Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth

Such movements of resistance have slowed the expansion of oppressive
and unjust trade rules and agreements. But they are far from replacing the
present rules of trade with a regime that gives primacy to the ethical and
survival principles of just trade. The major powers have unleashed a
potentially devastating wave of bilateral and regional agreements that
perpetuate the same model of economic dominance because these rules
must be WTO-compatible, including measures that are “WTO plus”,
which is more far-reaching than the WTO itself. Negotiating power is
even more unequal, and dependency on aid and trade has forced
governments to make commitments that could destroy their economies
and deepen their dependency. In some cases, the US has even conditioned
access to trade concessions on a country’s compliance with its foreign
policy and security interests.
Regional agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas
(FTAA / ALCA) and the Regional Economic Partnership Agreements
between the European Union and Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific
reflect the same power imbalance that benefits transnational
corporations to the detriment of national capital investment and
domestic markets. A 2003 Buenos Aires consultation jointly organized
by the WCC and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI)
together with other partners decried the FTAA as embodying a model
of competition between unequal partners that will inevitably entail the
submission or elimination of the weakest. Again, resistance movements
throughout the Americas have harnessed popular democracy so that
the people’s voices are heard in creative ways through people’s referenda,
hemispheric mobilization and the articulation of trade rules based on
social justice and self-determination.
A potentially effective alternative are the regional and sub-regional
agreements that strengthen the capacity of poor and vulnerable countries
to promote and protect their own interests. However, these must be based
on models of just trade and not on models of so-called “free trade” that
the current straitjacket of WTO compatibility requires. They must also
incorporate the proportionality principle, which protects the poor and
the weak in exchanges between unequal partners.
Resistance is important, but it is not enough. New visions are needed to
support new rules, articulated by the people themselves and backed by
ethical challenges formulated by social movements and churches, before
there can be genuine change.
The following principles for just trade agreements can serve as indicators
of an alternative paradigm on trade. Trade agreements must:
• be premised on the basic principles of the economy of life: solidarity,
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