MMMark's Whycandoo Room: NAFTA - "TRADING DEMOCRACY"    
 NAFTA - "TRADING DEMOCRACY"10 comments
6 Feb 2002 @ 01:02, by Mark Smollin

Tonight my heart sank into a feeling I cannot put into words. It is a sickening sensation on the scale of a nuclear blast devastating every moral concept you know. My anger and fear seem almost uncontrollable, yet I try with all presence of mind not to sound insane. This is a ten alarm fire that we must face immediately, by making our intelligence known, so in lieu of our undeveloped ability to act as a group, I ask you to write your representatives, State, Federal and especially the President of the United States to this charade of legal minds called NAFTA.

This the title of Bill Moyer’s documentary focusing only on Chapter 11 of NAFTA, titled "Trading Democracy." The program reveals that corporations legally have the right to sue any government participationg in NAFTA for damages if their profits are threatened, even if those profits are not yet realized, by any current, or new laws. There are cases pending in all three countries, all cases settled so far have been decided for the corporations bringing suits against governments, which are determined solely by private tribunal. In other words, Chapter 11 legally supercedes the Constitution of the United States and the Supreme Court as ultimate legal authority in America. It also has proven to take precedent over Mexican and Canadian law. We are talking about billions of dollars in settlements in a very short time with no limit of future penalties. There are plans to expand this agreement to the global community. I will not attempt to describe this in any more detail but ask that you first educate yourself to this problem. There are several links on the Public Citizen website about Chapter 11 that will help:

[link]

Please locate Congressman Doggett’s letter to the President (I had to reload this link for it to bring up the PDF file) about Chapter 11 Revisions and draft a similar statement for yourself. I wish we had a way to draft and send such letters from the members of NCN for many of the reasons I have stated before.

I case you have any doubts about the value and security offered through a democratic method of government, no matter how crude, I believe you will find your way of life is threatened directly by this covert tactic to rape without opposition. This my call for us to act together separately now.

Recent and upcoming airings on KCET: 2/5 10:00pm, 2/7 10:00pm. This is a must see so please check your local PBS station listings, or order a tape of the show.

Namasté > > > Mark

Here I now include my letter of protest to the President:

Dear Mister President < < <

I am writing with deep concern for the obvious mistakes made in the NAFTA legislation as defined in Chapter 11 of that document, which supercedes all current legal and governmental authority for the three nations who subscribed to sign it. I would like to suggest that Chapter 11 shows no relative respect for any economic principle, or context for such legal actions, proposing only to support corporate interests without regard to any of the concepts upon which this nation was founded.
I call for the elimination of Chapter 11 from the NAFTA document or the reform of its illegal intent to make the public liable for corporate profits.

I support Congressman Doggett’s letter to you dated October 4, 2001, and the basic corrections he and his cosigners propose.

In these turbulent times, it is greatly disturbing to know that this type of thing can be counter productive to national and global moral. There is no good system or belief that is not grounded on an ethical basis. I believe it would be to the advantage of your administration and the citizens of the world if you would personally make a commitment to ensure that NAFTA is crafted to do what was intended in the first place. At the same time, I am not convinced that any individual is capable of understanding or meeting the provisions of a regulation on the scale of NAFTA’s 500 plus pages. I am concerned that this trend alienates all regular citizens to participate in the democratic process, to comprehend a social objective, offer advice and opinion, and to ratify or oppose any public policy when it is not healthy for everyone.

We must become conscious of the type of society we are making collectively and become responsible for our actions.

Thank you for consideration of my patriotic expressions of duty.

Sincerely > > > Mark

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10 comments

6 Feb 2002 @ 11:45 by tdeane : Great Read!
Great newslog, Mark. Great read, as well, no matter how frightening. Thank you for providing all of those links. Will definitely be sending a letter of protest. Much love ~ Tricia  

6 Feb 2002 @ 14:15 by maxtobin : Corporate hologram
Thanks for the excellent information Mark (forwarned is forarmed). Good luck with your collective efforts on this one, we find this all over and I suspect it willl get more intense for a while yet to bring it to the consciousness of the sleep walking masses. It has a Medusa like quality though it seems, as we identify and cut off one head there seem to appear many more. Keep smiling (inside) and stay alert seems to be best advise, and then act as the heart moves us. We the peoples of the planet awakened are the golden age to come!!  

