Come out for an evening of education, drinks, music, and fun!

On October 31, the 7th summit of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (the FTAA) will take place in Ecuador. As the youth of North America don witch and cowboy costumes, a far scarier bunch of middle-aged men, dressed up like corporate executives, will be converging on the capital city of Quito. 34 foreign ministers and secretaries of state from across the Americas are coming to Quito to negotiate the FTAA.

The leaders of Ecuador's powerful social movements argue that the FTAA represents a death sentence for small farmers, indigenous cultures, local food systems, and the environment, that it will give unprecedented power to major corporations and investors, exacerbating poverty and insecurity, and causing widespread ecological disaster.

The meeting in Quito is critical, because the FTAA s backers are hoping that major portions of the agreement will be finalized here. But people here in Ecuador have other ideas. Tens of thousands of campesinos (small farmers), indigenous people, trade unionists, students, and other groups are mobilizing to non-violently surround the summit, reject the FTAA, and, if possible, stop the negotiations. And thousands of people from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and other countries, are coming to join in.

Justin Ruben spent the summer in Quito, working with Campesino groups who are mobilizing against the FTAA. Against a backdrop of images from the mobilization, he will discuss

* the devastating impacts of 20 years of ôfree marketö neoliberal policies on the Ecuadorian people

* the amazing history of resistance to neoliberalism in Ecuador

* How civil society in Ecuador is mobilizing against the FTAA summit, and how this ORIGINAL ôantiglobalizationö movement is linking up with the global justice movement(s) in North America and Europe

* Why this is a critical moment in the effort to build a continental movement for justice and sustainability

In addition to Justin's presentation, we will present preliminary Indy Media Center footage from the September 27-29 protests against the World Bank and the IMF.