"Free" trade is free only for Big Corporations

Picture this.  Normal, IL, 1988.  While walking my dog, I stopped to chat with a neighbor.  When I told her I was moving to New Hampshire she wished me luck and said I’d like it there because there were no Mexicans.  I finished my walk and went home wondering what the hell she was talking about.

 

Fast forward.  Salem, OR, 1997.  As a community college administrator with Latino students making up 15% of the student population, I attended many joyful celebrations with upbeat music, great food and lots of families blending into each other’s lives.  I noticed how the older children ran after the younger ones making sure they didn’t get hurt or in trouble.  It was not uncommon for the oldest daughter in a family to have to miss a college class if one of her younger siblings was home sick from school.  Both parents worked, and the kids looked out for each other.  They seemed genuinely happy when someone they knew got an award or new job or achieved some long term goal. 

 

A Mexican adjunct instructor told me about a conversation he overheard in a restaurant filled with non-Latinos.  One of the parents was thrilled that her son had finally moved out and gone to college.  My Latino colleague was saddened to think parents would celebrate their children leaving the nest.  He said “his people” grieved when a family member moved away.  A spiritual bond connected them, but being separated physically was very painful.

 

I was thinking about these Mexican families and how much I learned from them when I attended a forum on climate change in St. Louis February 16^th.  I figured I would learn more about global warming, coal ash, pollution, etc., but I hadn’t expected a lesson on the destruction of families due to “free” trade.

 

One of the speakers from the Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America distributed a map of North America with arrows spinning in a clockwise direction.  I remember when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was being debated in Congress and all the warnings about bad things that would happen.  But I was busy and didn’t pay much attention.   Then there was the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA,) and I continued to ignore what my union friends were telling me.

 

What I learned at the Forward on Climate “teach in”  was that “free” trade is not free except for the corporations that benefit from monopolizing markets, receiving tax subsidies and wining lawsuits against the governments of poor countries who dare to stand up to them.  “Injustice” is such an empty word when it comes to this kind of treachery.  Countries are forced to join these agreements or risk boycotts of their products.  Once they’ve joined, they must step aside and allow the businesses that want to set up shop, usually in extractive industries, to destroy their land and people.   In ancient times, when armies conquered the land of their enemies, we said they resorted to raping and pillaging the citizens and their means of support.   But now the same result is called “globalization.”

 

NAFTA required Mexico to change its Constitution and stop agricultural subsidies to their farmers while the U.S. continued subsidizing food products which go primarily to corporate agribusiness interests.   So when U.S. corn exports tripled, the price of Mexican corn dropped 50%-70%.   The loss of income for Mexican farm families plunged 70% of the rural population in southern Mexico into extreme poverty.  Of course those family members had to leave to find employment elsewhere.  Millions of them ended up in the U.S. being exploited by agricultural and meat packing corporations.

 

Remembering what I learned about the importance of family togetherness from my Mexican friends in Oregon, my heart breaks knowing what I had been ignoring all these years.

 

The next trade travesty is called TPP and is being negotiated in secret right now. As if NAFTA and CAFTA weren't bad enough, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is even worse. It is a massive new international trade agreement being pushed by the U.S. on behalf of transnational corporations. Countries that will take part include US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. All the usual suspects are involved - Big Oil, Big Ag and Wall Street Brokers. As with the other trade agreements, manufacturers are looking for cheap labor, cheap natural resources and little or no environmental regulations.

Some of you may have been following the controversy about the Doe Run lead mining and smelting plant in Peru. We were shown a large photograph of the plant and the devastated landscape surrounding it. Of course there is no life in the river, and the mountain in the background is gray instead of green. The company says it is planting trees to replace the ones they've killed. But what they don't say is that no trees can survive in such toxic soil. You can imagine the lead content in the children's blood near that plant.

What was most shocking to me, although I guess it shouldn't have been, is that companies doing business in the "partner" countries can sue the government of those countries for loss of revenue if the people there insist on some environmental protections. So these megacorporations suck billions of dollars every year out of extremely poor countries like Peru and El Salvador as payment for "harming" their investments and lowering their profit margins if the countries don't play ball. And they can't just drop out of the trade pacts because they will be hit with boycotts of their own goods for export.

So what can we do? Not much. About all we have for leverage is putting pressure on Senators who have to approve the TPP and ask that they:
.....create good jobs in the US and stop offshoring them
.....protect the environment and our climate
.....defend the sovereignty of nations against attacks by corporations.

 

Given the real power behind the scenes in Washington, I doubt Congress will require any of the above stipulations.  I’ve realized recently that all the national opinion polls in support of President Obama’s proposals don’t matter much because the members of Congress who represent the interests of multinational corporations have gerrymandered the district lines in their states so they are not at risk of losing their seats.  In fact, they are more concerned about a primary challenge from someone even more in favor of “free trade” than they are.  They can bankrupt the U.S. treasury while protecting the massive profits of corporations.   When I received the invitation to the climate change forum a few weeks ago, I thought the name of the meeting was kind of silly.  It was called “Greedtopia.”   Now I don’t think it was silly at all.  Actually, “greedy” is too bland a word for those who rape, pillage and plunder Mother Earth and her children.

