Commentary Update for October 7, 2002: FTAA, Underheim/Genisio, Peace Coverage, Gov Ads, Thiel Letter

Dear Friends of Commentary:

Have you heard about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)? FTAA is the latest in a series of global trade agreements that opponents say are trading labor, environmental, and human rights for corporate profit. FTAA opponents say that it would open up markets from Alaska to Argentina regardless of the impact on local economies and communities. This mega-trade agreement is scheduled to be put into place by 2005 with little or no public input.

This week (starting on Tuesday), Jim and I have as guests two people from Central America who have direct experience with the impact of so-called free trade and other US policies that affect the region.

In the first half-hour we are joined by Ana Maria Hernandez. She is the Executive Committee Chair for the Comite Fronterizo de Obreras or the Border Women Workers' Committee. Ms. Hernandez spent 14 years sewing clothes in maquiladora factories. She worked 11 years for the Obion Maquila, which is owned by the New York based Salant Corporation. At Obion she made clothes for the Gap, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Disney, and others. The factory closed 3 years ago, laying off 900 workers. Ms. Hernandez has lectured internationally about working conditions and the struggles for justice in the maquiladoras. She was born in and still resides in Piedras Negras, Cohuila Mexico.

In the second half-hour we are joined by Jesus Albeiro Martinez. Jesus is the General Secretary of the Public Employees Union of Columbia. He has been a union organizer for 17 years. He is currently in the United States as part of the AFL-CIO Solidarity program which grants asylum to union activists who have suffered threats to their personal safety as a result of union organizing. Jesus says that between receiving threats and watching his companeros suffer violent attacks, the situation became too dangerous for him to continue his labor union activities so he was forced to flee Columbia. He has been in the US since April of this year.

Neither Ana Maria nor Jesus speak English. Translating for us is Jason Wallach. Mr. Wallach is Grassroots Coordinator of the Mexico Solidarity Network. He has seven years of organizing experience working with the Highlander Center, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and various student organizations. (Just as an aside, Jason told us before the show that he is from the Washington, DC area and that his parents live in very close vicinity to the area where the twisted sniper has been killing innocents).

In other news, you know how they say that if you live long enough you'll probably see everything? I must say that I never thought I would see the day when an Executive Editor of a newspaper would tell citizens to NOT watch a debate, yet that's exactly what Stew Rieckman did in his Sunday column. Stew claims that Democratic challenger for the 54th Assembly District Jim Genisio did not really debate against incumbent Gregg Underheim, so it is not worth watching. In you're someone who'd rather make up your own mind about what happened at the debate, here once again are the times it will be shown on Oshkosh Cable Access Television:

*Monday, October 7 at 10 p.m.
*Thursday, October 10 at 5:30 p.m.
*Friday, October 11 at 11 p.m.
*Monday, October 14 at 10 p.m.
*Thursday, October 17 at 5:30 p.m.

Commentary attended a Genisio event in September and was able to get some pictures of the candidate in his priestly pose (Genisio is a former Catholic priest), his married pose, and his statesman pose. Sylvester Stallone has nothing on these Italian Stallions.

If I didn't know better, I'd think that my latest Media Rant for the Valley Scene actually had some impact on the Oshkosh Northwestern Editorial Brigade. My piece argues that the peace movement deserves to have front page coverage alongside the constant war boosterism that we see in the press. My piece was released on October, and by last Saturday the ONEB had allowed front page coverage of an Oshkosh Peace Rally, and even editorialized about the peace movement.

More than 10 years ago in the lead-up to Desert Storm I had to take students to Milwaukee to experience a protest action because there was nothing going on in Oshkosh. The October 4, 2002 rally was nothing short of extraordinary, with a wide diversity of ages showing up. About 50 people marched from the new Opera House Square park to Terry Laib's restored historic Fire House on New York Ave. to greet Senator Feingold with some protest. Feingold was there to endorse Genisio's assembly campaign.

Commentary was able to get some pictures from the Peace Rally:
*At Opera House Square
*A War Solves Nothing Poster
*Carl Schaap, one of the founders of the UW Oshkosh Students for Peace chapter
*The Great Peace March
*Russ Feingold Caught on Tape
*Russ Feingold Greets Citizens
*Genisio and Feingold

If you're in the Fox Valley and watch any television at all, you've seen the ATROCIOUS ads that are being run by and for McCallum and Doyle for Governor. Turns out that we are getting more of this CRAP than any other region in the state.

Finally, School Board member Teresa Thiel submitted a letter to the ONEB trying to correct the record about what she allegedly said during a discussion about the district's policy on buying food for District functions.

Best,

-Tony