Mexicans battle over Wal-Mart-owned store being built near 2,000-year-old

[Kadie]

Mexicans battle over Wal-Mart-owned store being built near 2,000-year-old pyramids

MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 3, 2004


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(09-03) 11:53 PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) --

A Wal-Mart-owned discount store rising a half-mile from the ancient temples of Teotihuacan has touched off a fight by a small coalition that doesn't want to see the big, boxy outlet from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

But with most people in the area supporting Wal-Mart, the group is waging a lonely battle for what it calls its defense of Mexico's landscape and culture.

The dispute in Teotihuacan -- a town built next to the ruins of the 2,000-year-old metropolis -- illustrates how the allure of low prices and U.S. lifestyles often wins out in Mexico, leaving traditionalists struggling to draw a line in rapidly shifting cultural sands.

"We'd rather not have Mickey Mouse on top of the Pyramid of the Moon," says Emmanuel D'Herrera, a business owner in Teotihuacan, 30 miles north of Mexico City.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/09/03/international1453EDT0635.DTL

[Lisa0825]

1. OH geeze...

I have been there. It's MAGNIFICENT! I just can't imagine being on the top of the pyramid and being able to see Walmart nearby. BLECH!!!

[istruthfull]

2. Ok

Ok, this would be a dumb move but why is everybody so down on Walmart?

[cvoogt]

4. Walmart on Mars

Walmart is fine ... for Anyville USA, but there are (or should be) limits. Seeing Toys-R-Us in Israel was weird enough for me, but imposing big-box retail on cultural heritage of this magnitude is unthinkable. How about we build a Walmart at the feet of the Buddhist statues the Taliban destroyed? Oh, wait, they were destroyed. Well, it's just as well because sooner or later Walmart would have arrived and at that point the cultural heritage has been obscured, tainted, or destroyed anyway.

[Mikimouse]

5. I have a great idea!

Let's put a Wal-Mart in full view of the Wailing Wall in Israel! I wonder how that would go over with the local populace. (sarcasm off). When consumerism supercedes cultural history, we are really damned, and we would deserve it.

[cvoogt]

8. be prepared

It could very well happen. There's a Starbucks in the oldest section of Shanghai ... an elevator in a pagoda in Suzhou, China, and a gazillion McDonalds all over the world. These business thrive on expansion. They will keep expanding even at the expense of community opposition, unless they lose in court. A California town also fought off Walmart.

But they're invading Europe (starting with the UK and then France and Germany). I can't wait till they come to Holland cause I just moved to Amsterdam and am starting to miss my Walmart. Seriously though, Walmarts can be a very good thing (for Cartersville, GA) but who needs it in the middle of old Amsterdam or Paris? This is a trade-off Europeans make for the sake of culture and beauty, because as a result (so far) the electronics stores and grocery stores here are generally tiny and lack a variety of items. I do wish we had Best Buy sometimes!! But not in a warehouse the size of five football fields built on San Marco square in Venice.

[Terran]

7. Wal Mart is not "fine"

They exploit their employees and put mom-and-pop businesses out of business. I live in a town of 35,000 that has a 24-hour Wal Mart "Supercenter", and yet now these assholes want to build *another* Wal Mart here just so the folks on the far east side of town don't have to drive the 15 minutes to get to the other one. I'm sorry, there's no reason for such idiocy except pure greed. Wal Mart is not fine, it's f*cking evil.

[cvoogt]

10. EvilMart

When I say Walmart's fine I mean it's good to have a place offering that kind of variety at good prices - in this respect consumers have it really good in America. Of course Walmart screws its employees over in the process, the same as other corporations are doing to outsourced labor and stockholders. I'm not saying *that* is fine. My argument was more along the lines of "If America wants to build giganto stores for itself, fine. But don't force it on the rest of the world." It's cultural imperialism aided by capitalism, or vice versa. Problem is, business people around the world know there's money to be made with Walmart and greedy people exist everywhere. Hopefully enough common-sense and ethical business people and community leaders will decide to take action in each of these places.

[DeadHead67]

12. I don't think you've factored in all the THIRD WORLD SWEATSHOPS!!!

. . .making that 'affordable'(read cheap) merchandise. What people don't seem to think about is the lack of labor AND environmental protection that ARE NOT GIVENS as they are here(so far) in the USA.:grr:

[telamachus]

16. who said that

mom an pop don't exploit the workers or cost jobs...I and my spouse have worked both sides and we have always received better wages and benefits from corporate work. I worked for a mom and pop place once and I told them I thought they were paying me to much for the work...they went out of business and 13 people lost their jobs...worked for a place once and the mom and pop got busted for ilegal activities 75 people out of work...

Before I opened my own businesses I hated the crappy uniforms and dumb rules in the corporate setting and I loved the relative freedom of the mom and pop setting but all in all I would say that I was better off in the corporate setting.

I will say that now that I am 'on my own' I would rather do business with mom and pop because I always get paid sooner. Some corporations take forever to pay and when it comes to government contracts no way they may not even pay at all...

