's March 25, 2009. We're in Gatineau, QC, for the roundtable "What role for Canada in the Americas?" which is organized by the Canadian Council for Internation Cooperation. I'm speaking to David Abdulah who is a distinguished visitor to Canada and I am going to ask David to introduce himself please.
David Abdulah: Thank you very much Ish, yes I am General Secretary of the Oilfields workers trade union in Trinidad and Tobago. It is one of the premiere unions in the country, we are 72 years old. I am also the President of the Federation for Independent Trade Unions and NGOs – which we pronounce as FITUO – which is the federation which the oil trade workers is affilated with in Trinidad and Tobago. And were here to share with Canadian counterparts on the sole issue of the americas at this moment and some of the things that Canada perhaps should be looking at, both in terms of Government and social movements here in Canada, at this particular moment. As everybody knows we are in a moment of great crisis, because there is not just a single crisis, there are several. The financial one that has perhaps got the most attention but there are other issues the economic crisis in relation to productive sectors: the auto sector and other sectors that have been affected. We have the environmental crisis, in many countries there is a crisis of governance and citizenship. There is a food crisis, there is a crisis of energy sustainability and so on. So there are many different dimensions of problems that face us in the Americas it's an interesting moment that I am here particularly because as you know in another couple of weeks we have 34 countries from this hemisphere, the Americas will be in my country Trinidad and Tobago for 5th summit of the Americas. And parallel to that is going to be the fourth people summit, and we are organizing that as a space for social movement and to discuss these issues and to articulate alternative, views, policies paradigms to the prevailing new liberal order, which, as everyone can see has failed has collapsed as is evidenced by the financial and other crisis.
So we are here to share what is going to be happening in Trinidad, Tobago as well as to say the crucial issues with respect to Carribean-Canada relations, there is right now being negotiated a Carri-Com, which is a Carribean community of nations and Canada free trade agreement, which is to replace the existing Carri-Can, Carribean-Canada agreement which was in the 1980, a one way preferential agreement. And the new CariCom-Canada free trade agreement is really an extension of the WTO, its going to be similar to NAFTA in many respects, we are here to say that we don't wish to see that kind of trade agreement being established because it will have many negative being established on workers, on farmers, on women on young people in the Caribbean.
Straight Goods News: Now the tree trade area of the America's was halted as I understand it. Is this another attempt by those favouring neo-liberalism as you call it, is this another attempt for those to do the same thing as the FTAA tried to do?
David Abdulah: Yes in fact, I think the United States and Canada adopted a strategy position that with the collapse of the freetrade area of the Americas, the way to achieve the same objective would be by having a series of bilateral agreements so the United States and Canada have been negotiating bilateral agreements with North America and Central America. And now turning the eattention to the Carribean, when all the attention on when all of those bilateral agreements are signed by those between the US on the one hand and country of the South and given NAFTA, which Canada and the United States are participants, we'll in fact will end up with a free trade area of the Americas by a different route. So, we have to recognize that strategic shift to acceive the same objective as the FTA and as the FTA was resistant so to ought we be resisting these bilateral agreements.
Straight Goods News: How has the environment changed since the election of Barrack Obama as the US president? Is Canada's attempt at negotiating free trade agreements with countries like Colombia is it more or less isolated at this point or are there a number of countries that are still pursueing this route?
David Abdulah: We'll it will be interesting to see precisely what the Obama administration's position is going to be on free trade agreements, there have been some signals that he is not happy with what has been happening before. But I don't think it is a clear definitive policy position coming out of the United States administration opposing the free trade aggrements. I think the best thing he can do is put in some reforms or maybe minor reforms and so it is also a moment not only to shift Canada's position but also trying to shift the US position.
Straight Goods News:What do you think Canadians need to know?
David Abdulah: They need to know what these agreements are in substance and the implications of them not only for people here in Canada but also for the implications for people in the countries that are party to those agreements in terms of impact on sovereignty in the same way that NAFTA for example has impacted on Canadian policy space, because there are some economic and social policies that you cannot pursue because they are being violation of NAFTA in the same way that WTO – the World Trade Organization – impacts our national sovereignty in terms of decision making space. So to these bilateral agreements, when they are between a large country – Canada and the United states on the one hand and small countries – Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago is a small country we have a population of 1.2 million has a very small population, smaller countries within Carri-Com, 100,000 people – are very vulnerable to all sorts of external shocks. One major hurricain passed through Grinada years ago and almost devastated the entire economy in an hour, those are the external shocks from the environment. By there are also external shocks in terms of the global crisis so when tourism for example declines because of the clash of wallstreet and it's cascading impacts then the tourism economies of the Carribean are severely impacted upon and workers loose their jobs, and we don't earn foreign exchange so we have to understand that these trade agreements between asymmetrical countries in relationship to power in adversary impact on more on us then in large countries. And we need to have an appreciation of this throughout Canadian society and within our own countries as well.
