by Tara Hurford, IWM serving in Santa Fe, Mexico City, Mexico.
When I arrived to Santa Fe, I was shocked to find out that as far as grocery stores in the area, they are all owned by Walmart. I have boycotted Walmart ever since I wrote the ¨Sweatshop Fashion Show¨ script for our grade 12 Global History course -- well, boycotted it until I came to live in Mexico, that is. After I was done digging up dirt on the multi-billion dollar mammoth, our teacher informed us that she never even sets foot in a Walmart parking lot, because it is, in her words, ¨the Devil´s store.¨ The truth is, from the research I´ve done and things I´ve heard, I´ve come to realize we´re not the ones paying for the products at Walmart – other people are. For example:
In 2004, workers making products for Wal-Mart stores in China and Bangladesh were being paid as little as $.17/hour! Wal-Mart is also notorious for denying its workers the right to organize -- not only in their factories overseas, but also in their stores across North America. In April 2005, Wal-Mart a store in Jonquiere, Quebec closed after workers successfully unionized.[i]
But it doesn´t end with this. Walmart will potentially face a lawsuit in the United States. In March, six women came forward wanting to sue Walmart on behalf of over one million women who work in the US for gender discrimination. If it goes through, it would be the largest sexism lawsuit in American history. But . . . Walmart is also a vampire company, meaning that they move into a town and lower their prices so much that no local businesses can compete with them. Since Walmart is so big they can survive, but the local businesses often end up having to close.
Since being here, I have also learned how the Walmart owned stores have also negatively impacted the local economy here in Santa Fe, Mexico. Miriam, the long term missionary who is here for three years just finished a ¨Needs Survey¨ with over 100 people from the community. Included in this interviewing process, she surveyed people who own puestos (stands) at the local market about two blocks up the avenue from us. One woman said that because Walmart can order in such large quantities and they (small puesto owners) cannot, it’s impossible to compete price-wise, especially in a community that is already economically depressed. To add salt to the wound, one of the ladies that volunteers and spends a lot of time at the parish bags groceries at the Walmart owned Aurerra bodega when she has to. . . except, that she doesn´t get paid an actual wage – only what people tip her.
I would really like to say that I have been able to keep up my boycott of Walmart since being here, but the truth is that I have been forced to eat a big piece of humble pie. We are literally surrounded by the store. In five minutes I can walk to a mini-Aurerra and in twenty I can walk to the more full-service store – both owned by Walmart. In the other direction, I can take a fifteen minute bus ride to Sam´s or Superama – a little more upper class grocery store – but also owned by Walmart. Or, I can take about a thirty minute bus ride to Soriana – from what I can tell, the only Mexican owned grocery store – THANKS NAFTA!!!
And I do go to Soriana when I can. We also shop more locally when we can, but there are just some products that you cannot buy, even in the other American owned stores that are close by. The other issue is that – well hey – everything is cheaper there and the truth is, we have a limited food allowance each week. The ´beauty´ of this system is that the poorest members of society, those whom mammoth corporations hurt the most, are the ones that don´t have the money to make these kind of ´conscious consumer´ decisions. Who can afford Fair Trade? Only the middle and upper classes, really . . .
How is one supposed to begin to live out the Catholic Social Teaching of supporting just economics, local economies and dignity and rights of the workers, when one simply doesn’t have the resources to do so? This is the first time I have fully been in this situation, without much of a choice. While I may not fully be able to choose where I shop here, most of the population here in Santa Fe is choice-less and voiceless in other ways. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, it doesn’t seem that many people have a choice but to earn money through a second hustle – selling things from a card table out their front door, as there are few job opportunities that pay a living wage. Most people in Santa Fe don’t have a choice but to live on less than about a dollar a day. Similarly, there is little choice when it comes to education. Most of the youth grow up going through poor government school systems and there are not enough high schools in the area. If they score low on the preparatory entrance exam, which is likely, they again are forced into a poor high school, or like many, do not score high enough to even make it into a high school and are forced to continue the cycle of poverty.
So what´s the answer? What can I do about the comparatively insignificant conscience quandary I am having? I seriously do not have an answer. I wish I did. I want to support local markets, but when you’re ´poor´ that becomes more difficult to do. I do what I can, and when there is nothing else I can do -- I curse, under my breath, every time I have to go into Aurerra. I have had to learn to become content with finding other ways to live out the Catholic Social Teachings, solidarity with the poor and simplicity in living. I have also simplified my diet a lot since moving here and only eat meat when it is served to me, replacing it with lentils which I eat at least once a day, if not twice. And though it is still a struggle for me, I have also tried to cut junk food out of my diet, when it is not a gift. I also make a conscious effort to treat the many people I come into contact with, with dignity, especially those in positions considered lowly, such as those who move around the dirty streets of Santa Fe picking up garbage or those who bag groceries at the stores, always addressing them with ¨Usted¨ instead of the familiar ¨Tu.¨ Also, we walk our compost over to the parish about twice a week and flush the toilet with shower, hand and face washing water. And after spending the Lent season without electricity, I decided to not ask to get my room light, which has been out of service for about four months, fixed in order to save some money for the parish and live in solidarity without electricity. Most of these lessons I plan to take back to Canada with me, so when I have more choice about where I shop, I can also be doing other things too.
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