On August 20th and 21st, 2007, the leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States, Felipe Calderon, Stephen Harper and George W. Bush will be meeting in Montebello, Quebec. Their goal is to push forward the economic integration of our resources for the profits of an elite minority, and the continued militarizing of our borders.
Their meeting will take place in the Chateau Montebello, part of the luxurious Fairmount chain of hotels. It already lies behind barbed-wire fences on the shore of the Ottawa River, and will soon be further isolated by police barricades. Far away from public criticism, representatives of more than thirty private corporations and our supposedly elected leaders will sign the latest development in commercial and military trade negotiations, that have been going on between our three countries over the past two years.
Under the guise of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), Calderon, Harper and Bush think they can secure our borders, promoting the movement of commercial goods while severely restricting the movement of individuals. Their exploitation of social and environmental resources is only profitable for large, capitalist corporations.
HELP US WELCOME THE SPP!
We are contacting you today to invite you to join the “Welcoming Committee”. Groups and activists from Quebec and Canada want to put an end to these negotiations, and we will be bringing this message to Montebello. We are asking for your help, and your support in this effort.
1 – CAMP: An autonomous camp will take shape around Montebello in August to welcome all dissidents, opponents of the dominant politics. We hope that you, your friends, family, and networks can be there. We hope that we can come together in opposition to this ‘Stupid Political Plan’.
2 – ORGANIZATION: We invite you to bring your energies and experiences to the various preparations that are already underway. Committees have been formed to facilitate information & mobilization, finance, logistics & transport, legal & medical support, and co-ordination, etc. They need help, and are open to new participants!
3 – FINANCING: Like any grassroots mobilization opposing the neo-liberal agenda, money is needed, and your small and large contributions are more than welcome. It’s possible to make your checks payable to Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes and sent to 1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, bureau 204, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1N1.
4 – ON THE WEB: In parody of the official SPP site, we have created. We will continue to publish radical, alternative research and articles about the mobilization here. This will be one of many alternatives to the corporate-controlled mass media. If you have texts, photos, posters, fliers, audio, video, ANY media that could be relevant to raising consciousness and mobilizing opposition, please write to moc.pps-pspnull@ofni
5 – LINKS TO http://psp-spp.com — IMPORTANT! An easy and direct means of helping us get ahead of the government website is to have community based websites linking to us. We have developed “NO SPP” images, “buttons” that can be integrated into your personal and organization websites in adding the html code. Again, write to moc.pps-pspnull@ofni for more information.
6 – RADIO PUBLICITY: We have produced two short “subvertizements,” in French and English, that announce the SPP meeting and invite opponents to join us in Montebello. These can be downloaded from the “audio” page on the website, or by clicking on this link. We encourage campus, community and alternative radio broadcasters to include these in their programming, and to produce and share other anti-SPP audio.
7 – MORAL SUPPORT!: Let’s let the world know that we are not alone in opposing these negotiations. We invite you to take a position, as a group or individual, saying “NO to the SPP”, and “NO” to the political and economic elites meeting in Montebello, Quebec. You can send your words of support and organization endorsements to moc.pps-pspnull@ofni
Among the diverse groups already organizing opposition to the SPP, many demands have been voiced, including:
NO BORDERS! NO NATIONS! let humans circulate freely across the continent!
STOP the social and environmental devastation of endless-growth capitalism!
RECOGNIZE “north America” as Turtle Island, as stolen, occupied indigenous territory.
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS!
This list is incomplete, and open to your input!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for any and all your help in bringing together alternative visions of a friendly, cooperative future,
Get in contact with the co-ordination & following committee if you have any questions, or any offers of help and support: moc.pps-pspnull@ofni
Thanks!
Solidarity, Information & Mobilization Committee