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  • Wal-Mart War Room

    OK, so I decided to play by da rules of dis board and started this thread here instead of putting the article below in the second Walmart at Keeaumoku folder. Just change the country but the issues remain the same...

    Miulang


    Wal-Mart at Mexico Ruins Sparks Protest
    By Lorraine Orlandi, Reuters

    TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico (Sept. 11) - Burning incense and sounding a conch shell horn, residents of an ancient Mexican city protested on Saturday at the construction of a Wal-Mart store on the edge of the ruins

    AP
    A Teotihuacan pyramid, the archeological site 18 miles from Mexico City.

    The sprawling warehouse-style Bodega Aurrera, a unit of Wal-Mart in Mexico, is due to open in December in Teotihuacan, a major archeological site outside Mexico City.

    Opponents say it will ruin a way of life that dates back centuries and have taken legal action to stop it, in a fight that gives a grand dimension to the classic battle between big business and small-town values.

    "What they are doing in Teotihuacan is destroying Mexico's deepest roots for short-term interests like lower prices," local teacher Emanuel D'Herrera told about a dozen protesters outside Teotihuacan's town hall. "This is the flag of conquest by global interests, the symbol of the destruction of our culture."

    Other protesters bearing placards against the "gringo business" entered the town hall and pledged to stay there until the mayor heard them out.

    U.S.-based Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, faces increasing opposition in the United States as it stretches beyond its rural roots and into urban areas. Voters in a Los Angeles suburb recently rejected a Wal-Mart supercenter, and other communities have passed ordinances blocking its so-called big-box stores.

    The Teotihuacan construction site lies less than a mile from the gated tourist park housing the main ruins and is visible from atop the Pyramid of the Sun that has defined the skyline for 2,000 years.

    UPHILL BATTLE

    Local activists know they are fighting a steep uphill battle. Wal-Mart Mexico has local and state approval for the store and construction is well under way.

    "I support the store, it will save me time and money," said Camilo Olivas, a father of four who works for the federal electricity commission in Teotihuacan.

    He drives 10 minutes every two weeks to shop at a Wal-Mart store in another town to find low prices.

    But a handful of opponents say Wal-Mart will kill local family-owned enterprises and erode a lifestyle dating back centuries, while sucking income from locals.

    They have filed a criminal complaint, charging authorities with acting illegally in approving the project. They filed a civil complaint on the same grounds and asked the nation's rights ombudsman to step in.

    Amid rising controversy, Mexico's government this month said a small pre-Hispanic altar was found buried at the construction site. Plans call for preserving the small structure under plexiglass in what will be the store's parking lot.



    "Mexico is one of the few places in the world where the seeds of culture and religion remain," said Tim Sikyea, or Lonely Eagle, a Dene Indian from the Northwest Territories in Canada who came to Teotihuacan this weekend for an annual ceremony with indigenous peoples from across the continent.

    "When you have big business come in you lose touch with that culture."

    No one knows for sure who founded the ancient seat of power and then abandoned it around 600 A.D. The Aztecs later came upon it and named it Teotihuacan (The Place Where Men Become Gods).


    09/11/04 17:44 ET

    And something from our friends in the British Press:

    The Sun, Moon and Wal-Mart!

