(Final version)

1/ Objectives

– Defeat the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) in all its
incarnations: Complete, Lite or a la Carte, as well as free
trade deals negotiated at a bilateral or regional level

– Strengthen the No-FTAA campaign and the links with the popular
struggles in our countries as we enter this critical phase

– Stop the advancing process of militarization in the Americas
and expose its connections to the FTAA

– Contribute to the world wide movement in opposition to war,
debt and free trade wherever they are to be found

– Deepen the process of building an alternative integration model
for the hemisphere

– Confront transnational corporations and the vested interests
behind their promotion of free trade agreements, processes of
privatization and their appropriation of the natural resources

2/ Strategies and Action Proposals

A) Mobilization and Networking

– Strengthen the building of movements, committees, national
unitary and horizontal platforms that are rooted in the social
organizations

– Broaden the alliance with other sectors and social actors that
have not been involved in the campaign to date, including among
others medium size industrial and agricultural producers,
mayors

– Promote and strengthen sub-regional networks connecting a
diversity of actors (social movements, parliamentarians,
lawyers, academics) for the purpose of coordinating actions and
strategies to oppose the FTAA and all other free trade treaties

– Encourage the creation of a network of parliamentarians and
another for lawyers to fight the FTAA

– Link the No-FTAA Campaign to popular movement demands: in
opposition to privatizations and the neo-liberal attack on
public and social services, on natural resources and other
strategic sectors of national economies; in defence of food
security and sovereignty, and of the environment; in support of
the rights of women, people with a different sexual
orientation, campesinos, black populations, indigenous people,
youth and students, older people, workers

– Involve the most active members of the No-FTAA Campaign in
promoting the participation of their counterparts from other
countries in the Campaign

– Empower, with the support of the continental network, mass
actions and mobilizations in each country or sub region while
ensuring the presence of international teams and of
personalities involved with our struggle

– Strengthen the level of mobilization and of significant actions
to be taken around the most significant dates and agendas
related to both the meetings of multilateral organizations and
to the free trade negotiating schedules. Political initiatives
and rally plans to be held at other times as well

B) Campaigns and specific struggles

– Fight against free trade bilaterals and sub-regionals (CAFTA,
Andean nations-USA, European Union and Latin America, and
others)

– Carry out rallies and campaigns against the transnationals that
benefit most from privatization, and control over resource
extraction, biodiversity, communications and other strategic
sectors
– Support social movement campaigns that oppose the inclusion of
cultural industries, education, public services, water and the
like, in commercial accords

– Develop a strategy to work with parliaments and congresses at
national and regional levels. Also implement strategies
involving the legal system for the purpose of defending the
sovereignty and constitutional rights of our countries and
peoples

– Link up with and contribute to international campaigns and
movements opposing the WTO and free trade, debt repayment,
multilateral financial institutions (IMF, World Bank, IDB), war
and militarization in all their different scenarios

– Promote the Campaign for the Demilitarization of the Americas
(CADA) and add our support to specific struggles opposing: Plan
Colombia, the establishment of military bases, the Andean
Initiative, Plan Puebla-Panama, the School of the Americas, the
School for Law Enforcement (ILEA in C.R.), and the planned
extension of the US Missile Shield to involve Canada

– Create a permanent vigilance committee able to respond quickly
to any repressive action/coup taken against no-FTAA activists
or leadership

C) Education, Information and Communication

1. Sensitize and educate our populations and prioritize the training
of our activists as part of an ongoing responsibility

- Carry out large scale No-FTAA popular education campaigns based
on the key national campaign objectives as well as on making
the connections between the FTAA, the WTO, debt and
militarization

- Produce popular education and training materials on the
previously mentioned themes and share these materials with all
the other campaigns (among other options, materials can be
posted on the Campaign web site www.movimientos.org/noalca )

- Fight to improve health and education levels in consonance with
the no-FTAA struggle

2. Strengthen at all levels the mechanisms for information sharing,
communications and getting the message out

- Increase the internal flow of campaign information leading to
greater cohesion among member organizations and improved
campaign results

- Share the analysis, audio-visual materials and other cultural
products coming out of each country. The Campaign web site is
the point of reference for these to be lodged

- Get the No-FTAA campaign message and related materials out to
allied sectors. Also publicize any of their anti FTAA
pronouncements

- Build links with people in communications sector who support or
sympathize with the Campaign, so that they may contribute
journalism in accessible language. Make a better use of visual
materials and foment cultural creativity (story telling, music,
No-FTAA concerts, theatre, etc.)

- Increase the profile of the Continental Campaign by mentioning
it in public pronouncements, communiqués and other media work
in order to establish the C.C. as the reference point for anti
FTAA work.

