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Summit of the Americas

The third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, is currently being held. The Summit is being attended by all 34 American heads of state (except for Fidel Castro). The goal of the Summit is to finalize the FTAA, or Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement. Similar to NAFTA, pro-democratic governments insist the passage of the FTAA is necessary to “help the hemisphere and its governments combat inequality and help spread the wealth we are creating through expanded liberalization and increased integration” (Leroux 31). In this article, Darryl Leroux warns that Quebec City could be the next flash-point of violence over the zealous efforts to liberalize global trade. As he noted when this article was published in March “It remains to be seen whether protestors will succeed in disrupting the meetings as they did in Seattle and Prague” (Leroux 33).

As we now know, protestors did succeed in disrupting the meetings through a series of protests. A few of these protests turned violent and police forces on the scene to combat any disruptions used every means at their disposal to repel the well-armed protestors, many of who carried their own tear gas and wore gas masks and biological weapons protective suits. The protestors were criminalized in the media and by pro-democratic leaders like President Bush who appear indifferent to the concerns of protectors. As Leroux (33) warned, even thought these is a chance that protestors can reverse the tidal wave of globalization, the act of protest against global trade has been criminalized because leaders have something to fear “The protestors are right that the most pressing moral, political and economic issue of our time is third world poverty. And they are right that the tide of globalization, powerful as the engines driving it may be, can be turned back. The fact that both these things are true is what makes the pro

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Summit of the Americas. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:18, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686382.html