10/12: Join the Stop CAFTA Coalition to Say NO to CAFTA!

!!!October 12th Call to Action!!!

**Join the Stop CAFTA Coalition to Say NO to CAFTA!**
July 19th-21st, 2004, Central Americans around the region gathered together at the Fifth Mesoamerican Forum in El Salvador to strategize and demonstrate against CAFTA and other neoliberal policies. Participants and organizers put out a call for action on October 12th to oppose these initiatives that hurt Central Americans and asked for hemisphere-wide participation.

This is another chance for you to join the thousands of citizens in Central America, the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. who disapprove of CAFTA's emphasis on profits over people. Take action on October 12 to make sure you are heard along with the multitudes! This struggle will continue until CAFTA is defeated!
Act in solidarity with our Central American brothers and sisters on October 12th to promote and ensure:

- Access to vital public services
-Food security and work for small farmers -Safe working conditions
-Public healthcare
-Women's rights
-Environmental protections
all of which would be damaged or destroyed by CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement!
This is CAFTA crunch time!
Tell your representatives to say NO to CAFTA!
Some suggested ideas for action:
* Meet, call, or write your congressional representative. Find your representative's contact information at http://www.house.gov. If you'd like to join fellow constituents in a congressional visit, contact iblankman [at] citizen.org. For a sample letter, see http://www.share-elsalvador.org/cafta/congress_kit.htm#V

* Organize with friends and neighbors to pass out leaflets about CAFTA at the offices of your congressional representative. Visit http://www.campaignforlaborrights.org for downloadable flyers and contact clr [at] clrlabor.org to find out about actions near you

* Invite your committee or organization to join Central American and U.S. allies to sign on to a letter written by the Stop CAFTA Coalition to Congress opposing CAFTA at http://www.stopcafta.org/article.php?list=type&type=4. The deadline to sign on is October 8th. Please send your organization's name to Tom Ricker at the Quixote Center: tomr [at] quixote.org

* Organize a workshop on CAFTA to educate your community about CAFTA. Bilingual materials are available from United for a Fair Economy or the Stop CAFTA Coalition (http://www.faireconomy.org/activist/fair_trade/CAFTA/ or http://www.stopcafta.org)

* Hold a "fair trade" sale with Central American fair trade products, and educational materials about Fair Trade vs. Free Trade. Visit http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/ for information on Fair Trade goods
[The October 12th call to action is sponsored by the Stop CAFTA Coalition, a network of organizations, including the Campaign for Labor Rights, that oppose CAFTA and call for policies that promote fair trade in Central America.]