I well remember the night before the NAFTA vote when Congressman Buddy Darden called me and said he was sorry, but that he would have to vote with The President on NAFTA. As I calmly predicted to him, he lost his seat to one of the worst right-wingers in American political history.
Our position on TPP must reflect the truth–that these massive corporate written and pushed trade deals hurt workers around the world. One of the issues that initially motivated the Zapatistas in Chiapas was NAFTA and its requirement that the Mexican government remove subsidies for the growth of corn and beans, forcing people into the cities and horrible jobs and into emigration.
Much the same will be true of TPP, though I’ve no citation because none of us have access to the document nor the most substantive discussions around it.
It is no doubt true that globalization will continue, but it doesn’t have to be governed and driven by the greediest and most evil people in the world.
Sometimes we in America feel so beaten down by the continuous corporate assault, we forget that of all the workers in the world we are best positioned to fight and potentially defeat the now extremely dangerous assault on our planet and its people. That fight is OUR responsibility!
Two final things:
1) I write this from a hotel so I’m able to watch TV and I just saw an ad from Walmart championing higher wages! We do have power and power we don’t yet realize nor understand how to employ.
2 ) The Wagner Act was never overturned. It was amended by Taft-Hartley and waiting for the power to overthrow Taft-Hartley without building power in every point of struggle and corporate confrontation possible is as nihilistic as Waiting for Godot.
Image source: @AFSCME