    The Times, London

    TEOTIHUACAN, Sept. 11. — Ancient Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon at Teotihuacan, one of Mexico’s most prized archaeological sites and most popular tourist attractions, have a new neighbour — a Wal-Mart warehouse that has enraged academics and locals in equal measure.
    The US retail giant has almost completed its hypermarket, much to the dismay of local residents and cultural organisations. The local office of Unesco, the United Nations cultural body, has joined calls for an investigation into how Wal-Mart was allowed to proceed on 3.7 acres that is part of the archaeological site.
    It has taken up the fight of local pressure groups who hope to block the opening of the store, due in December. In response to local protests, the government has promised that the construction permits will indeed be reviewed by the National Council for Culture and the Arts.
    But local activists are in no mood to give up the fight.
    “We’ll put a stop to this with demolition, because a transnational corporation can’t just come and trample on our historical patrimony,” said Mr Lorenzo Trujillo, the head of the Civic Front for the Defence of the Valley of Teotihuacan, which represents some 100 local residents. In late July, about 50 members of the Civic Front occupied the building site for three days, demanding that construction be halted. The protest ended peacefully but construction continued. Wal-Mart threatened to take the protesters to court.
    Critics say the modern warehouse design of the store, which has become a standard bearer of the creeping US cultural invasion of Mexico, clashes with the 1,400-year-old site.
    Not everyone in the area opposes the project. Some welcome the store for the low prices, investment and jobs it will bring. “This is a development opportunity,” Mr Jorge Lopez, the town secretary, said. “We need water, drainage, pavement, schools.”
    Wal-Mart claims that its own privately-hired archaeologist found few items of archaeological interest while the foundations of the store were being laid.
    Mexican officials say a small pre-Hispanic altar was found buried under what will be the store’s parking lot.
    -----------
    Walmart workers in Las Vegas have started their own website (http://www.walmartworkerslv.com) as part of their campaign to have the United Food and Commercial Workers Union represent them. The website is pretty interesting because it includes all kinds of stuff about anti-union actions that Walmart has taken around the world.

    Normally, I'm against unions (I'm salaried, after all) but in cases where a company so grossly violates equal opportunity laws and discriminates against its workers for the sake of making individuals rich, then I say, "Power to the People!"
    Last edited by Miulang; September 11, 2004, 09:29 PM.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

    Originally posted by Miulang
    residents of an ancient Mexican city protested on Saturday at the construction of a Wal-Mart store on the edge of the ruins

    The sprawling warehouse-style Bodega Aurrera, a unit of Wal-Mart in Mexico, is due to open in December in Teotihuacan, a major archeological site outside Mexico City.

    Opponents say it will ruin a way of life that dates back centuries

    this just absolutely burns my ass.
    I need no further provocation to equate walmart with the antichrist. cuz i knew they were already.
    But if this doesn't sway any walmart lovers...
    well, then, their heart, mind and soul are made of coal. and dense rock.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

      "Amid rising controversy, Mexico's government this month said a small pre-Hispanic altar was found buried at the construction site. Plans call for preserving the small structure under plexiglass in what will be the store's parking lot."

      This is the other part of that first article I posted that fries me. Does that mean at every new WM site, whenever they uncover relics or artifacts that they're going to encase said relics under plexiglass in the middle of the macadam??? That's supposed to be respectful??? That, and the fact that the Mexican government apparently approved the construction permit based on the say-so of an archeologist who was hired by WalMart!

      Miulang

      BTW:What did they do with the bones they uncovered at the Keeaumoku site anyway?
      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

        Originally posted by Miulang

        BTW:What did they do with the bones they uncovered at the Keeaumoku site anyway?
        they are under plexiglass in the Needless Markups store ala moana

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

          Originally posted by kimo55
          they are under plexiglass in the Needless Markups store ala moana
          Bahahaha!
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

            It's just ashame that nothing happens to those who desecrate gravesites. The building still gets constructed and "life goes on" (is this one of the forbidden phrases)! People too often forget...again keep reminding us Kimo!!!
            Retired Senior Member

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: WalMart also strikes fear, PERIOD

              So as not to sully the purity of the other Walmart thread, here's some more fodder for why people should think twice about shopping either at Walmart or Sam's Club:

              Pro-subsidy, anti-union

              Ironically, founder Sam Walton's rules for building a business retail include valuing "associates" and sharing rewards. Last year, Wal-Mart generated $265 billion in revenue and had about $9.1 billion in net income. Today there are 5,000 stores in 10 countries, including Argentina, South Korea and China. When Walton died in 1992, he was second only to Bill Gates for title of the world's richest man.

