Account of Day One and Two of Counter-Atlantica Events : IMC Maritimes

Approximately 500 people packed into a hotel hall in downtown Saint John for a panel discussion entittled "Resisting Atlantica" on Thursday night. The mostly-labour crowd heard from a panel consisting of Maude Barlow (Council of Canadians), Matt Schlobohm (Maine Fair Trade Campaign), and Andrew Jackson (Canadian Labour Congress). This event kicked off three days of actions against the proposed Atlantica trade region, whose main proponents include the Irving Family and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). By Friday afternoon, some protestors had managed to briefly push their way into the conference before being removed by police. Three arrests have been confirmed as a result.

The Atlantica economic zone is a proposed trade corridor linking all four Atlantic Canadian provinces with New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Upstate New York. The proposed Atlantica initiative quite publicly calls for a reduction in minimum wages throughout the region, as well as a dilution of "union density," the large-scale reduction of public employees, and the harmonization of immigration, military, and economic policy with that of the United States. Further details can be found by visiting http://www.atlantica.org .

On Friday morning, a small rally gathered in front of King's square in downtown Saint John. The rally was small, partly due to the fact that the day's schedule of protests had not been supported by the leadership of the large trade unions. Union leaders had expressed a fear of the prospect of direct action and/or "violence" during the counter-atlantica actions.

A Labour Press conference was held in the morning with representatives of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian Labour Congress, the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and others.

At 12 noon, a march consisting of approximately 30-35 people began and headed down towards the site of Saint John Trade and Convention Centre. Kenneth Irving, the CEO of the Irving Family business empire, was scheduled to deliver a speech at this time on the proposed energy component of the Atlantica initiative.

The small group, set upon disrupting the speech by Mr. Irving, managed to push its way past the first set of doors and the main line of security. Police and security then pushed the vocal group, mostly consisting of young activists with a smattering of Labour, back outside. The protestors chanted "Irving Oil, Irving Oil, how many unions will you spoil" and "Democracy Yes, Atlantica No." Members of the corporate media momentarily swarmed the protest, before going back inside to finish up their creme brulees and schmooze with the 500 members of Atlantic Canada's business elite.

Police arrested three demonstrators, who are still being held. Police apparently did not read the rights in any of the arrests, and other protestors and members of the media were threatened with arrest for asking what the charges were. The arrestees are not expected to be released until Monday.

A steady police presence has been maintained at the activist convergence centre, near the downtown area of Saint John.

The Labour march scheduled for Saturday afternoon is expected to draw hundreds if not thousands in this small, maritime community.

Good for you!

The lack of solidarity from labour is not surprising. However, the East did much better at resisting than the West.

Although the Hemispheria Action Group had been organizing against the North America's SuperCorridor Coalition's "Hemispheria 2006" meeting for almost a whole year, in the end, NASCO "faked us out." They said the conference was cancelled. Then they all met in Gimli, Manitoba, instead of Winnipeg. Gimli isn't far, but it's far enough that nobody protested at all... Not even me... I just had too much going on at the U of M. Fortunately, I think some of the premiers are against some of the NAFTA PLUS agreement.

Take care all you maritimers,
Tim

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