MEXICOÂÂ2/1/2004Â18:09
FIGHT AGAINST EXPLOITATION AND NEOLIBERALISM: EZLN AND NAFTA TURN TEN/PART1
2004 marks the celebration of two important â if contrasting â decennials in Mexico: the birth of EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation) and the coming into force of NAFTA (North American Free trade Agreement). These two anniversaries have a very different feeling and meaning. On the one hand, EZLN fights against the exploitation of indigenous resources to the detriment of the local communities and to overcome poverty in Chiapas â aims that its leaders say presuppose the recognition of the right to self-determination and self-administration of the Indios communities. On the other, NAFTA pursues the growth of trade and revenue to the advantage of large conglomerates and to the detriment of the expectations and rights of the local communities. The conflict between these two realties became clear at the end of 2003, when the Zapatista gathered on the mountains in the south of Mexico to celebrate the decennial, to take stock of progress in their fight and to relaunch local craftwork from Mexico and especially from Chiapas throughout the world. Sub-commander Marcos â the undisputed Zapatista leader - also took part in the initiative - from a distance - through the exhibition of a watch that he had crafted himself. The loathing displayed by the Mexican government towards the principles upheld by EZLN instead turns into deep satisfaction for its adhesion to NAFTA. Political bias aside, can it be said that the participation of Mexico in the free trade agreement with the United States and Canada has produced results to justify its entry? For the United States, the answer can only be âyesâ, given that its exports to Canada and Mexico have grown from 142 billion dollars on 1 January 1994, the day on which the NAFTA treaty came into force, to 263 billion dollars. âIf the original promises had been kept, today we would all be toasting with Champage,â comments Lori Wallach, director of the trade monitoring programme of âPublic Citizenâ, a Washington-based consumer rights group. At the start of the 1990s, the governments of the three signatory countries promised that the agreement would generate hundreds of thousands of jobs for their respective unemployed. âIn the ten years that the treaty has been in force, most of the inhabitants of the three member countries have lost out, and only a handful of multinationals, which took part in drawing up the agreement, have obtained benefits,â says Wallach, a citizen of the country that has gained most from the accord. By virtue of the trade pact that came into force exactly ten years ago, by transferring to Mexico large companies such as General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have been able to save on production costs (because a Mexican labourer costs less than a labourer in the United States) and sell their cars in all three member countries. (Continues)
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