Walmart is a big fucking company with no soul and a hard bottom lin ebut evil..I think not

[PotatoBoy]

3. Walmart has no class n/t

[Larkspur]

6. My Northeast CT town fought off a Walmart Distribution Center...

so can the Mexicans.

Good luck to them!

[cvoogt]

9. MexiCAN or MexiCAN'T?

They can and hopefully will fight it off or persuade the Corporation to build a little out of the way, or make the building actually look nice and fit the surroundings for a change.

[DeadHead67]

11. They have absolutely ZERO CONSCIENCE. . . .

Can you spell SABOTAGE?

[telamachus]

17. O goody more

threats of criminal acts.

Were you in Ashville lately??

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=170&topic_id=1263

[slojim240]

13. Hey, but think of all those jobs Wal-Mart will be bringing.

How dare you object to spreading democracy and freedom and oh, yes, capitalism?

[saigon68]

14. Lots of 6.00 peso an hour jobs

For the seniors so they don't starve.

[telamachus]

18. Sarcasm??

I hope so but if not:

Have you ever seen dirt poverty before? I have and it disturbs me that many anti globalization anti corporate people have not seen it. Maybe if they did they would not look like the fools they are and they could help make things better.

Hmmm work and eat.. no job starve...what a choice. Even 4-5 dollars per day is better than nothing.

[TahitiNut]

21. Wouldn't it be nice ...

... if people were paid for the actual value of their labor, rather than what they can be blackmailed into accepting? When a global corporation increases its own profits (passing very little on to accessories-after-the-fact called 'consumers') by exploiting poverty, that corporation becomes complicit in the economic deprivation.

It is the lowest kind of economic morality to treat labor as a commodity. It's even against the law (USC).

[telamachus]

23. Actual Value

is a very subjective term. A living wage will differ depending on were in the world a person is working. I see no blackmail in evidence please explain.

A quick history of corporate expansion into developing nations will clearly indicate stages of development. The beginning stages, for the most part, can be considered exploitive of the workers followed by agitation for rights followed by suppression followed by concession and a move toward fairness.

There are many examples of this behavior to be found from textile and garment workers to parts suppliers to oil exploration.

The best example of the shift of rights to workers has been the successful implementation of laws and regulations on garment sweatshops in Asia and central America. It was the hard work and protests of many over a long time 15-20 years until those workers won the rights they now have. (living wages, limited hours, non bondage, independent monitors etc.)

One can see a shift in rights for indigenous people in regards to oil concessions in south America. The first wave of exploitation was damaging to their environment but through protest and litigation the people have gained some compensation but more importantly it setup the framework for future concession. The struggles of the first generation have raised the bar for a more just future.

I really wish that some 'liberals' in the very comfortable USA would spend some time in SE Asia and central and south America before they condemn those people to a never ending cycle of dirt poverty.

The long term benefits of development far outweigh the short term growing pains of globalization.

Somehow I believe that some westerners actually believe that indigenous people do not want to live in the 21st century. There is nothing glamorous about living in the jungle like your ancestors did 10,000 years ago...die young...watch your children die of desease...no global education...no chance to participate in global politics etc....no chance to have a say (no access to democracy)

Yes we should help, and many do, preserve cultural identity but must we preserve the poverty?

I am not in any way promoting the exploitation of others. I personally work on living wage issues locally and I have traveled and seen the benefits and spoken to people in central and south America about these issues. I have recently taken a board position with a fair trade organization.

Is there room for improvement of the human lives everywhere? YES ALWAYS but lets not condemn an evolutionary process let us be a force for change toward more economic justice. Globalization is an undeniable fact that no amount of bitch is going to make go away. If more people would us their anti-globalization energy toward justice for those affected then maybe things would get better for others.

Protesting globalization, world bank, IMF, WTO, NAFTA, FTAA etc.. is all fine but it is useless unless some of us have a seat at the table. Guess what, yelling and sceaming people will never be allowed to represent segments of civil society at the negotiating table.

Think about it.

[Barkley]

15. Beverly Hills Doesn't have a WAL-MART or a 99 cents Only store

because it wouldn't go along with their image.

I've been on top of both Pyramids. Wonderful view and experience.

I can understand why people might object to a Wal Mart being in view.

I also bought small hand-made statues of Aztec gods for about $15 in 1998. Each is unique because there's no machine producing it.

I'm not sure if those artisians are still making and selling those goods today; I hope so.

[TahitiNut]

19. Build one atop Mount Rushmore! (Don't forget the parking lot.)

:grr:

[Maddy McCall]

20. Or, better yet, in the Mall in Washington...right next to the....

Washington Monument.

[TwentyFive]

22. I hate wal-mart!

They lay their stores out, so the necessities are in the back of the store. You have to walk past all the 'impulse' items and things kids want (candy, toys, etc.).

How many times do young women with limited incomes go to wal-mart to buy $10 in cleaning supplies...only to end up buying $50 worth of needless trinkets and junk food?

But hey, they still have money left on their credit card. Right?