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!"
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!"
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