              The impressive growth has come at a high price. In May, Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research center that promotes corporate and government accountability, released a report showing Wal-Mart received more than one billion dollars in subsidies from local and state governments, including sales tax rebates, free or reduced-priced land, tax-increment-financing, state corporate income tax credits and property tax abatements. The study was partially funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

              Labor unions have their own fight to pick with Wal-Mart. Although the UFCW recently won accreditation and the right to represent employees in a Quebec Wal-Mart, it has yet to successfully organize in the United States. In 2000, meat cutters in a Jacksonville, Texas store voted to organize and shortly after that the company announced it was closing the department. Wal-Mart's official position on unions is: "We do not believe there is a need for third-party representation."


              Read the whole story here: http://www.alternet.org/rights/19901/

              Miulang
              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: WalMart also strikes fear, PERIOD

                Originally posted by Miulang

                Ironically, founder Sam Walton's rules for building a business retail include valuing "associates" and sharing rewards.Miulang

                also, Sam Walton started with a BuyAmerican slant and he tried to procure, sell and support american made products.


                remniscient of the disney corp. debacle. totally different animal than what Walt Disney "imagineered"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: WalMart also strikes fear, PERIOD

                  Originally posted by kimo55
                  also, Sam Walton started with a BuyAmerican slant and he tried to procure, sell and support american made products.


                  remniscient of the disney corp. debacle. totally different animal than what Walt Disney "imagineered"
                  Heh. Did you notice how quickly they got rid of that campaign? Even back then (wasn't that in the early 90s?) it was damned near impossible to find anything that was manufactured and assembled 100% in the US. Imagine what it must be like now with all the outsourcing going on????

                  Miulang

                  As an aside: next time you eat macadamia nuts, see if the label tells where those nuts were grown...they may be from Australia, Central America or Southeast Asia even though they might have a "Hawaiian" logo on the box!
                  "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: WalMart also strikes fear, PERIOD

                    Originally posted by Miulang
                    As an aside: next time you eat macadamia nuts, see if the label tells where those nuts were grown...they may be from Australia, Central America or Southeast Asia even though they might have a "Hawaiian" logo on the box!

                    I checked a can of mac nuts i have lying around da tiki bar here. saw the address for the orchards and processing offices.. did a search on the internet .
                    the address found on the internet shows a new Walmart there.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: WalMart also strikes fear, PERIOD

                      Originally posted by kimo55
                      I checked a can of mac nuts i have lying around da tiki bar here. saw the address for the orchards and processing offices.. did a search on the internet .
                      the address found on the internet shows a new Walmart there.
                      ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
                      "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

                        Haha! Now that growth in the US appears to be slowing down, our buddies in Bentonville now have their eyes on.....RUSSIA!

                        Holy cow! I never thought WM would bring about detente. A true victory for capitalism if WM gets a toehold in Russia...Capitalism topples Communism! Wow! Would Lenin and Stalin be pickled pink or what???

                        More here: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=6257979

                        Miulang

                        Actually, if WM did put up a store say, in Moscow, if ever I visited there I certainly would stop by to pick up a few matryoshka dolls. Those cost a pretty penny here in the States.
                        Last edited by Miulang; September 17, 2004, 10:50 AM.
                        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

                          Originally posted by Miulang
                          Actually, if WM did put up a store say, in Moscow, if ever I visited there I certainly would stop by to pick up a few matryoshka dolls. Those cost a pretty penny here in the States.

                          are those the nesting dolls?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

                            Originally posted by kimo55
                            are those the nesting dolls?
                            Yuppers. Maybe I could pick up a few Ukranian Easter eggs, too.

                            Miulang
                            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

                              Originally posted by Miulang
                              Yuppers. Maybe I could pick up a few Ukranian Easter eggs, too.

                              Miulang

                              we have got some of those;
                              hawaiian royalty as well as tiki theme russian nesting dolls here in waikiki.

                              Comment

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