The Trans-Pacific Dialogues

No Disclaimers

In some make-believe near-future, as corporate interests would be sure that this discussion never take place, leaders of the Zapatistas meet with the draftees of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This is a new trade agreement, much like North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that’s designed to bring law, not justice, to trade. This is the year 2015 and most all nations along the Pacific Rim have signed on. This is the last meeting before the deal is ratified. Leading up to this moment, farmers in Japan have been striking, Canadians have set up blockades along the American border, world trade headquarters have been set ablaze in Chile, Indonesia, and New Zealand, and women in Panama are in the process of damming the man-made canal. The Zapatistas, with their growing popularity in Mexico as well as globally, have made the call for an insurgence of armed people if the TPP pushes through.

the TPP: We thank you for convening with us in our private office. Out of the public’s view, we can appropriately and respectfully discuss the matter without interruption or misinterpretation. Let us begin by calling into question the rationale behind your appalled reaction to our trade deal, which is set to bring much needed infrastructure, jobs, and development to your undeveloped nations.

the Zapatistas: Do not insult our intelligence. When you refer to our countries as “undeveloped nations” we are aware you are utilizing the tactic of  “blaming the victim”, and in fact the reason for our lack of a healthy middle class, well-paying jobs, and functional infrastructure results from multinational corporate exploitation of our nations, including but not limited to the establishment of other free trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA.

the TPP: In our opinion, these previous trade deals have been nothing but successful. Profits are at an all time high and increase nearly exponentially, and millions of people from your country are finding work in our maquiladoras. This provides the latest revolutions in appliance technologies to be made available to developed nations and builds a solid class of workers to become a middle class.

the Zapatistas: Do not call into question the legacy of the North American Free Trade Agreement for we have experienced it and it is not creating a middle class. The laws of this agreement, which supersedes that of any nation (corrupt or just), has, yes, served to agglomerate economic power into your back pockets, but nowhere else. It’s a result of corporations plundering capital from workers in the maquiladoras you have just mentioned. These factories lack regulations for fair wages, safe working conditions, sexual harassment, or any other provisions that would serve the people yet inhibit your ability to multiply your profits. The plundering does not end there, you extract these goods from sovereign nations untariffed so that our government lacks the funds to build a proper infrastructure. You even use these trade deals to sue countries that do not wish to yield their own national resources to your whims. These deals must be abolished and we are prepared to enter into a Fourth World War if the magnified TPP comes into effect.

the TPP: Then you would incite lawlessness and chaos, were you  to do away with our order as none other presently exists. Consider, for example, how internal economies would collapse under the strain of unmanaged migration.

the Zapatistas: In fact, the contrary. The purpose of laws, as the instrument of civilization, is to divide us into individually powerless atoms to be commodified and controlled for your purposes of domination. This is the true chaos. Systems of cooperation, such as traditional customs which have existed since antiquity, would much better serve everyone involved with globalized trade. In response to your concern regarding immigration, the recent mass migration of Central Americans into the US is also a result of NAFTA. It has left a great number of farmers without a livelihood and searching for a place where they could find a decent job. Few people are actually interested in uprooting their lives, in this manner, only to enter a country as second class citizens, who are dehumanized as “illegals”, unless they’ve been pushed into so desperate a situation. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would worsen the patterns of immigration we’re experiencing.

the TPP: Having admitted to our economic might, we assume you’re also well aware of our military power. We have the paramilitary police forces of every Pacific nation at our disposal to defend our property. Our weapons technology is the most advanced in the world and we have the ability to strike you down with unmanned drones, and this is all assuming that you will be able to organize yourselves discretely enough to evade our surveillance technologies. Your battle is doomed from the start, and your people will be forced into slavery.

the Zapatistas: This argument holds little sway in our decision to strike back as what you are proposing with the Trans-Pacific Partnership is slavery, whether or not it is coupled with military force. This force is already present without our organized revolt. The establishment of NAFTA coincides with America’s strengthening of its war on drugs efforts in Latin America. While this region is unstabilized and prone to violence, this policy has escalated the situation and resulted in the deaths of countless civilians. Considering these factors, we will take our chances in the name of liberation. Furthermore, you underestimate the scope of our power in this insurrection. There are subjugated people in every stretch of planet Earth, in every country you seek to partner with, and based on our customs of solidarity each atom will operate in coordination against your machine. As we are many and you are so few that you rely on unmanned planes to fight your battles, we have confidence in our victory.

the TPP: The people of the world will never stand united. Just as we subjugate people across the globe, there’s a long-standing tradition of those with relative power (such as the middle classes in the US and EU) turning a blind eye to such injustices. We’ve numbed these people, whose support will be integral in your struggle, to rely on our capitalist order. They are not limited to the West, the growing middle classes in China and India, newly discovering the peace of a consumer lifestyle, will be the most stubborn in relinquishing their status in support of your war.

the Zapatistas: You underestimate the amount of discontent building within the middle classes as your policies also confiscate the surplus they produce. And the people of the United States have historically worked in solidarity with the social movements in Latin America. The Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), to name just one example, has provided support to our Salvadoran brothers and sisters since their civil war in the ‘80s. In 2013 the people of America organized their own labor unions to defend El Salvador from near total privatization. They drew on the commonalities in Salvadoran and American struggles to support each other in the fight against corporate domination. In 2014 CISPES organized to defend the Salvadoran elections against US and corporate intervention and fraud, now their radical president, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, has been one of the few leaders to reject your trade agreement. We find these connections strengthening over time so that solidarity efforts are now turned towards Honduras, which was largely ignored in the midst of violence in the ‘90s. After the conflict in El Salvador arms were banned in 1994, weapons flooded Honduras and in 2009 the country suffered a coup that placed an School of the America’s graduate in control. It took a long time for this issue to come to light in the US, but the response following a SOA Watch speaking tour in 2013 is making incredible gains in defeating this illegitimate government. And this international movement against the TPP has been building since 2012 and includes the efforts of Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, Filipinos, Japanese and Australians.

the TPP: These solidarity networks that you speak of, while they have an impressive history, represent a small fraction of the population, and their participants have not rejected their reliance on consumerism, which is what allows our trade system to continue.

the Zapatistas: Your trade system, or exploitation system rather, also relies on the participation of laborers. This is the working class that is outraged, mobilizing, standing in solidarity, and prepared to take up arms if you implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

the TPP: We have no intention of halting the growth of our trade agreements until they cover the last expanses of the globe; we’re even constructing a Trans-Atlantic Partnership. We seem to have reached a standstill in this conversation. Your position will not serve you under our unprecedented power, clinging to defiance and empty promises of support will cause you more pain than if you were to choose submission.