by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
“Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic
that it has to be us.”
~ Jerry Garcia
Introduction
Free Trade sounds like a heck of an idea. Lower tariffs, level the playing field
between rich and poor nations, increase trade. Why then are so many people
incoherent with rage over the idea? These protesters include the:
- environmentalists
- consumer advocates
- trade unionists
- civil rights advocates
What are they so upset about?
The Catch
In 1860, free trade meant lowering the tariffs on
goods transported across national borders. Today the term used in the context of
the WTO (World Trade Organination) and FTAA (Free Trade
Area of the Americas) means much more. It means prohibiting
anything that would interfere with international trade. Multinational
corporations want uniform global regulations for every aspect of their business
dealings. Isn’t that a good thing? What is happening is a transfer of
power from the individual nation states to multinational corporations. The catch
is a corporation is not democratic. A corporation is not responsible to the
citizens as a whole, just to its shareholders. A corporation has no constitution,
no ethics unless you count Ferengiism
as a ethical system. A corporation’s sole purpose is to make money. Let’s
have a look at what happens when you make profitable international trade your
number one priority.
Environmental Problems
Corporate think is very short term. What counts is the next quarter’s
profits. Conserving natural resources for future generations just does not fit
into a balance sheet. Clean water and air, are simply unnecessary expenses. When
Canada, for example, tried to ban a carginogenic gasoline additive, the global
free trade associations ruled that this was an unfair restraint of trade. The
WTO argued what Canada was really doing was favouring is own clean gasoline.
Canada was forced to accept carginogenic gasoline. Canada would be forced to
accept genetically engineered and irradiated food. Canada would lose control
which pesticides are acceptable. Canada would lose the ability to regulate ozone-destroying
emissions or greenhouse gases.
Free trade pushes all countries to the lowest common denominator in terms of
environmental awareness.
Safety Problems
Let us say that Sweden decided to mandate side air bags and a 30 MPH crash
safety test. The free trade associations could block them from doing that. The
WTO would likely argue what Sweden is actually doing is attempting to favour
locally manufactured automobiles.
Free trade wants all workers to be interchangeable. Canada would be forced to
accept doctors accredited in India or Africa without further training. The WTO
would argue that further training is prejudice.
Canada’s strict gun laws would have to go, because they are an unfair
restraint on sales of American handguns.
Sovereignty Problems
The new rules allow corporations to sue countries if those countries do anything
that would cause them to make less profit. For example, if Canada refused to
sell bulk water to a Hong Kong company, that company could sue Canada for the
amount of the lost profit. Free trade means roughly: everything is for sale and
everything must be sold to the highest bidder.
Socialism
Canada has a popular publicly funded universal medical insurance scheme. This
would have to go. The FTAA would argue it is an an unfair tax upon corporations,
and an unfair perk to Canadian citizens.
The FTAA would encourage privatilsation of schools, universities, medical care,
hospitals, libraries, museums, prisons, transportation, broadcasting, and many
other services previously provided or regulated by communities and governments.
National Identity
Small countries are not permitted to subsidise local authors and magazine
publishers. Publishers must compete toe to toe with imports from large nations
such as the USA. Yet, local authors, magazines and artists are necessary to
maintain a distinct national identity. The WTO would argue subsidising local
authors is unfair to authors in other countries.
Self Sufficiency
Japan wants to grow enough rice in Japan itself so that in the event of an
emergency, such as a Chinese naval blockade, they could still get by. Obviously
rice can be grown more cheaply outside Japan. Yet free trade rules prohibit
Japan from offering any subsidies to local farmers. Free trade rules force Japan
to rely on imported rice.
The End Of Unions
A union cannot apply any pressure when the employer can freely hire workers or
buy goods on the international market at third world prices. Only a global union
would have any clout. The corporations are multi-national but the unions are
national. This tips the balance of power drastically in favour of the
corporations. We end up with children in Pakistan making shoes for Nike at
pennies an hour. Unions cannot compete with the third world countries willing to
work for slave wages. Work conditions in both first and third world countries
drop to the lowest common denominator. No one benefits but the multinational
employers.
Civil Rights
Partly because Free Trade has weakened unions, it has given repressive
governments even more power to suppress free speech. Even in the USA some
unprecendented gagging has occurred concerning free trade debate.
