Fight GATT Locally!
D own W ith G lobal
W A L -M ARTIZ ATION
he beautiful Oregon coast is increas
few decades. World trade as led by GATT
ingly rich in pavement, compensating (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
Uruguay Round), which passed Congress in
us for losing pristine flora and fauna
habitat, clean water and free access to the the fall, will worsen these trends, as “free-
market” profiteers intend to Wal-Martize as
beach. Producing motor traffic, asphalt,
much of the planet as possible. Their
poison runoff and generic corporate outlets,
apologists, of course, look upon “standard of
the bigger and better Highway 101 plus
Wal-Marts and more supermarkets have sure living” as measurable only by material
things. They don’t worry about petroleum
made the environment comfy for four-
dependency either, believing in the holy
wheeled polluters.
techno-fix. To fight such a world view, as
The rest of Oregon and the continent suffers well as GATT, means demonstrating alterna
tive ways of living—such as without cars—
similarly, for “growth” is still the holy
and pointing out that the dream of GATT is
principle. Smokeless factories for compact
really a nightmare doomed to spend itself in
discs, computer chips, whatever—-this still
short order.
means more parking lots, polluted water,
traffic, and trucked consumer products.
What can be done about GATT and the New
•A-
World Order is going to surface in the
The planet is being destroyed, as forest-
growing resistance movement. It will link
protection activists know so well. But also
the local economic health of a community is local activists with their brothers and sisters
in other countries whose cultures are also
undermined year after year as “develop
threatened by world trade. A network is
ment” extends ever outward. Not only is
being
formed to be probably called Alliance
farmland and wildlife habitat lost, but taxes
for Local Economic Independence (acronym
go up mainly to pay for growth (schools,
pronounced as ally). ALEI could fight
police in cars, street lighting, sewers, etc.).
The beauty of Oregon is sold off to the point GATT and the growth of pavement, as well
as safeguard and increase our freedoms and
of rendering the economic prime asset—the
chances for survival—economic and eco
State’s healthy scenery—to a replication of
logical.
Los Angeles.
T
Following is an
The paving morato
excerpt of a
rium movement tries
announcing the
report distributed
to cure these ills.
lliance
for
ocal
just
prior to the
By our eventual
success, a new ethic
conomic ndependence GATT vote in
Congress. It got
toward the land will
a little news
(ally)
come about.
and
Progress such as
A network to oppose multinational coverage,
Ralph Nader
recycling, Portland’s
corporate
domination!
gave
it to Sena
successful light rail
tors. But our
system, and “green”
“leaders’”
con
shopping are not
cern for our energy security is so tiny that it
enough! Redevelopment of existing towns,
does not guide their actions whatsoever.
repair of essential infrastructure, reasonable
transportation such as renewable-energy rail GATT and NAFTA mean a big increase in
oil imports to the U.S. from the Middle East
and bicycle facilities—these mean more
and elsewhere. Agriculture’s petroleum
employment than ever, but they can’t come
reliance means massive starvation here and
into their own as long as most government
abroad.
With this information known but
dollars and development incentives are
suppressed, it seems to either be a matter of
funneled toward bulldozing “new land.”
the White House’s and Congress’s being
To achieve local economic self-reliance is to dominated by stupid, short-sighted people,
or, they are whores for the oil/auto-truck
prevent or overcome the sudden collapse
industry. The picture is not pretty, but the
from the inevitable failure of national and
truth sets us free—“when” is the question.
transnational corporations. They are not
now accountable and will never so be; they
Satyagraha translates to truth force, histori
have their U.S. Presidents in their pockets.
cally the non-violent resistance movement in
Not only will the U.S. economy someday
India which brought about independence
suffer from a
The A lliance for a P aving
worse recession from imperialism. Recently, satyagraha has
M oratorium is an international
been employed against petrochemical/bio-
or depression
coalition of environmental and
transportation groups and various
tech agribusiness in India to protect local
than has ever
businesses, with coordination in
ownership of crop-seed diversity. In
occurred,
Arcata, northern California,
(707)826-7775. ALEI can also be
Chiapas, Mexico armed revolt was finally
petroleum
reached at this telephone number.
supplies—what deemed necessary against NAFTA which
This tabloid was prepared for
Upper Left Edge, Cannon Beach,
our economy is was viewed as more exploitation. The
Ore., as its center section in
Zapatista phenomenon has similarities to the
built on—are
January, 1995. Printed on
recycled paper using recycled
running out in a American Revolution. The U.S. opposition
A
E
L
I
ALEI
soybean inks.
J w 'K * .
to GATT may be represented now mostly by
study groups, which is fine as long as an
alliance embraces the Zapatistas, who are not
a “study group.”
