The Climate Report 079 | Wendell Berry on NAFTA | 1-30-19

What does Wendell Berry have to say about NAFTA?

Writing in 1993, the year of NAFTA’s adoption (amid general hoopla by the “free press”), Kentucky writer and farmer Wendell Berry said what few people at the time knew or pretended to know … that NAFTA would have a terrible effect on the environment, on farmers, on factory workers, and on anyone in the vicinity of the maelstrom of toxins released by turbocharged industrial farming methods and manufacturing practices.

Wendell Berry and Ralph Nader were among the few who knew the real deal, while politicians and the corporate media misled everyone.

NAFTA, and similar agreements under the World Trade Organization, are written by and for multinational corporations that enrich a powerful few with devastating effects on everyone else.

It’s a race to the bottom, where farmers, workers and small businesses must compete in an artificial and carbon-intensive global marketplace.

The agreements are supposed to be good for consumers, due to lower prices, but consumers are also employees who are forced to join the race to the bottom, in terms of lower wages, greater job insecurity and toxic working conditions.

NAFTA and similar agreements are anti-democratic, removing from local, state and federal governments the right to protect the health and safety of their citizens, and giving corporations the right to sue federal, state and local governments for any regulations that, might diminish their profits.

These lawsuits decided in secret tribunals of corporate lawyers, a further assault on sovereignty, democracy and freedom.

What are the solutions?

First, the solution is for us to be aware of NAFTA and the WTO, and not rely on the mainstream media to tell the truth. So we have to get our information from outside the mainstream, from sources, like Wendell Berry, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and Michael Parenti.

Second, the solution is for us to organize, by meeting with local people who share our concerns.

Third, we need to have a vision and specific proposals.

Consider this as a vision … what if the economic power of the US were to be used as a force for good instead of a force for harm? What if US corporations were required to show that they are abiding by US health, environmental and labor regulations, otherwise they cannot set up shop in Mexico?

Then, NAFTA might possibly be a force for good. But as it is, it is only a force for the devastation of the environment and people.

Trade is supposed to be beneficial because different players have different specialties. In a small town, you have the baker, the carpenter and the candlestick maker. They all have different specialties, so it’s worth their while to focus on what they’re good at.

This is supposed to apply in international trade, but American manufacturers don’t send jobs to Mexico because Mexicans are more skilled, only because they’re cheaper. And because US environmental standards don’t apply.

This is terrible news, but what can we do about it.

We Americans need to learn how to spread good ideas.

The Climate Report offers group studies of marketing books, in the city of Louisville and online. Currently, we are studying The Millionaire Messenger, by marketing guru Brendon Burchard. This book teaches us to gain expertise in a chosen area (such as a political cause) and then make a living by methodically and enthusiastically teaching that message in person and online, via video, audio, blog and print media.

Please email [email protected] if you would like to participate.

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