7 Feb 2002 @ 01:14 by shawa : Hi, Mark!
 

7 Feb 2002 @ 01:19 by shawa : Hi, Mark! Sorry the comp jumped.
If I had a penny for every thing that made me loose my breath considering "democracy", I´d be a trillionnaire! But you´re right to call our attention. It´s been years crying wolf, and then they do it, and we-re f...Reading this, I am asking myself if it still is possible to change anything in what has become "Matrix". Running to the woods isn´t a solution either, I understand that. I wish I was in America, to DO something with others. I guess it´s easier seeing this from afar.  

7 Feb 2002 @ 06:02 by ashanti : Helping from outside?
Mark, what can those of us outside the US do to help? If anything? I don't know if our voices count, up till now they haven't, but if there
is anything, where/what? Tnx, Kim.  

7 Feb 2002 @ 12:35 by mmmark : For all Aliens
Just kidding, there is no such thing as aliens, but I refer to non US residents of Earth. You can certainly email the President of the United States and offer your support. I believe every little tiny piece of positive consciousness is necessary to offset the negative prevailing winds. At the same time Moonshadow & Yashmir draw attention for NCN to develop the power this community has to influence things external to itself. We are not in fact divided and therefore all human concerns are global - an imaginary boundary should not stop you, if you are inspired. Remember that NAFTA is sort of a test of something that the controllers want to export world-wide, so it will be coming to your local neighborhood soon. Let's link arms.  

9 Feb 2002 @ 00:41 by ashanti : ET phones home
(grin). I know, Mark, that is why I am concerned - partly "selfish" as in, for my own community. Because whatever happens in America, that gets exported, we blindly and stupidly copy, without first assessing it. Its lazy, its a cop-out on our part, but there are those of us who do wish to think first before blindly copying. We have done good things here, that are unique - such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, but the US would never think of copying us "aliens". Anyhow, I digress. Does the president's e-mail actually
*read* what is sent? And, despite these artificial national boundaries created, we are all one. No-one on this planet can be truly free until every creature and GAIA herself is free. So, we *are* all in this together.  

9 Feb 2002 @ 01:15 by mmmark : Yashmir
I know that the White House has a staff to read and gather consensus of incoming mail and email. I have gotten "auto responder" messages back in return stating that the president cannot personally read all of these or reply to them, but thanks me for writing. We do not have any way of knowing if these go into the trash can, or if they are taken seriously, but then I also Cced the VP and all my representatives a copy. I fear we are too uninvolved and need at least to do this type of thing. Holding corporations responsible too. to quote the US President's speech in ID4 - "…We will not go quietly into the night," and we should not suffer in silence and then whine. If we have computers we have great power to influence and I believe we can turn the media and many heads, if we are willing to muster massive participation in making public declarations of consciousness.  

10 Feb 2002 @ 01:55 by jazzolog : More Support
I just ran across a column by Arianna Huffington on this topic. You'll like it! [link]  

10 Feb 2002 @ 02:03 by mmmark : Chapter 11
Thanks, she didn't add anything that wasn't in the show. Everyone needs to see the show.  

Other entries in
31 May 2004 @ 00:13: Memorial For America
24 Dec 2003 @ 18:22: Seasons Greetings
2 Dec 2003 @ 15:12: Shared Purpose
8 Jun 2003 @ 00:27: Namasté = Respect
22 Jan 2003 @ 20:59: Doers & Democracy
10 Jan 2003 @ 14:47: NEW STYLE THINKING
22 Dec 2002 @ 13:22: Wonderful Winter Holidays To You
4 Jun 2002 @ 02:13: Relationships
16 May 2002 @ 04:02: Thanks For Telling Me
12 May 2002 @ 23:53: Tell Me About Me

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