Radical Society PO Box 600 Wellington New Zealand Tel 04 473 8566 Fax 04 499 7100

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Wednesday 4th July 2001

Mulroney can NAFTA off

Wellington activists will protest tomorrow outside Te Papa, where ex- Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney is speaking. Mulroney will be promoting the NAFTA free trade agreement that his government signed with the USA and Mexico, and encouraging New Zealand to sign up to similar agreements.

"The reality is that NAFTA failed to deliver on all of its promises. NAFTA cost jobs in all three countries, allowed corporations to run roughshod over environmental protections, and has transferred wealth from the ordinary and the poor to the already rich"said spokesperson Alistair Shaw.

Joining NAFTA would have the same effects for New Zealand. But it¡¦s not just about NAFTA, our government has already signed trade or investment agreements with Singapore, China, Chile, Argentina and are currently negotiating a free trade agreement with Hong Kong. In the face of the failure of the World Trade Organisation and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment the new strategy of the rich and powerful is globalisation by stealth.

NAFTA and each of the bi-lateral agreements New Zealand has signed contain the same investment protection clauses that the world rejected with the MAI. Under NAFTA countries have been unable to ban carcinogenic fuel additives, local authorities have been unable to prevent toxic waste dumping and foreign corporations are able to strip services away from public organisations.

Canadians rejected NAFTA and Mulroney as soon as he signed the thing, most Americans are opposed to it, and the Zapatistas launched their armed conflict in Mexico in response to its signing. New Zealanders don't need free trade and certainly don't want to hitch ourselves up to the failure that is NAFTA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Alistair Shaw or Nick Henry Phone 021 888 180 or 473-8566

Mulroney protest

Protest against former Canadian PM here to promote NZ joining the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Meet Te Papa at 11.30 am or Peace and Environment Centre at 11.

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