NAFTA railed at 10-year anniversary speak-out
By Liz Allen
Greensboro, NC, Jan. 10 (AGR) – Around 150
people from across the state gathered in the Freeman Mill Square shopping
center parking lot, surrounded by four-lane road and a strip mall containing
a Labor Ready, a coin laundry and Vietnamese restaurants, to demonstrated
against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which includes
Mexico, Canada and the United States.
“NAFTA is a weapon of mass destruction and just the beginning of
a series of very bad trade agreements that will turn the whole hemisphere
into a free trade area,” announced Theresa El-Amin, event MC and
community activist.
The Jan. 10 Coaliiton, the ad hoc group that organized the event, named
North Carolina as the hardest hit by NAFTA’s policies, with 194
factories closing between Jan ’94 and April ’01. In Mexico,
the agricultural sector was devastated because farmers there were forced
to compete with cheap, genetically engineered grains from the United
States.
People began to gather at 12:45 pm while The Greensboro Radical Drum
Corps played, periodically chanted “No More NAFTA” and marched
around. Food Not Bombs served free hot cider, fruit, pizza bagels, and
potato wedges. Many people held signs with anti- free trade or anti-war
slogans. Present were several political parties. Several speakers spoke
in both Spanish and English and translation into Spanish was available
throughout the event.
A primary criticism of NAFTA is that it destroys the livelihood of workers
and their families, depriving them of a means to support themselves.
Richard Kortiz, of the Greensboro Coalition against War and Aggression
and a member of the Labor Party, said the object of NAFTA was to pit
workers against each other.
“Unity if workers is stronger than unity of capitalists,”
he stated. He also said he wanted to particularly recognize “our
FLOC [Farm Labor Organizing Committee] and Latino brothers and sisters”
who are forced by an inhumane system to travel to the United States
and work for low wages away from their families.
Kortiz also called NAFTA part of a larger political system, which includes
measures such as the PATRIOT Act, which “tries to intimidate us
into silence, and into acceptance of constantly worsening conditions.
We are as much of a target of war as innocent people in Iraq.”
Joe Bowser, a Durham County Commissioner and president of the Durham
NAACP, spoke and recalled working as a union member in a now closed
mill in Halifax Co. He stated that in terms of fair pay, job security
and benefits, jobs now, if available, have nothing to offer. The city
of Durham has recently passed a living wage resolution.
Guilford Country School Board member Deena Hayes said, “NAFTA is
pushing for a low-wage economy and forced labor control. It’s working
with compliant unions and it’s devastating the effect that it’s
having here.”
Hayes stated that without employment opportunities, the type of diploma
a person has is unimportant. She also criticized the policy of looking
at test scores and dealing with discipline issues in schools, when children
have no electricity, no heat, and no running water. “We really
need to look at what the manifestations of NAFTA are and how it’s
effecting all of our communities.”
Speaking with Hayes was fellow teacher, Marnie Thompson, who wore a
sign around her neck that read “Hands off Iraq.” She spoke
about how actions such as buying disadvantaged children Christmas gifts
or raising money to have their water turned back on, is futile in that
it does not address the root problem -- the policies that put these
conditions in place. Thompson called on white people, regardless of
class, to use their priviledge to stop NAFTA and racism because
NC AFL-CIO secretary - treasurer Ray Riffe stated that since imports
to the US have been growing, less people in the US are working and people
in other countries are working the same jobs for less pay. “I always
say that the W in George W. Bush stands for wolf. He’s a wolf in
sheep’s clothing. He tries to mask what he means, he tries to make
it sound good, but it’s not. He’s a liar! His father says
this, ‘Since 1993 two million NAFTA - created jobs have been created
in the US.’ This is as a result of exports out. That’s only
half the story. His son lost over two million jobs in the last two years.”
He said he believed that there were three steps to defeating NAFTA:
organizing into unions, challenging authority, and registering to vote.
Ed Whitfield, who is involved in several peace projects, also criticized
the US for presenting a fundamentally dishonest view of the world, while
trying to distract from their policies with things like the space program.
“Why is it that no mention is made of the other things that are
centered here in North America? The unquenchable greed along with the
scientific and military capacity that has run amuck; poised to destroy
life on earth. Why no allusions to the moral decay that breeds addiction,
hopelessness, crime, despondency, alienation, and helplessness while
promoting consumerism and over consumption on the one hand, along with
poverty and destitution on the other?” he questioned. Whitfield
urged people to be bold in talking to others to see that threat is the
US government, rather than those the government blames.
Immigrants from Mexico also spoke at the rally about issues specifically
pressuring them to make the dangerous trip to the US in search of work,
in order to send money home to their families. Alejandro Galvez, who
works with the Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network, spoke about
the problems that undocumented workers have when their jobs are lost
and they unable to recieve goernment aid, despite the fact that they
pay taxes. This also means they cannot recieve social security or tax
refunds, although they pay for it.
A protest in Goldsboro for amnesty and papers for all undocumented workers
on Feb 21. was announced by Marta Piez, a representative of FLOC, who
held a red FLOC flag with a panther on it. “It’s important
to note the work that we do, because the government wants to call us
terrorists. Us as Hispanic workers form the base of the economy in this
country, and if we don’t work, neither will this country.”
He recognized that people across the country are suffering because of
lack of work and said regardless of race or language, everyone is part
of the same family and must work together to fight for rights.
A statement by Democratic primary canidate Dennis Kuchinich was read,
promising that his first act as president would be to cancel NAFTA,
and stating “If there is anything I can do to help you all, please
have your leaders contact my representative.”
The group Hip Hop Against Racist War also performed and an open mic
session followed. Also, a raffle was held to offset the costs was held
with T-shirts that read “Bush is an Idiot” and other prizes.