The Suzuki Objections
David Suzuki is Canada’s best known scientist. He is geneticist who for
decades has host the CBC science program The Nature Of Things. He
pointed out that economic growth is not a good thing, at least not while
it simply means faster consumption of non-renewable resources and faster rates
of polluting the environment. The growth spiral we are on may make sense
economically, but it is doomed ecologically. We are as blind as lemmings,
refusing to notice the signs of imminent ecological collapse caused by this
accelerating economic growth. Runaway growth in nature is called cancer.
The only indefinitely sustainable economy is a closed system that recycles
everything and that does not pollute. Multinational corporations are blind to
this. All they can see the next quarter profit.
Suzuki also points out that Canada was economically better off before free trade.
We were able to grow all our own food and manufacture all our own goods locally.
Now, the main thing we export is jobs and trained workers attracted by the
higher salaries to the south.
The WTO and FTAA appear to consider profit as the only legitimate criterion for
decision making. This view is short sighted. Clearly economics are a major
factor in decision making, but it is folly to make them them the only
consideration.
The Cohen Objection
Any System
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
We warned you before
and nothing that you build has stood
Hear it as you lean over your blueprint
Hear it as you roll up your sleeve
Hear it once again
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
You have your drugs
You have your guns
You have your Pyramids your Pentagons
With all your grass and bullets
you cannot hunt us any more
All that we disclose of ourselves forever
is this warning
Nothing that you built has stood
Any system you contrive without us
will be brought down
~ Leonard Cohen
reproduced without permission.
The Deadbeat Index
In a fair world trade system, you would get paid the same per hour for equally
onerous work no matter where on earth you did the work. You would get paid more
for climbing in sewers, for doing a job that only a few people can do, or for
doing a job that takes long preparation, such as being a doctor.
How is the world organised now? Americans get paid perhaps over an order of
magnitude times more for the same work as people in the poorest countries. Who
is ripping off whom? That disparity is only possible when America takes unfair
advantage of her economic and military might. People don’t voluntarily put
up with that degree of disparity. All the countries in the west take unfair
advantage of the third world, not just America. It is just that America is most
blatant because she is the most powerful.
Who is the deadbeat? I suggest creating a deadbeat index. By definition
Americans have index 1. People paid more on average for equal work than
Americans would have a deadbeat index greater than one. People paid less on
average for equal work than Americans would have a deadbeat index less than one,
perhaps as low as 0.025. In a fair world, everyone would have the same deadbeat
index, namely 1.0. The index is cleverly defined so that America has already hit
perfection. It is time to bring the rest of the world into alignment.
Of course, it is a good thing if everyone can get paid more for less work,
including Americans. It is only taking more than your fair share of the pie that
makes you a deadbeat. Making the pie bigger (producing more with less labour)
does not make you a deadbeat.
Belling the Cat
World trade is working right now for the benefit of large multinationals.
Something needs to be done to reign them in. National governments can’t
seem to do it. Perhaps an international government could. On the other hand,
such an international government could easily become the pawn of the
multinationals to consolidate their power, much as the corporations have taken
over the Bush administration of the United States.
An Airplane Flying Through A Building
These are awe inspiring images. America stabs herself repeatedly in the heart,
watching them over and over. America’s unconscious imagines nearly all of
America has been destroyed. It is terrifying to see your enemies (world traders)
smitten so dramatically. Even though the WTO has no formal links with the World
Trade Building, I have been queasy with fear and guilt. I wanted the WTO
destroyed or reformed, but non-violently. I would have preferred a dramatic,
humorous and original approach. To put the carnage in perspective, flaws in the
global economic system kills 24 thousand people quietly every day through hunger
and disease. Some of that may stop after this wakeup call.
In Lord of the Rings, there are a tree people called the Ents who are slow to
anger, but once enraged, demolish their enemies. It was as if the entire planet
had had enough of the WTO and and wanted that annoying bee sting plucked from
its butt. The idea was resonating in the planetary mind, and the terrorists
acted it out. The psychic tension in the days prior was unbearable. I imagine
that even a Joshua would have demolished the World Trade Center under these
conditions, simply by blowing his trumpet.
Books
Learning More
Unfortunately the literature opposing FTTA mostly falls into two camps, the dull
and the shrill. You usually have to wade through mountains of rhetoric to get to
the meat.
Summary
Prior to the airline crash into the World Trade Center, you could watch CNN for
a 24 hours day and learn not a thing about what the fuss about world trade was
over. All you saw were shots of firehoses. Imagine if Martin Luther King’s
marches had been given this same silent treatment. The Internet changes
everything. You can’t keep people in the dark and feed them bullshit any
more, unless, of course, they want to be keep in the dark and fed bullshit.
Boycott_Nike
a company that exploits third world workers.
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