|
Mexican market women take on Wal-Mart (By Georgeann Johnson, December 2, 2005) What do Frida Kahlo and Wal-Mart have in common? Kahlo first brought to the national attention of Mexico one of its own unique indigenous cultures: the Zapotec culture of the Tehuantepec Isthmus, centered in the town of Juchitan. In the 1930s, when Frida Kahlo started wearing the elaborate flowered skirts and blouses of the Juchitecan women, interest in indigenous cultures gained a toehold among the upper classes. Sixty years later, interest in the Juchitecan culture (and in other indigenous cultures) grew beyond national borders. The image of Frida Kahlo in her indigenous clothing is now familiar to the world. But this indigenous culture is now colliding with the globalization behemoth of El Norte. The Juchitan market women—in their full flower regalia—are under assault by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has been in the news lately—big-time. The world’s largest corporation is having to address “the little people.” Lawsuits, illegal aliens, illegal practices, low wages and lack of health care provisions for employees are turning the Wal-Mart “Happy Face” sour. The whistle-blowing movie Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price examines how Wal-Mart destroys the heart and fiber of small communities. Last week, over 7,000 communities in the United States held showings of the film. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in churches, living rooms, classrooms, donut shops and union halls to see the widely promoted film. Audiences saw the closed doors on main streets of many “heartland of America” towns, learned of the anguish of family-owned businesses that can’t compete with the megastores, and heard the stories of employees who struggle to earn a living for their families. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Wal-Mart has been free to expand into Mexican communities. Wal-Marts in big cities are one thing, but in small towns they are quite another—and in culturally distinct, indigenous communites, their impact can be devastating. In the onslaught of globalization, many communities such as Juchitan—where the present construction of a Wal-Mart is causing alarm among some of the citizens—are questioning: “Who gains and who loses?” The independent, proud people of Juchitan are aware that their geographic isolation for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years has fostered the economic viability and social vitality of their culture. Unlike many other indigenous cultures of Mexico where the native language is dying out, 75% of Juchitecans are bilingual in Zapotec and Spanish. A modern, but culturally intact people, the most distinctive traits of Juchitecans are their economy and the egalitarian gender roles. Women run the market economy, and houses are passed down matrilineally. Men own the fishing boats and agricultural land, and these are passed down patrilineally. Juchitecan women are distinctively self-assured, regal and “in charge.” These large-framed women, in their flowered finery, aren’t shrinking violets. They have status, power and a strong voice in a culture that has resisted Mexican machismo. This culture’s traditional vibrancy, however, is based on the market-system economy that has nurtured the people—nutritionally and socially. Each woman is a merchant and sees herself as a trader in food products and crafts. The men deliver their fish and produce to the women, who in turn process them into cheese pies, smoked fish and chicken dishes to sell in the market; or the women act as brokers, selling raw materials to other women. This system has served Juchitecans well. They are a prosperous people with well-nourished children and free time to spend on their elaborate festivals, which underpin the gift-giving and prestige-based economy. This resilient culture has survived Spanish colonization, but the geographic isolation that has protected them for centuries is no longer a barrier. Unfortunately, this same location—the “skinny” part of Mexico that separates the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by only 100-plus miles—is now in the gobbling gun-sights of mighty transnational corporations. The Plan Puebla Panama is a development plan to “modernize” the stretch of highway between Puebla and Panama. Many communities along this lengthy route are resisting a plan that is not of their making, and one they know will bring the “gifts of modernity”—drug addiction, gangs, violence—and the unraveling of ancient cultures. Transnationals versus cultural survival. Who wins? Who loses? Some Juchitecans understand the threat to their culture and some don’t. Those concerned believe that Wal-Mart is the most visible sign of the larger threat to their way of life—and also the biggest threat to their market economy. They are organizing to alert others to what happens when Wal-Mart moves in, and they are screening Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price in Juchitan. Perhaps the film will help clarify the situation. It’s a story we all need to know because, ultimately, we all suffer the negative effects of globalization. |