7582: Upcoming Speaking Tour: Haitian Economist Camille Chalmers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Moira Feeney <moira@globalexchange.org>

Global Exchange Announces April Speaking Tour:

Haiti and the FTAA: A Presentation from Economist Camille Chalmers

Executive Secretary, PAPDA (Platform for the Advocacy of Alternative
Development in Haiti); Executive Secretary, Jubilee Haiti; 50 Years Is
Enough South Council; Fellow, Center for Economic Justice


Leaders from the across the Western Hemisphere are preparing for the Summit
of the Americas from April 18 through 22 in Quebec where they will attempt
to finalize negotiations for a NAFTA-expansion called the Free Trade
Area of the Americas (FTAA).  Learn directly from an experienced
organizer from Haiti what this type of free trade initiative would mean for
the already deepening economic crisis that faces countries like Haiti.
Camille Chalmers, born in Haiti and educated in Venezuela, is the Executive
Secretary of PAPDA, the Haitian Advocacy Platform for an Alternative
Development.  Both as a Professor of Economics at the State University of
Haiti and as a grassroots organizer working with the peasants of Haiti, he
has led the movement within Haiti for an economic alternative to the
structural adjustment programs being imposed by the World Bank and the IMF.
Mr. Chalmers gives an excellent firsthand account of the adverse effects of
implementing neo-liberal trade policies into the context of a country
already struggling with insurmountable debt, a painful privatization
process, and rapidly diminishing food security.
 

When and Where:

Monday
April 9
7 pm     Rollins College

Winter Park, FL 

For more information: Eric Schutz, schutz@rollins.edu, 407 646 2509

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Tuesday
April 10     University of Florida

Gainsville, FL 

For more information: Bret Bostock, Bretbostic@hotmail.com, 352 373 3566

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Tuesday
April 10
7-9 pm     University of the District of Columbia

Student Lounge
4200 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC
202 432 7414 

For more information: Melinda Miles, 301-699-0042, Haiti Reborn/Quixote
Center 

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Wednesday
April 11
7 pm     Roxbury Community College

Roxbury Community College
Boston, MA 

For more information: Russ Davis, Jobs for Justice, 617 534 8778

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Thursday
April 12
7 pm     Worcester State college

Chandler St.
Worcester, MA 

For more information: Russ Davis, 781 641 7480

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Friday
April 13
6-8 pm     University of Washington

TBA
Seattle, WA 

For more information: Steve Marquart, marquart@uwashington.edu, 206 543
7946, Center for Labor Studies

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Camille Chalmers is the Executive Secretary of PAPDA, the Haitian Advocacy
Platform for an Alternative Development. PAPDA is a coalition of nine
grassroots organizations that provide technology and a variety of resources
for education around economic alternatives to the top down logic of
neo-liberalism. Through PAPDA Mr. Chalmers works directly with peasants
engaged in creating alternative agriculture development. In the midst of an
economic crisis caused by international austerity programs, these efforts
are faced with many obstacles.

Mr. Chalmers has been working in Haiti for over twenty years to increase
international solidarity, in particular with other Caribbean nations. He
received both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree from the Central University
of Venezuela in Economic Administration, and has since taught for many years
at the State University of Haiti. He has repeatedly taken a leadership role
in the resistance to internationally imposed development projects
detrimental to Haitian national product. He was particularly outspoken
against the United States initiated eradication of Haiti's pigs -- which
undercut the local indigenous economy where farmers saved money in the form
of raising swine -- and the pig served as a kind of bank. This is known
today as the Creole Pig Disaster. Mr. Chalmers was imprisoned and tortured
for his role in the organized resistance to military dictatorship in Haiti.
He lost some of the hearing in his left ear as a result.

An authority on issues such as Haiti's external debt, the significance of
free trade policies for Haiti's food security, the complexities of
privatization and Haiti's potential to present viable economic alternatives
for development, Mr. Chalmers has been a valuable participant in a number of
international and south-south initiatives working against corporate
dominated globalization and for a people's globalization.


For more information on Camille Chalmer's speaking tour or to find out about
other speaking events focused on the FTAA, please contact Donald Foster,
donald@globalexchange.org or call 415.255.7296 ext. 352.