Sí se Puede : FAIR Trade Agreement!

It has been discussed openly that NAFTA has affected thousands of women in México. It has affected those who work in the maquiladoras as well as those who work in nearly any industry.

The problem with the North American Free Trade Agreement is that is illusionary. The rhetoric that is out there for developed nations and capitalists and investors is that free trade means equal and fair trade. Because if we say, 'free' than that implies that there are choices, there is freedom, liberty and the opportunity for an individual or group of people to behave, act and choose in the ways that best fit them.


And isn't that a wonderful capitalist illusion? But how likely is it that a fully-developed, fully-industrialized wealthy nation of the first world will trade fairly with a weaker nation? Would the United States be willing NOT to subsidize it's corn farmers so that they can compete more fairly with Mexican farmers? The problem is not wholly to put the blame on the United States nor the international organizations. Mexico is not exactly an innocent victim in this case--not by a LONG shot!

When México began tariff-free imports of American corn, it was originally planned that during a fifteen-year phase, tariffs would eventually be dropped. However, México has always imported more corn than the quota limited, and instead of taxing the excess corn that came in, in order to create revenue, they excused it...for fourteen years.

This is an issue that is brought up in order accurately include agriculture into a discussion of NAFTA. But as for the women that are affected? The secondary blog 'narrativenafta'takes into account the lives of three women with certain similarities, but different lived experiences both as Mexicans working in México for American-owned foreign companies, and then as migrant women working for American companies in the United States.

NAFTA has created a halfway point (so to speak) between the typical American household and a Mexican household. No country has managed to gain such economic prosperity that the people of Mexico and the people of the United States are satisfied with the treaty. Wages in the United States have been relatively stagnant, wages in México have actually dropped in manufacturing, so while both the US and Mexico constantly talk about job growth and unemployment numbers, this "benefit" of NAFTA doesn't seem worthwhile. In fact, the only winners seem to be transnational corporations who get to sell products cheaper, and make products cheaper, and not be forced to abide by strict regulations.

I'm searching for an answer.

The answer is not that governments or economists or Wal-Mart and it's hedonist friends change their ways, because they won't. The ones who have the most to gain, will likely do what is in their ability to keep winning. That's been the history of colonialism, neocolonialism, and most sports teams like soccer (Real Madrid).

The answer comes from the relationships that women can form with each other to begin working together to have, at least short gains. Unionization seems to stand out as the preferred answer, and unfortunately it seems as though something else has to come first, before any of that can happen.

Rhoda Howard, who discusses the situation of African women who are undermined by African men and marginalized from jobs and kept from decent wages, can begin by using what is constitutionally and democratically available to them. Undocumented migrants living in the United States felt enough unity to protest on May 1st, two years ago in favor of positive, immigrant-friendly reform.

American journalists, economists, politicians and activists have all said that these undocumented migrants are not accomplishing anything by protesting because the majority of the United States is against them. Whether or not that point is true, the phenomenon of so many people coming together for a cause that is their own, and under a situation where they have very limited constitutional and democratic mobility to protest is a modern-day demonstration of the potential for relationship building between the United States and México!

Sí se puede! Sí se puede! Sí se puede!

The myth that NAFTA is the vehicle of change for the future, the rhetoric of a North American union being formed, much like the European Union cannot be positive for México if even within these 'free trade' treaties, the bigger nation still gets it's 'first pickings'.

The women in the narrative blog have begun to collaborate with each other because they both visited a small conference that a local church and community Latino organization made about Tamaulipas. Two of the women are natives from Tamaulipas and live fifty miles apart, and both traveled to the conference where they met. The other woman has not been to México in years, and looks forward to this as an opportunity to meet and greet mexicanas who she has longed to have some contact with.

Even a small level of collaboration and women sharing their experiences helps gain an understanding of the physical realities that led them towards different paths.