BEYOND GATT:
Resisting Planetary Paving and
Multinational Economics
by Jan Lundberg
Overview
he prime destructive force in both the
natural world and community economics
is road construction. It makes possible
deforestation, expansionist development, paving
over farmland, motor-vehicle pollution, oil
dependency, a holocaust of highway death, and
the domination of freight by trucks. This reality
compels the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium,
consisting of over 100 U.S.- and Canadian-based
groups and businesses, to oppose our countries'
participation in the latest General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The new GATT
would do more than add to road building and
highway travel/freight, as this report details.
T
As with NAFTA (North American Free Trade
Agreement), more roads, wider roads, more
parking lots, and more motor-vehicle traffic will
result from, and are sought, under GATT. The
reason is that much manufacturing, farming and
distribution would switch countries, as GATT
maximizes imports and exports. Freight in the
U.S. is dominated by energy-inefficient, pollut
ing trucks. Across oceans, ships move contain
ers (which fit onto trucks) and bulk materials
almost universally utilizing fuel oil. Oil is also
what most tires and roads are made of, and is the
primary fuel used on roads. The increase in
trade from GATT would further stress diminish
ing world oil supplies, not just for transport, but
for agriculture.
Not just GATT but what GATT represents will
be increasingly resisted. Chiapas rebelled in
large part against a world trade scheme. And the
paving moratorium movement will succeed
sooner with minimum individual participation in
the global corporate economy. We support
alternative economics that are strategies for
survival and which will help minimize more
road building and dependence on cars, trucks
and petroleum. Meanwhile, the Alliance for a
Paving Moratorium steps up road fighting and
promotes employment-generating road repair,
construction of bike and pedestrian facilities,
and renewable-energy powered trains.
Commuting from residential neighborhoods far
from corporate job sites would increase under
the new GATT. Employment with big corpora
tions will increase under GATT, as will jobs
relating to exports and imports. Most commut
ing is by car, as massive subsidies for drivers,
pavement and oil are virtually locked into our
status-quo oriented government. Progress
regarding transit and freight has been minimal in
the U.S. Trucks killed almost 4,800 people last
year in the U.S. NAFTA and GATT encourage
more trucking with less driver training from
other countries with poorer safety regulations.
larger rigs, threatening people and countless
animals. Over 40,000 people in the U.S. died in
car crashes alone last year. Motor-vehicle fumes
killed an additional 30,000 or more Americans,
and medical costs relating to operating cars and
trucks were in the hundreds of billions of
dollars—perhaps half of this nation’s total health
care cost. Meanwhile, AMTRAK—the least
polluting and most energy-efficient motorized
transport in the U.S.—has killed less than one
hundred Americans on or in front of its trains in
its two and a half decades’ history of service.
Globally, trains will probably suffer from GATT,
as they already have under World Bank pressure,
as roads and motor vehicles are favored by
“New World Order” contractors and lenders.
If the trade deficit were to be seriously targeted
by our government, it could wipe out most of it
by eliminating oil imports in the soonest pos
sible phase-out, through energy conservation and
severely taxing oil use; non-auto transportation
must also be encouraged. (The trade deficit
varies in its composition month to month.) But
GATT would preclude these solutions or make
them difficult, and instead GATT reflects faith in
the military might of the New World Order and
the techno-fix dream to assure unending energy
beyond oil.
Neither jobs nor tax revenues are expected by
most economists to increase markedly from
GATT, although large corporations’ profits could
climb to greater heights. Since 1973, U.S. trade
with other nations has doubled, while U.S.
wages fell by 18%. Income did go up per capita,
but it was because the “haves” gained wealth
spectacularly, while the safety net for the poor
was cut for “cost efficiency.” Efficiency for the
transportation and the military sectors, which
consume over $600 billion annually, was not
attempted in cuts or restructuring. This author
believes that the increase in global business from
GATT would not benefit local populations who
do not own stock in multinational corporations.
The masses of people would suffer from their
local self-sufficiency being compromised more
than it already is. Centralized big business tends
to create high-productivity jobs for fewer
workers, who use high-tech and more energy to
reduce labor requirements and boost profits.
While trade is not in itself bad and can be good,
and dates back to the beginning of human
society, GATT is not really about free trade or
essential trade. Much global trade is only
corporate transfers, benefiting mainly stockhold
ers and top executives. For example, a Detroit
automaker will ship more materials, technology
and capital to Mexico for certain manufacturing
to take advantage of very low wages and scant
environmental protection. Then the cars return to
the U.S., thereby adding to statistics that count as
“trade.” Meanwhile, more roads, wider roads
and more parking lots are involved for car
manufacturing and for almost any other kind of
mega corporate trade. More trade involving
truck freight will clog roads, stress the roads and
cause repairs to be needed much sooner. Funds
have been lacking for road repair in the U.S., to