In a secret behind-closed-doors deal, struck five days before the two countries signed their free trade agreement, the Korean government promised the US that it would offer a "de facto" relinquishment of its authority to conduct hygiene and quarantine tests on imported US beef, according to The Hankyoreh.
Two months later, on 22 May 2007, the Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), in Paris, adopted a resolution declaring the US a "controlled risk" area for beef — thereby giving international clearance for countries boycotting US beef to resume their imports. Korean farmers were on site to stop the OIE from taking this decision.
The long term health risks from US beef have been a major controversy with the US-Korea FTA. Korea stopped importing US beef once BSE was found in US cattle in 2003. The FTA has been aggressively used by Washington to try to reopen that market ever since.
About this site
fightingftas.org is the online version of "Fighting FTAs: the growing resistance to bilateral free trade and investment agreements", a collaborative publication produced by bilaterals.org, BIOTHAI and GRAIN. This website contains the full text of that publication accompanied by photographs, audio clips, videos, an interactive map of FTAs around the world, and links to more materials about FTAs and people’s struggles against them. Both the publication and the website were launched in February 2008.
fightingftas.org is available in English, French and Spanish. It is also available on DVD, for those who do not have internet access (see below).
This site has a very simple structure:
As you browse the texts, you will see that each article is accompanied by a sidebar pointing to related materials for going further. You can also comment on each article and share your own experiences.
This site is a free resource, built with mostly free software, to be used, adapted or further developed by anyone who is involved, or wants to get involved more, in these struggles. Feel free to contact us at fightingftas.org@gmail.com.
A much broader view of what is happening on a day to day level, including links to activist websites, is already available at bilaterals.org, an open-publishing website that you are encouraged to participate in.
Available materials
- Print publication
The print version of "Fighting FTAs" is available in English, French and Spanish. (The Thai version will be ready in September 2008.) To request a copy, or bulk copies to distribute at meetings, write to fightingftas.org@gmail.com.
- DVD
All the materials found on this website — the publication texts, audio interviews, videos, the map and all the photos — are available on a two-disc DVD. To request a DVD, write to fightingftas.org@gmail.com.
You are free to make further copies of the DVD. The labels to print on the discs are available for download here.
- Web banners
If you wish to post a graphic link to Fighting FTAs on your website, a number of banners are available for download here.
All these materials are available free of charge.
Contacts
fightingftas.org
fightingftas.org is a collaborative website. Several people, mostly from the bilaterals.org team, maintain the site.
bilaterals.org bilaterals.org is a collective effort to share information and stimulate cooperation among movements and organisations fighting against bilateral free trade and investment agreements. It was launched in September 2004 as an open-publishing site. A small collective takes care of day-to-day updating and maintenance. The site contains over 10,000 articles about the push for and fight against FTAs, attracting 6,000 visitors each day. Your direct collaboration is needed and welcome.
BIOTHAI
BIOTHAI (Biodiversity Action Thailand) was created in 1995 to raise public awareness and fight for better policies related to biodiversity, which is central to community livelihoods in Thailand. It presently has 7 staff and operates as both an organisation and a network. BIOTHAI was a founding member of FTA Watch and is heavily involved in people’s struggles against FTAs, GMOs and the increasing industrialisation and corporate takeover of food and agriculture, not only in Thailand but also in Asia.
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international organisation that works to help support movements in their struggles against privatisation and corporate control in the area of food, biodiversity and agriculture. It was created in 1990 and has 15 staff spread across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. GRAIN has been involved in the struggle against FTAs since the late 1990s, when it became clear that bilateral trade and investment deals were becoming a cutting edge tool to push corporate control over agricultural biodiversity, farther and faster than the WTO and other international fora.
Authors
To get in touch with any particular author, write to fightingftas.org@gmail.com and we will send you their address.