Guest Comment: Rein in the global corporate regime

John Perkins, author of “Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man,” in his July newsletter identifies the root cause of Latin American migration. It is the free trade agreements that allow foreign corporations to exploit human and natural resources.

John Perkins knows first-hand how corporate exploitation works. He was complicit in their deceptive schemes for 10 years.

Nine countries in Latin America have recently voted in presidents who are saying “no” to free trade agreements.

These democratically elected presidents have gone on record as not seeking U.S. aid. They are instead asking for reversals in policies that have been very destructive to their economies. Since their introduction these destructive policies have caused a tsunami of immigrants to the U.S.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, this June, 200 indigenous Mixtec, Zapotec, and Triqui farmers, recognizing this root cause of their troubles, demanded of Mexico’s President Felipe Calder—n what they call “el derecho de no migrar.” This means the right to not migrate.

Perkins describes Calder—n as one of the last of the old “Washington puppets.”

Asserting the right to not migrate challenges not just the inequality and exploitation facing migrants, but also exposes the truth of why people have to migrate to begin with.

Seeing the problem from this perspective, it is painfully clear that law enforcement is not the solution. Even immigration reform should be seen only as a mitigation measure.

The only honest solution is to rein in the global corporate regime, including the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund. These non-democratic global bureaucracies spawn the free trade agreements which serve solely the interests of the corporate empire. This is a major undertaking, but anything else misses the mark.

Richard Calabro is active in the Green Valley Sahuarita Samaritans. For details of the indigenous people’s right to not migrate see www.alternet.org/immigration/92639. For John Perkins’ newsletter see www.johnperkins.org/newsletter.htm.

The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily this newspaper’s.