8-20-07, 9:34 am
Joint Party Statement on the August 20-21, 2007 Summit and the SPP
The August 20-21 Summit of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Presidents George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón, and the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” (SPP) deal which will be the centerpiece of their meeting, constitutes a grave threat to the democratic and social rights of the peoples of Canada, the United States and Mexico, to the national sovereignty of our respective countries, and to the cause of peace.
We, the undersigned parties, join with trade union, anti-war, environmental and other social and people’s movements in denouncing the corporate-driven agenda which the SPP agreement seeks to foist on the peoples of our countries, and in urging the widest possible mobilization of labour and other popular forces to stop and defeat this dangerous and reactionary ‘initiative’.
The real class forces driving the SPP are the biggest corporations and banks, acting through various ‘think tanks’ such as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), the Conference Board of Canada, and the (US) Council on Foreign Relations, among many others. A newly-formed “North American Competitiveness Council” composed of 10 leading corporate CEOs from each country, has been directing the SPP process to ensure that “governments look to the private sector to tell them what needs to be done.” Among the firms represented are Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart, Exxon, General Motors, Home Depot, GE, Ford, Wal-Mart, Merck and Chevron.
According to its corporate sponsors, the SPP aims to “deepen North American integration… transforming all three nations and establishing the dynamics of a new continental economy.” It would create a common “North American security architecture”, “secure the energy resources and strategic networks needed to remain competitive”, and impose a single “regional regulatory harmonization” over virtually all aspects of economic and social life – “agriculture, water, health and emergency services, energy (electrical, nuclear, hydro, and gas and oil), transportation systems (air, roads, rail, ports, and waterways), information and telecommunications networks, and banking and financial systems.”
In other words, the SPP is a ‘fast track’ to a “North American Union” – one firmly under the domination of U.S. imperialism and its transnationals and banks. It would consolidate corporate control over the energy, water, and other natural resources of the continent, further erode labor and democratic rights, accelerate the privatization of public services such as health care and education, and strengthen the drive to militarization under the Bush Administration’s so-called “War on Terror”.
Workers, women, Aboriginal peoples, immigrants and people of color, and all those striving to defend democratic rights, oppose war and aggression, and preserve our environment – that is, the vast majority of the people in all our three countries – have a common interest in derailing this dangerous, pro-corporate plan. As neighboring peoples, we stand for close cooperation and friendship across our borders. But we categorically reject any attempt to dictate our future and trash the sovereign rights of our peoples by the likes of Exxon, Wal-Mart and Lockheed Martin, and their right-wing governments.
Unite to stop and defeat the “Security and Prosperity Partnership” (SPP)!
Communist Party of Canada Communist Party of the USA Partido de los Comunistas de México Partido Popular Socialista de México
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