Atlantica * the Economic Crisis * Criminalization of Dissent (click here)
“Atlantica” is the name given to a corporate-driven cross-border entity spanning the Maritime provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, the parts of Quebec located south of the St. Lawrence River, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York. It is intended as a free trade zone with the specific function as a transportation and energy corridor between overseas markets and the heartland of global consumption in the U.S.
But many may not have heard about Atlantica, or possibly have thought that the plan vanished away. It has not. The Federal governement and regional governments have still been pushing the concept as Canada's Atlantic Gateway, which most people likely have heard of. The Gateway plan (see the Atlantic Gateway MOU HERE ) fits directly into the larger Atlantica framework.
As the economic crisis advances around the world, billions of dollars in public money are still being thrown at Atlantica, a plan that requires even further expansion of the ever more precarious cheap Asian mega-production to American mega-consumption conveyor belt.
Plans for Atlantica's mega-highways, ports and energy projects, as well as regulatory changes are advancing rapidly, and it is all very coordinated amongst the corporate backers (see the news section and documents in "downloads" for more details). A lot is on the ground already. The Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce the Atlantica Centre for Energy, in addition to other heavyweight corporate associations, corporations at an individual level and regional governments are all backing the idea.
Atlantica is an idea based on increased exploitation of labour here and in Asia, as well as advanced environmental exploitation. It as an attempt to try and reinforce a system that is focused on ensuring profits rather than providing for social needs. Currently, the gap between the rich and poor is at the highest level ever in Canada, and there is no way that the Gateway will resolve this larger social problem. It can only exacerbate the conditions by enlarging the trade relations behind them, continuing to divert more money/resources to those who already have them.
