Even though it looks like Costa Rican voters will narrowly ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement, I’m still sticking to my view that so-called "free trade" is in trouble—if the people continue to mobilize and demand a change from an economic policy that favors elites over the rest of us.
The media did its best to ignore the mass protests that took place in Costa Rica—protests that showed a country deeply divided over. If you look here, you can see that the vote in Costa Rica has been quite close: less than 52 percent of the voters voted in favor of CAFTA in a national referendum–despite the threats from the U.S.
Our friends at Public Citizen followed the blow-by-blow of the threats from the U.S. On Friday, for example, the White House threatened Costa Ricans:
The White House said Saturday that if Costa Ricans voted against joining a free trade agreement between the United States and Central America, the Bush administration would not renegotiate the deal. The Costa Rican government has scheduled a referendum on it on Sunday.
The White House also suggested that it might not extend trade preferences now afforded to Costa Rican products and set to expire next September. "The United States has never before confronted the question of extending unilateral trade preferences to a country that has rejected a reciprocal trade agreement," the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said in a statement.
Fact is, though, the momentum is on our side. Republican voters now oppose so-called "free trade" by almost a 2-1 margin. Even previous leading Democrats who were so-called "free trade" proponents have begun to move away from that position—-not because they have seen the moral light but simply because they now understand the people are rising up in opposition to immoral economic policies.
The Democratic presidential candidates could do a much better job opposing the ideological framework of so-called "free trade." Obviously, the power of corporate money in oiling the political machine is a serious threat to winning a more human economic policy and the elites will not stop organizing in support of their own economic interests.
But, as an eternal optimist, I think that the one thing that can trump the power of corporate money is the prospect of votes: votes cast by people for candidates who are clearly standing against so-called "free trade" and can speak the real truth about "globalization."
