Associated Press
9/2/2002

The move is part of the Jubilee South Campaign, which debates the effect of globalization on Southern Hemisphere nations.

Some 50 organizations including the bishops' conference, trade unions, minor political parties and students make up the Brazilian branch of the campaign, which is adamantly opposed to FTAA.

They fear the trade deal will benefit the United States at the expense of the poorer nations, and the plebiscite is their way of trying to raise the profile of the debate, which they say has so far been ignored by politicians and the public.

"It is an exercise in democracy. We want to take the FTAA debate away from the desks of the technocrats and onto the streets," said Father Alfredo Jose Goncalves, adviser to the bishops' conference, the formal body representing Catholic bishops in Brazil.

Voting booths have been set up in schools, churches and public places across Brazil's 27 states, coordinated by 150,000 volunteers, Goncalves said. The Campaign held its first plebiscite in 2000, to question foreign debt policy, and more than six million people, in this nation of 175 million, voted.

"We expect to surpass that number this time," Goncalves said.

Participants will be asked whether the government should sign the FTAA treaty, and whether it should even participate in any negotiations at all. The mere fact that the government is negotiating "legitimizes" FTAA, Goncalves said.

A third question on the ballot form asks whether the government should hand over the Alcantara military base in northwest Brazil to the U.S. government, which the campaign claims is part of a defense department strategy to influence the region.

Results of the plebiscite will be published on Sept. 17 in the capital, Brasilia, and handed to the president, congress and the judiciary. A campaign rally will follow on Sept. 18.

Local commentators could not hide their contempt for the plebiscite.

"They ask those that don't want to pay the debt nor negotiate the FTAA what they think of the payment of foreign debt and the negotiation of FTAA," said Elio Gaspari in his column in local newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo Sunday.

"These plebiscites are merely partisan and propaganda manifestations," he added.

The campaign has so far failed to insert the FTAA debate as a major issue in the run up to Oct. 6 presidential elections.

All the main candidates broadly agree that Brazil must participate in FTAA talks, even if they have some reservations.

The leader in the polls, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has moved from outright opposition and now says he opposes the deal in its current format because it would hurt Brazilian producers more than it would help them.

The left wing Workers' Party that he represents backed away from supporting the plebiscite and launched a separate campaign Saturday under the banner "No to annexation, yes to integration." Father Goncalves said the plebiscite will extend the reach of this discussion.

"It is essential that we have a public debate about an issue that will affect so many people's lives. This is not official, it is not legally binding, but it is a demonstration of public pressure," he said.