"...Laura Barrett, represending the Missouri Public Interest
    Research Group, noted that international trade treaties can
    actually undo federal and state laws to protect the environment.

    "According to Sierra Club member Rick Lamonica, `The greatest
    danger with free trade is the [further] empowerment of
    transnational corporations to transcend political governments and
    expand exploitation everywhdre. In institutes methods for
    corporations to circumvent environmental, labor, and consumer
    protection regulations through appointed, unaccountable
    international trade bureacrats that can declare laws "hidden"
    trade barriers.'

    "Mary Jo Maroney summed up feelings of the Gateway Greens: `Greens
    believe that popele themselves, through their elected workplace
    and community representatives, should decide what to produce and
    how to do it. Citizens of the U.S., Mexico, and Canada should
    control our own economic destinies. NAFTA would be a sharp turn
    away from ecological sanity. Defeating NAFTA is a must; but, we
    must do more. We must remove power from multinational corporations
    and create true economic democracy.'

===

>From _Confronting Free Trade_ by Don Fitz in Z magazine, December 1992
issue. Write for a sample issue for $5 at the address below; please
mention you heard of them online ("UseNet",
"misc.activism.progressive" or whatever).