CANCEL THE DEBT
'NAFTA for Africa': New name, same game
By
Monica Moorehead
"NAFTA for Africa" bill made its way through the House Ways
and Means Committee on June 10. The bill could be introduced in
the House of Representatives for a vote as early as the end of
August. Its official name is the Africa Trade and Development
Act.
The original bill, first introduced to Congress back in
1998, was called the Africa Growth and Opportunity Bill. This
bill passed the House but did not make it out of the Senate.
The Clinton administration revamped the bill and reintroduced
the latest version in February 1999.
What exactly is the ATDA and why is it a danger to the
independence and sovereignty struggles of Africa? The ATDA is
essentially a "free trade" bill that would more easily open up
African economies to foreign investment, as well as to the
structural adjustment policies of the International Monetary
Fund.
In other words, the IMF would control whole African
economies--lock, stock and barrel.
The bill also calls for the deregulation and privatization
of state-run programs and operations. The bill stresses trade,
not aid, with the poorest continent in regard to economic
development.
The ATDA is an attempt on the part of U.S. imperialism to
vie with its European capitalist competitors for economic
hegemony over the abundance of strategic minerals and resources
of Africa.
The ATDA is a dignified name for neocolonialism.
A corporate dream come true
The bill is reminiscent of the North American Free Trade Act
signed by the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 1994. This act
eliminated tariffs or taxes on exports from the U.S. and Canada
to Mexico and made it easier for capital to open operations
there at rock-bottom wages.
The impact of NAFTA restricts local and regional areas of
Mexico, like Chiapas, from producing goods indigenous to their
own economies. The larger imperialist econo mies are given the
green light to impose their goods on the Mexican economy.
NAFTA also helps ensure slave wages for Mexican workers. It
is a dream come true for transnational corporations. They
quickly set up runaway shops in this developing, oppressed
country.
This is exactly what the U.S. wants to do with
Africa--deepen capitalist penetration and super-exploit the
resources and the 600 million African women, men and children
to create super-profits.
The Clinton administration, like any capitalist political
administration, does the bidding of the capitalist class. A
corporate-lobby grouping called USAfrica is the mastermind of
the ATDA.
USAfrica, which overlaps with the Corporate Council for
Africa, reads like a who's who of big business. There is
Texaco. Reme mber when the multi-billion-dollar oil and energy
corporation was forced to settle a $175 million class-action
suit with some of its African American employees in 1996 for
inflicting systematic racial discrimination?
This is the same Texaco that created 600 toxic sites,
containing a total of 16.8 million gallons of crude oil, in
Ecuador's Amazon Basin. The Ecuadoran government has filed a
$1.5 billion class-action suit against Texaco.
Occidental Petroleum is also a member of USAfrica. According
to the Reagan Labor Department, this corporate giant had earned
the distinction of the "worst example of under-reporting of
worker injuries and illnesses ever encountered by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration in its 16-year
history."
Then there's Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer
of earth-moving equipment, which has been accused of violating
more U.S. labor laws than any other manufacturer in this
country's history, according to Corporate Watch.
There's Kmart, whose violations of labor laws in Nicaragua
have been documented. For example, the company is accused of
providing starvation wages as low as 10 cents to 15 cents per
hour; violating the rights of workers to organize into unions;
subjecting workers to speed-ups and allow ing sexual harassment
and body searches.
The list also includes General Electric, Chevron, Mobil,
Amoco, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bank of America, The Gap,
Citicorp, Exxon and Coca-Cola. All in all, there are four main
sectors of the capitalists behind the ATDA bill: agribusiness,
pharmaceuticals, energy and telecommunications.
These corporations that exploit workers in the imperialist
countries and super-exploit workers in the developing countries
are now licking their chops to get even richer off the
suffering and misery of the African masses.
Cancel the debt!
In opposition to this reactionary bill, Rep. Jesse Jackson
Jr. from Illinois has introduced a more liberal bill called
HOPE for Africa. HOPE stands for human development, opportunity
and empowerment.
The main objective of this bill is unconditional debt relief
from the imperialist banks. It also demands that African
workers be provided a livable wage and that corporations be
forced to operate within labor and environmental standards.
The bill states that the basic needs of the African people,
like health services, food, clothing, shelter and education,
must come first before the greedy needs of the global markets
and the international banks. This bill is supported by a
growing number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus,
along with civil-rights organizations.
One of the main prizes that has caught the eye of the U.S.
imperialists is the heart of central Africa--Congo--considered
the most mineral-rich area on the continent.
During the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency
installed its brutal stooge, Mobutu Sese Seko, as the president
of Congo. This followed on the heels of the assas sination of
Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo and revered
anti-imperialist, by the CIA and Belgian colonizers.
Congo is today indebted to the IMF and World Bank to the
tune of billions of dollars. It is a well-known fact that
Mobutu plundered the national treasury before fleeing the
country, while millions of Congolese peasants and workers lived
in unimaginable poverty.
Efforts are now being made to have the billions of dollars
stolen by Mobutu--
esti mated to be between $4 and $7.7 billion--returned to the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The fortune is being kept in
Swiss banks.
Africa Support Committees throughout the U.S. are organizing
letter-writing campaigns to the Swiss Mission to the United
Nations to demand that this money be return ed to the people
and the government of Congo.
One important aspect that the HOPE for Africa bill does
raise--and that the ATDA wants to divert attention from--is the
African debt crisis.
The IMF, the World Bank and its subservient arm--the African
Development Bank--want to further enslave the African peoples
with more cutbacks in social services and other austerity
measures just to pay the interest on past loans. This same
scenario has been followed throughout Latin America and
Asia.
In South Africa, the African National Congress coalition
government is still obligated to pay back a $30 billion debt
accrued by the racist apartheid regime.
The HOPE for Africa Act is well-intended but has its
limitations. It can only be effective if the U.S. progressive
movement takes up the demand for the unconditional cancellation
of this blood-sucking debt in Africa and the rest of the
developing world.
Instead, the movement must demand that the U.S. and European
governments pay billions of dollars in reparations to the
African people for the centuries of pillage, slavery and racist
oppression. The payment must be in the form of real economic
development like the sharing of all technology without any
political strings attached.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page