Cultural imperialism. That seems to be the way the European Commission works with Latin America.

It has recently been revealed that the Trade agreement the European Commission is currently negotiating with Mercosur (a group of Latin American countries comprising of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) will include a clause that obliges all parties to "foster effective gender mainstreaming".

This appears to be the first trade agreement negotiated by the EU which contains such language.

"Gender mainstreaming" means that controversial gender ideologies will be "mainstreamed" into a country's political and legislative agenda: each new policy and each new law will have to pass a test as to whether it is conducive to, or at least compatible with, among other things, "gender equality".

"Gender" is a fluid term that includes not only a person's identity as a man or woman, but a wide array of self-perceived "orientations" and "identities". Gender ideology propagates the idea that a person's gender identity can be freely chosen: there are not two sexes, but an unlimited number of them, which everyone can define to suit his or her own purposes.

This ideology is a vehicle to "normalise" and promote homosexual and transgender lifestyles, including through school and university curricula. Thus, this kind of policy push, by the EU, is equivalent to forcing Latin Americans to accept an LGBT indoctrination programme, in order to participate in the exchange of goods and services.

But, there is currently no legal basis for "gender mainstreaming" at EU level.

Nor is "gender ideology" founded on serious-minded scientific research. It is all the more astonishing that the European Commission is now attempting to create this legal obligation "through the back door", by including it in an international agreement that is being negotiated without any public scrutiny.

If such an agreement is allowed to enter into force, it will create new international legal commitments that bind not only the Mercosur countries, but also the EU and its Member States: "Gender mainstreaming" would suddenly become an obligation for all countries concerned – imposed from top down, without any debate.

Wrapping it into a package, together with important trade issues, is a clever strategy to force countries into accepting it: once the negotiations are over, it is take it or leave it – not only for the Latin American countries of the Mercosur group, but also for European countries.

It is, therefore, important to raise a massive protest against this insidious attempt at cultural imperialism, while negotiations are still ongoing.

Tell the European Commission that trade agreements are not the right instrument to promote ideologically biased concepts that are controversial even within the EU itself!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://www.ft.com/content/8bde3f80-d2a1-11e7-a303-9060cb1e5f44