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Rural Chaplains Association Newsletter |
Rural Chaplains Meet in Washington, D.C.
Nov. 9-12, 2000
by Rev. Lynn Evans
Our first session following the Keynote Address
began with Dr. Bill Heffernan and James Grueff. Mr. Grueff works for the
Department of Agriculture and his main job is to promote trade. I must say
that I was surprised with both the openness and honesty of Mr Grueff.
(That shows my prejudice.) He was very clear; his job is to promote the
sale of U.S. agricultural products to other nations. He thinks GATT
(General Agreement on Tariff and Taxes) and WTO (World Trade Organization)
are both wonderful, because trade is good. He was always focused on trade.
The chief and important thing was to promote trade; GATT is good and WTO
is good because they both promote trade. Other concerns were simply other
concerns and, therefore, not his. Multinational trading organizations like
Cargill are fine, because they promote trade. He is not concerned
with
monopolies since they, too, promote trade. He was quick and accurate in
pointing out the positives of all things that lead to trade. I did not
ever hear him utter a false statement or try to obscure anything. To his
very great credit, he was open, honest and forthright. The only thing that
bothered me also bothers me in myself and others. When we get too focused
on one thing, too single minded, we fail to see the world as it is, and we
fail to detect pain and injustice. We become so busy seeing just the one
tree, that we miss the whole forest. Such was the presentation of James
Grueff.
The second half of the presentation was by Dr. Bill Heffernan, head of the
Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri. Dr. Heffernan has a
very different perspective. He is very concerned about both the power and
the narrow vision of WTO. He rejects the old saw that, "If it is good
for
business, it is good for America." He wants us to consider
environmental
and social costs when we are talking about production and trade. He fears
the tremendous power of multinational corporations. Some of them are
larger in gross product than many European nations. In my words, "If
the
president of France and the President of Conagra both call the President of
the U.S. at the same time, which call will he take first?" (Assuming
we
can finally narrow it down to one president.) He brought charts on the
vertical integration of the food chain in the world. They are finally
closing the loop with joint ventures so that chemicals, fertilizer, and
seed are controlled and from that point right down to when you pick it up
at Wal-Mart. It is all part of the same system with only 3 or 4 giant
corporations involved. Everything is interlocked. Dr. Heffernan has
a
problem with that and Mr. Grueff only saw greater efficiency.
It was a lively and exciting exchange. The good humor, openness and
honesty set a high standard for the next three days.