 

Susan Cunningham

African American doctor in 1960's Air Force

Letter to St. Louis Post Dispatch
February 22, 2013


Your article about patients in Michigan not wanting medical staff of other races to care for their family members reminded me of an incident in the mid 1960's at Grand Forks AFB, ND. It was the height of the Vietnam war, and many doctors were "recruited" by the Air Force to serve both the service members and their families. Young doctors were given the "opportunity" to volunteer for the branch of service of their choice or be drafted into the Army. My husband was one of 21 doctors who chose the AF, and, along with 11 dentists, made up the medical squadron at that base.

When an African-American OB-GYN doctor arrived, there were a few white women who didn't want to be seen by him. The way the clinic worked was that the doctors took turns seeing all the patients and being on call. That way the doctors would know the women when the time came for them to deliver. The base commander made the correct decision, in my opinion. He said that any woman on base who wanted to go into the City of Grand Forks for medical care was free to do so, but the Air Force would not pay for that care.

I was a Red Cross volunteer assigned to assist the OB-GYN doctors, so I got to see how the patients learned to really like the African-American doctor. He was more patient than most of the other doctors and would listen to women talk about how hard it was giving birth with their husbands overseas, etc. As it turned out, most of the women would try to schedule their prenatal visits for the day that the African-American doctor was on duty.

Sadly, some of the civilians in the City of Grand Forks were not happy about having service members of other races coming into town. When the African-American doctor went to pick up a bucket of chicken, the staff wouldn't wait on him. When they finally took his order and he paid for it, he took it home to his family and found the bucket was full of scraps. I wasn't much of an activist yet, but I was furious and wanted to organize a boycott of that restaurant. The doctor told me not to do it because it would just make relations more strained between the Air Force and the civilians in town. He, too, was very wise, just as the base commander had been.

Susan Cunningham
Pacific, MO

Forward on Climate - Now or Never

Sunday Patricia Schuba and I represented the Labadie Environmental Organization at an information session held at the administration building in Forest Park. (There is a wonderful room for rent there that holds about 75 people - great for "teach ins.") We were "in solidarity" with the 50,000 people in D.C. for the FORWARD CLIMATE rally.

Our first topic was oil pipelines which was the main focus of the rally in D.C. Stopping the Keystone pipeline expansion is a top priority of people concerned about climate change and the destruction of land and water in the midwest U.S. But the Keystone is not the only pipeline being planned to bring tar sands oil from western Canada to coasts on the Gulf of Mexico, Maine and British Columbia. Question #1: Why going to refineries on coasts???? Answer: to be sold on the open world market and shipped to other countries. So it's a lie to say this new source of oil will lower gas prices in the U.S. And the few jobs it will create are temporary. Compared to the damage being done to earth and water, the jobs are worthless.

I'm not a chemist and didn't understand some of the nitty gritty about tar sands oil, but I learned that it is REALLY nitty and gritty. It takes a lot of energy to get the junk out of the earth, so the only way it's economically worthwhile is for oil prices to stay over $80 a barrel. (I think I see a pattern here !!)

If you haven't already called and emailed the White House, please do so today. We will not sacrifice our crop land and water supply for oil barons and pipeline builders to enrich themselves. White House: (202) 956-1111 president@whitehouse.gov

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Coal was, of course, a big topic at the info session because St. Louis is home to the world's biggest polluters - Peabody, Arch, Patriot to name a few. Peabody is the world's worst offender and is #1 in contributing to changes in the climate. Local environmentalists have been doing "actions" at Peabody headquarters downtown recently. As if the company's hands weren't dirty enough from selling a product that produces the largest concentration of carbon into the atmosphere, they are also shortchanging the miners and workers who were promised health care after retirement. Peabody claims they don't owe those workers anything because that part of the company was "spun off" to Patriot Coal Company. And, of course, Patriot says they never made those promises to the miners so don't owe them anything. You may have seen ads on TV recently by the United Mine Workers. There aren't enough words to describe how morally reprehensible this practice is. And it's happening right under our noses.

Speaking of noses, I learned that the pollution you can't see is even more damaging to health than the pollution you can see. Big particles don't get all the way down into the lungs, but small ones do. And they stay there forever and destroy the elasticity of the lung tissue. St. Louis has one of the highest asthma rates among children in the country. Although medical practitioners know this and try to speak out, the real power is at the top of the medical industry in St. Louis. (Yes, I meant to say "industry," because that's what it is. If they offered "health care," they would concentrate on keeping us healthy rather than waiting until we're sick.) This is personal for me because I live in Franklin County about 15 miles from the Ameren coal-fired plant in Labadie, and COPD rates are highest near coal fired power plants.

