• Wednesday, November 16, 2011
• Inter Press Service

As U.S. President Barack Obama sought to make headway on the first significant free trade agreement since NAFTA, a week of demonstrations protested the move.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit kicked off on Nov. 8 and ran through Nov. 13.

Numerous actions have been protesting the APEC summit. And not only here in Honolulu.

The summit brought together 21 Pacific Rim economies. Currently, the United States is seeking to pave the way for a free trade agreement of the Asia Pacific region.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an agreement to liberalise the economies of the Asia-Pacific region, is its first incarnation. Signed in 2005 and implemented in 2006, the TPP includes Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.

Australia, Malaysia, Peru, United States and Vietnam are negotiating to join.

On Friday, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced interest in joining.

Memories of the 1997 meltdown in Southeast Asia

In response to Prime Minister Noda's decision, 6,000 protestors demonstrated against the TPP in Tokyo.

Joining the TPP would deeply impact farmers, particularly rice and wheat farmers, since a free trade agreement would erase the tariffs on imported grains, allowing Australia, the United States and Vietnam to import cheaper grain.

The 1997 Asian financial crisis is seared into the minds of farmers of the region. Countries most affected were Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, as well as Japan, Laos, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

As the economies of these countries melted down, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered loans. These funds were typically tied to neoliberal realignments of economy. Abolishing tariffs on imports forms one part of such an economic integration.

Under this system, local farmers would not be able to compete with cheap imported grain.

Thus, the current free trade agreements under discussion are already meeting with strong resistance throughout the region.

De-Occupy Honolulu

In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and 'with the people of occupied lands everywhere', the Occupy Honolulu movement has been underway since Oct. 8.

Reflecting local politics, the first general assembly kicked off with a heated discussion about the very name of the movement: occupy? (in solidarity with Wall Street); de- occupy? (to reflect local positions on sovereignty rights); or re-occupy?

Occupy Honolulu established an encampment in Thomas Park to settle in overnight on Nov. 5. Eight people were arrested. Since then, Occupy Honolulu has re-occupied the park.

The Honolulu Police Department has threatened to evict them, arguing that the park closes at 10:00 p.m. and the protestors do not have the right to stay beyond that time.

Insisting on their first amendment rights, the encampment continues to occupy Thomas Park in downtown Honolulu.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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