Take the people of Esquel, a small city in Southern Argentina. A year ago, the U.S-Canadian gold mining company Meridian purchased Britain’s Bancote Holdings, which owned a gold deposit in Esquel estimated at (U.S.) $1-billion. The time seemed to be right to build a huge open pit mine: gold was selling high and Argentina, with its ravaged economy, was selling low.
The company informed the city of Esquel that it was about to be the lucky recipient of 400 mining jobs. It slapped together an Environmental Impact Assessment, assured the community that using 2700 kg of cyanide a day was no riskier than driving to work, and got ready to start digging.
So did the community. Not for gold, but for information. Selling off natural resources and public services to foreign multinationals has not worked out well for Argentina. These investments, far from delivering the promised prosperity, have left the country with fewer jobs, soaring debts, expensive services, and suspiciously wealthy politicians. When Meridian said “trust us,” Esquel was unable to comply.
Full article: http://www.nologo.org/
Note: http://www.nologo.org/
Stumble It!
The debate about Paul Kellogg\'s \"After Left Nationalism\" is in part a debate about what kind of foreign relations Canada is to have with countries other than the US.
It is also about whether or not Canadian capital--read Canadian transnationals like Barrick, Talisman, and Meridian--is a legitimate concern for the left. Or is foreign ownership only a problem if the foreign owner is American?
Kellogg also raises the possiblity that Canadian anti-imperialists and Argentine anti-imperialists might be able to work together in common cause.
Mel Hurtig does mention Argentina once, but he doesn\'t show much concern that Canadian transnationals might be part of Argentina\'s problem. Kellogg does.
Neither Hurtig nor Kellogg nor Laxer nor Mathews seems to think that we need to work together, not only for ethical reasons, but also for practical ones. What will we be doing on the morning after the abrogation of NAFTA?
Working with activists from Argentina, I hope, and other countries, to prevail against the domination of transnationals corporations, whatever flag they may be flying.