We were shown a satellite photo of the Labadie plant on the Missouri River and the difference in water temperature going into and out of the plant. Needless to say, the fish who need cool water to survive don't make it past the plant. And don't even get me started on Ameren's plans to build a 400 acre coal ash landfill in the floodplain. The process by which Ameren has been able to move this incredibly stupid idea through the "deciders" wouldn't even make a good movie because no one would believe it. The Franklin County P & Z Commission held hearings where they didn't allow anyone to talk about Ameren specifically. As if there were any other utility companies wanting to build a landfill in the Missouri River floodplain! I've never seen Kabuki theatre, but I suspect the machinations of the county commissioners to give Ameren everything they wanted would make an excellent production.

The court case trying to stop the landfill from being built has gone to the appellate level. Meanwhile, to hedge their bets, Ameren has asked the powers-that-be in Jeff City to change the definition of "infrastructure" to include the farm land near the plant so they can make an end run around the regulations. (Side note: Ameren is a big funder of parties for Missouri legislators who attend meetings of the American Legislative Exchange Council.)

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For those of you who live in St. Louis City, you should be aware that "A foreign company with a lousy record wants access to your St. Louis water." Missouri Coalition for the Environment is urging citizens to call Comptroller Darlene Green at (314) 622-4389, Mayor Slay at (314) 622-3201, and President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed at (314) 622-4114 and tell them to "DUMP VEOLIA." There are lots of good reasons to stop this deal, and they are listed at www.moenviron.org If you are the activist type, there will be a rally this Wednesday, February 20th at 2 p.m. at St. Louis City Hall, 1200 Market Street. Meet in the rotunda at 1:30.

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By far the most depressing segment of the program was about the next "free trade" agreement being negotiated in secret right now. As if NAFTA and CAFTA weren't bad enough, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is even worse. It is a massive new international trade agreement being pushed by the U.S. on behalf of transnational corporations. Countries that will take part include US, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. All the usual suspects are involved - Big Oil, Big Ag and Wall Street Brokers. As with the other trade agreements, manufacturers are looking for cheap labor, cheap natural resources and little or no environmental regulations.

Some of you may have been following the controversy about the Doe Run lead mining and smelting plant in Peru. We were shown a large photograph of the plant and the devastated landscape surrounding it. Of course there is no life in the river, and the mountain in the background is gray instead of green. The company says it is planting trees to replace the ones they've killed. But what they don't say is that no trees can survive in such toxic soil. You can imagine the lead content in the children's blood near that plant.

What was most shocking to me, although I guess it shouldn't have been, is that companies doing business in the "partner" countries can sue the government of those countries for loss of revenue if the people there insist on some environmental protections. So these megacorporations suck billions of dollars every year out of extremely poor countries like Peru and El Salvador as payment for "harming" their investments and lowering their profit margins if the countries don't play ball. And they can't just drop out of the trade pacts because they will be hit with boycotts of their own goods for export. (Are you screaming and tearing your hair out yet?)

So what can we do? Not much. About all we have for leverage is putting pressure on Senators who have to approve the TPP and ask that they:
.....create good jobs in the US and stop offshoring them
.....protect the environment and our climate
.....defend the sovereignty of nations against attacks by corporations.

You can write or call Sen. McCaskill (202) 224-6154 and Sen. Blunt (202) 224-5721 to tell them you aware of what's happening behind closed doors and you are horrified. Lots more good info from the Sierra Club at www.sierraclub.org/trade or www.cwa-union.org/tpp.

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One more thing - - Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) have started a Sustainable Energy ballot initiative petition campaign, and they need people to carry the petition in the City of St. Louis. They want a vote in the City on shifting some of the TIF money from already wealthy developers to smaller companies in the sustainable energy business. www.organizemo.org or www.climateactionstl.com

Despite the seemingly overwhelming task ahead of us, the day was well spent. We not only learned more about climate change realities, we saw how many amazing people are working on their own little piece of the puzzle. Some of these really smart folks are hosting the next teach-in on Wednesday, March 6th at 7 p.m. at Legacy Books and Cafe, 5249 Delmar. Sponsored by Gateway Green Alliance and Universal African Peoples Organization.

The good news is that the public is finally waking up to the climate change reality. There will still be boatloads of money dumped into political campaigns to keep the corpuppets in power. But, with all the devastating storms, the wildfires scorching whole mountain ranges and the disappearing glaciers even the most hard core "deniers" have to face reality. When they can't grow wheat anywhere in the "grain belt" of the US, maybe they'll pay attention. Until then, we just have to keep plugging away trying to get the message out. Letters to editors of papers are actually very effective. Please just do it !!

Susan Cunningham
February 18, 2013