- Carry out work at a hemispheric level to reach media where
there are openings for our message. Promote the creation of a
hemispheric network of communications media that oppose the
FTAA

- Strengthen the presence of the No-FTAA Campaign positions and
information at the national mass-media level

D) Monitoring and action related to keeping a watch on the official
negotiating process

– Deepen our monitoring and analysis strategy re: the FTAA
negotiations and bilateral and sub-regional talks, as well as
our ability to get the message out in a broad and
comprehensible way

– Take advantage of the internal contradictions evident in the
official negotiations to stop the FTAA both at a national and
hemispheric level

– Demand transparency, publicity concerning and information on
the negotiating processes

E) Building alternatives

– Move forward in our efforts to build alternatives to the free
trade model and the neo-liberal agenda, and involve popular
sector participation in expressing these alternatives in plain
language

– Promote an interchange between our debates around alternatives
and certain governmental initiatives in the region (ALBA,
MERCOSUR, CAN) and build in to the Americas Social Forum
(Quito) a special opportunity to do this reflection

F) Other specific actions suggested in the closing plenary

– Any call for a plebiscite, referendum or popular consultation
should happen before any treaty is signed, and besides being a
cohesive factor, such a call should ensure social organizations
have access to the mass media. These tools have to be
understood as a way to mobilize, inform and carry out popular
education work. However they should not be seen as a method to
either ratify or rectify the treaty

– Show solidarity for other people and their struggles whether
directed at government or more widely. As an example, consider
including words of solidarity with Cuba in each no-FTAA event.

– Send letters to the government of Bolivia demanding freedom for
Francisco Cortez who is falsely accused as being a drug
trafficker

3/ Key elements in the continental coordination of the No-FTAA
Campaign

Continental Coordination

- Continuing on from the results coming out of the II World
Social Forum held in January 2002, the Continental Campaign
Coordination will consist of two representatives of movements,
committees or platforms per country, and two per continental
or regional network

Continental Secretariat

- The Continental Secretariat will maintain its headquarters in
Brazil and continue to be a joint effort involving the
Secretariats of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (H.S.A.) and
of the Brazilian No-FTAA Campaign. Contact: secr-
cont@uol.com.br Tel # 55-11-2108-9129 Fax # 55-11-3272-9601.
Rua Caetano Pinto, 757 CEP 03041-000, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Other coordination tasks

- Strengthen and/or create sub-regional co-ordinations (CAFTA,
CAN, MERCUSUR), and with support from the Continental
Coordination elaborate specific action plans to be
incorporated in the overall strategy

- Form a team focused on work with parliamentarians

- Form a working group to facilitate greater participation by
Caribbean nations

- Promote and consolidate the links between the Continental
Campaign, the national chapters and sub-regional co-
ordinations

- Implement policies that allow for dialogue and a greater
coming together with the different initiatives and popular
sector points of convergence in our continent (Continental
Campaign against the FTAA, H.S.A., Americas Social Forum,
Bolivariano Congress, Social Movement Network and World March
of Women)

- Form a group to facilitate the discussion on formulating
alternatives

- Empower the Secretariat to make the necessary changes to this
Action Plan (in discussions with the Continental Coordination)
following any alterations in the directions taken by the FTAA
talks following the The Negotiating Committee (TNC) meeting(s)
in Puebla

Continuing in our firm resolve to oppose the FTAA and with the
objective of evaluating and constructing our strategy in the next
phase, we will be getting together in Havana between the 27th and
30th of April 2005 for the IV Hemispheric Meeting of the Struggle
against the FTAA.

4/ Continental mobilizing
The Continental Coordination agreed on the priority events listed
below around which No-FTAA forces would organize and/or participate
in. They are:

- March 20, 2004 International day of protest against war and
the occupation of Iraq which in the case of Latin America also
means opposing: Plan Colombia, the Andean Initiative, Plan
Puebla Panama, and the stopping and closing of U.S. military
bases with a particular focus on ending the occupation of
Guantanamo.

- April 24, 2004 International mobilization against the
Multilateral Financial Institutions (World Bank, IMF) and
against Foreign Debt, on the occasion of the sixtieth
anniversary of the Bretton Woods institutions.

- Last half of 2004 (to be scheduled) Popular opposition actions
timed to begin on the first day of the Brazil FTAA
Ministerial, with a variety of protest actions to be held in
major cities

- August 29, 2004 Continental day of protest actions to stand in
solidarity with U.S. sisters and brothers who will be rallying
in New York on the occasion of the Republican Convention to
demonstrate strong opposition to the reelection of George W.
Bush.

The national-level No-FTAA movements, committees and platforms
will develop their own tactics and campaign calls in order to
ensure broad participation from the population

5/ Other key dates

We wish to highlight other key mobilizing dates traditionally
observed by sectors, movements and networks that participate in the
No-FTAA campaign and encourage your presence on those days:

- March 8, International Women's Day

- March 20, Rallies in Central America and USA against CAFTA

- April 17, International Day of Campesino Struggle

- May 1, International Workers Day

- July 25-30, Americas Social Forum, Quito

- October 12 Cry of the Excluded/International Indigenous
People's Day

The struggle against CAFTA

Given the strategic significance of the Free Trade Treaty between
Central America and the USA (CAFTA) as being the effective
implementation of the FTAA in Central America, the Continental
Campaign considers the defeat of CAFTA to be fundamental to the
overall Campaign objectives and call on members to support the
actions being proposed by the Central American Regional Coordination
and the US.

1- Generate tools/materials for the work

- Declarations from all those organizations opposing CAFTA

- Development of a document with a critical analysis of the CAFTA
text and outlining the impact that it will have

2- Carry out communication and popular education actions

- Publicize the CAFTA text and the critical análisis

- Publish informative materials that can be used to support
popular mobilization and pressure on the respective Congresses

3- Mobilizing to put pressure on the Congresses

- Visits by Central Americans to the US Congress and viceversa

- Coordinated rallies to be held on March 20 and May 1, as
established by the No-FTAA Continental Campaign plans
incorporating the fight against CAFTA

* English translation of the Continental Campaign's Action Plan done
by Common Frontiers-Canada (Feb. 2004).