Resisting Atlantica: Same Old Exploitation, New Catchy Name

Following the trail of trade deals like the notorious North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the failed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Plan Pueblo Panama (PPP), and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), a new trade deal is in the works, called Atlantica. Atlantica, the International Northeast Economic Region (AINER), is charting a course towards breaking down barriers for big business in Atlantic Canada, Eastern Quebec, and the Northeast United States.

While Atlantica acknowledges economic distressed regions of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, it seeks to perpetuate local economic hardship in these regions by lowering minimum wage and concentrating economic wealth in a proposed Atlantica triangle. This proposed triangle includes Connecticut and spreads to the three points of Boston, Albany and New York. Proponents of Atlantica, Atlantic Canada's business elite and their policy research arms, blame 'too much government' as economic burdens in our region when in reality it is the cheap sell off of our public resources, privatization of our public services and other concessions for large corporations.

I talked with a member of the Anti-Capitalist Coalition of Fredericton, one of the many groups that is responding to these threats, who comprehensively outlined the different aspects of Atlantica, and talked about the mobilizing that is happening in response to this. You can learn more about these issues at the Atlantica Watch website.

Download 23:46 Recorded on April 25, 2007