It's been called "NAFTA on Steroids." It's been called
an investor's Bill of Rights. It's been called the most significant
economic agreement of the last 50 years.
What is it? It's the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI),
a treaty that's been secretly negotiated over the past two years
at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
in Paris. The OECD, made up of the world's 29 wealthiest nations,
traditionally has served as a research arm for the finance ministries
of member countries.
The MAI is designed to extend and protect the rights of foreign
investors and remove restrictions to the free movement of investment
capital around the world. If enacted in its current form, it will
directly undermine democracy and radically circumscribe the power
of governments to direct their economies in ways that promote
social, economic and environmental justice.
Specifically, the MAI will:
· Give corporations legal power to sue governments directly
for monetary compensation, opening the way for corporations to
challenge laws or regulations to protect people's health or the
environment, and giving investors right to immediate compensation
for government measures, including taxes, that have "the
effect of" expropriating or nationalizing an investment;
· Establish a one-way dispute resolution mechanism enforceable
by an international body of trade experts, with no rights of citizen
access or input;
· Obligate governments to treat foreign investors at least
as favorably as their domestic companies (they can treat them
better with no penalty under the MAI), thus preventing governments
from preferentially promoting domestic investment;
· Prohibit certain "performance requirements"
or conditions for investment (e.g. requirements that manufacturers
transfer environmentally beneficial technology, promote wage equity,
or reinvest in the community) even if the same requirements are
applied to domestic investments; and
· Bind all member countries to the agreement's provisions
for 20 years.
The overall impact of the MAI will be to limit what governments
can do to regulate corporate behavior and promote accountability,
directly impacting local, state and federal laws seeking to make
corporations more responsible. It would also put at risk people's
right to direct investments to priority sectors, develop policies
to assist new industries, guard against capital flight, make decisions
about what kind of industries or businesses come into their areas,
determine types of ownership allowed (such as joint-ventures),
protect themselves from ruthless corporate practices, or institute
new and progressive regulations, such as equal pay for equal work.
Although the MAI would initially be a treaty among the OECD countries,
developing countries would be under strong pressure to sign on.
There are no provisions, however, for incorporating the concern
of Southern countries, which typically have higher levels of investment-related
regulations such as technology transfer requirements and capital
controls designed to lessen the impact of speculation on national
economies. Under the explicit threat that investment will not
flow to those who don't sign the MAI, developing countries will
be faced with a "take it or leave it" decision. Already,
however, Southern NGOs are getting the word out about the MAI,
and calling on their governments to resist and refuse to sign
the MAI if it is passed.
The Network's Response
In 1998, the 50 Years Is Enough Network will work with colleagues
all around the world to make the MAI "dead on arrival".
We are joining this battle in part because the treaty would set
in stone many of the negative policies established under structural
adjustment programs. What's more, the World Bank's International
Court for Settlement of Investment Disputes will be the main forum
through which corporations would sue governments, and the IMF,
which has observor status at the negotiations, will have veto
power over some of MAI provisions. Joining the MAI fray also reflects
the broadening of 50 Years' strategies for promoting global economic
justice, and enables us to bring home our focus on the institutions
and structures in the global economy that threaten the economic,
social and democratic rights of people worldwide. This understanding
is critical to mobilizing people to action, which is necessary
if we are to bring about change.
50 Years has been working closely with a number of organizations
on the forefront of the fight against the MAI, including Friends
of the Earth (FoE , a founding member of 50 Years Is Enough),
Public Citizen, and the Preamble Center for Public Policy. For
example, with the help of these groups, the Citizens Trade Campaign
(CTC), and Nicaragua Network, in August we organized an MAI conference
call with about 20 Network members from around the country. MAI
experts from FoE, Preamble and CTC provided a briefing on the
issues, answered questions, and identified legislators that could
be targeted by 50 Years groups. Members then followed up by meeting
directly with their congresspeople while they were home during
the summer recess.
Over the next year, our work on the MAI will be guided by an
MAI Task Force, just now being formed among 50 Years members.
Watch our email conference for information about the first meeting,
which we will hold in early January. Some of the actions we plan
to undertake include:
· Developing (together with Friends of the Earth, the
Alliance for Democracy, Witness for Peace, the Preamble Center,
the Democratic Socialists of America, Public Citizen, and other
groups) a brochure which lays out the implications of the proposed
treaty on women, the environment, workers, local communities,
democracy and global economic and social justice.
The brochure, which will be available in February, will include
talking points and a section on what people can do to fight the
MAI.
· Launching local campaigns to declare towns, counties
and states as "MAI Free Zones!"
· Producing a fact sheet on the MAI, linking it to SAPs
and the private-sector work of the World Bank and the IMF, and
suggesting actions people can take;
· Integrating information about the MAI in the activist
popular educational materials we are developing around the local
impact of the global economy and what people can do about it.
This activity is particularly important. Under the MAI, many of
the local-level strategies devised over the years to promote economic
justice would be subject to legal challenge by corporations. This
could have a devastating impact on the individual communities
that have worked for years to build alternatives, only to have
them wiped out by the MAI. The impact on the progressive movement
overall could be equally devastating;
· Working with members on local media strategies - radio,
cable access, the print media - to get the word out about the
MAI, including writing sample letters-to-the-editor and op-eds
for members to adapt and use in their local media;
· Providing ideas for and updates about MAI organizing
in Economic Justice News.
To become a member of the 50 Years Is Enough Task Force on the
MAI - which means you want to help us plan and implement the 50
Years attack - just call, write or email Lisa McGowan in the Washington
office.
For more information on the MAI, contact:
Mark Vallianatos
Friends of the Earth/U.S.
1025 Vermont Avenue, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 783-7400 x 231
fax: (202) 783-0444
email: mvalli@aol.com
Antonia Juhasz
Preamble Center for Public Policy
1737 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 265-3263
(202) 265-3647
e-mail: preamble@rtk.net
Chantell Taylor
Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003
(202) 456-4996
e-mail: ctaylor@citizen.org
Lisa McGowan, 50 Years is Enough
|