2003 Events

December 2 Labor Teach-In

Worker-Student Solidarity Teach-In: December 2, 2003 (Speakers included John Sweeney and Elaine Bernard)

November 19-21, 2003: Miami FTAA Protest

Miami for FTAA Protest and Alternative Conference, November 19-21, 2003

October 24 MOVIE Night and Hot Cocoa!
Starts at 8pm, Room 4-231

Social Justice Cooperative and Students for Labor Justice present...

Sweat: A Documentary Trailer
Two unlikely young Americans travel half-way around the world to learn first-hand about Nike’s Indonesian factory conditions and end up taking on the most profitable sports apparel company in the world. (Educating for Justice, 2002, ~ 30 min.)

It's Just a Cup of Coffee to You, but it's the World to Them
This video shows how buying sustainably grown coffee (shade grown, organic and Fair Trade) helps protect threatened environments and provides coffee farmers with a livable wage. (Songbird Foundation, 2001, 14 minutes)

Santiago's Story
A rich documentary about Fair Trade and the dramatic changes it has brought to the lives of a coffee farmer and his family in the mountains of Nicaragua. (Global Exchange, 1999, 16 minutes)

Trade Secrets: The Hidden Costs of the FTAA
The FTAA would extend NAFTA to the entire Western Hemisphere. This film explains what the proposed trade agreement could mean for people and the environment using three case studies: an abandoned battery recycling plant in Tijuana; the lawsuit filed by Methanex against the US Government; and the lawsuit filed by UPS against the Canadian Government.

October 26 TRICK OR TREAT?
Fair Trade, Cocoa Farmers, and You!

WHEN: 7pm - 9pm Sunday, October 26
WHERE: MIT - Stratton Student Center, 2nd floor (directions below)

During Halloween, chocolate companies enjoy their biggest sales to children. Unfortunately, chocolate is no treat for hundreds of thousands of children who work on cocoa farms to help their impoverished families or even toil as slaves. A solution is available through Fair Trade, which guarantees a minimum price per pound and prohibits abusive child labor. Fair Trade farmers can feed their families, send their kids to school, and pay their workers.

Come learn about Fair Trade firsthand from Abel Fernandez of Conacado, a 9,000-member co-op in the Dominican Republic that sells Fair Trade, organic and shade grown cocoa.

We'll also be sampling Fair Trade cocoa and chocolate.

Sponsored by Global Exchange and MIT Students for Labor Justice
==============
Directions: From the Central Square T Station, walk down Mass Ave.
towards Boston - about 10 minutes. The Student Center will be on your
right before the bridge, across the street from 77 Mass Ave, the big
columned entrance to MIT. You can also take the No. 1 bus from Central
Square and get off at the MIT stop, which drops you off right next to
the Student Center.

Miami Parade and Demo Ordinance

Protect Free Speech and Freedom of Assembley During FTAA Ministerial!

This Thursday, Sept. 25, the Miami City Commission will vote on an ordinance banning the use and possession of a variety of items related to peaceful protests, demonstrations and protest marches. This includes puppets and other props; street theater masks; signs on sticks; and much more.

The ordinance, which would take effect when passed and expire on Thursday, Nov. 27 (five days after the FTAA Ministerial ends), is clearly aimed at stifling the voices of the thousands of people - students, union members, activists, farmers and many other individuals - from around the Americas and the world who will be coming to South Florida to engage in peaceful, permitted protests at the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) meeting to be held from Nov. 17-21 in Miami.

This ordinance is an outrageous abridgment of democratic rights and civil liberties, including the right of free speech, the right to protest and the right to assemble. The ACLU and protest leaders have pointed out that the "proposed ordinance... is so broadly written that it may allow police to clamp down on constitutionally protected, peaceful protest activities." (Miami Daily Business Review, "As Miami plans to prevent disruptions during trade talks, protest groups warn of First Amendment breaches," Sept. 19, 2003)

The undemocratic nature of this ordinance is in keeping with the undemocratic nature of the FTAA itself. Under the rules that would be imposed by the FTAA, decision-making power on economic, social and cultural policies, as well as national development plans will be transferred to transnational corporations and investors and away from local communities.

It's important that concerned citizens all over the country immediately contact Miami city officials to voice their opposition to this draconian, unconstitutional measure, which could set a precedence for demonstrations in the future in other places. Officials need to know that the eyes of the world are upon them and that their action will be protested rather than allowed to happen quietly.

Fax the Mayor's office online via the Public Citizen website for free: http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=223&source=25

Call and email too while you're at it - be polite, succinct and firm:
Mayor Manuel A. Diaz: mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us (305)250-5300

SAMPLE LETTER:

To: Mayor Manuel A. Diaz and City Council Commissioners

I urge you and the Miami City Commission to uphold the constitutional rights of free speech and assembly by rejecting the proposed parades and demonstrations city ordinance, item J-O3-772 on the September 25, 2003 Miami City Commission agenda, which would add section 6.1 to Chapter 54 of the City of Miami municipal code.

The U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights Amendment I guarantees the right to freedom of speech and the right of people peaceably to assemble. The proposed ordinance violates fundamental First Amendment rights by defining an assembly as any combination of three people, animals or vehicles. This works a ridiculous result . Two men playing checkers and a dog could be considered an assembly. The proposed rule then imposes on a so-called "assembly" a series of regulations that are this clearly in violation of the spirit and letter of the right to free speech. The ordinance would outlaw innocuous objects commonly used to create puppets, banners and other visuals frequently used in peaceful protests.

The proposed ordinance is designed to give Miami city police officials undue and inappropriate discretionary powers to define what is a legal or illegal assembly, thereby granting broad new powers to detain individuals and hold them accountable to a series of other rules. By providing these unconstitutional powers for security enforcement, the proposed ordinance fails the fundamental test of constitutionality. The Supreme Court requires a strict scrutiny of laws that seek to limit the First Amendment.

The proposed ordinance includes new limitations on common objects such as signs, props and banners which would restrict our ability to express our message in a large group setting. Additionally, the inclusion of everyday objects such as marbles, water balloons and golf balls and the vagueness of some provisions of the ordinance (including the prohibition on solid shapes made of rubber, plastic, metal, wood or any similar hard substance) leaves it subject to capricious application and enforcement. The notable fact that the ordinance is temporary and set to sunset on November 27, 2003 (one week after the Free Trade Area of the Americas Ministerial) makes clear that it is targeted towards activities surrounding the FTAA Ministerial and punitive in nature.

A policy as unconstitutional as this ordinance will undoubtedly face a serious court challenge. It will also show Miami to be a city that rejects democratic process and ideals and that seeks to strip individuals of their most fundamental of constitutional rights.

The Constitution should not stop at the Miami City line. I urge you to encourage City Commission members to vote against the proposed parade and demonstration ordinance as well as ask you to veto this unconstitutional ordinance should it be passed.