With liberty, and justice, for all

This past week I spent some time with Art Agnos, who served as mayor of San Francisco from 1988-1992. He shared with me a story that I had to pass along.

Halfway through his term as mayor, Agnos received a call from an executive at Chevron Oil saying that the company wanted to bring by his office a delegation of visiting Russian government officials. Crude oil had been discovered in a new region of Russia, but the country had neither the expertise nor the technology to get it out. Chevron was courting the government to win that contract.

Hence, this particular group of officials were brought to Chevron's corporate headquarters to show off the company's expansive refineries and technical capabilities. While the delegation was in town, the company also wanted to demonstrate the political clout they carried domestically - a Russian delegation would be most impressed by a personal meeting with the city's top-ranking government official, to be sure.

Agnos hosted the delegation in San Francisco's City Hall. After exchanging pleasantries, the delegation described to the mayor the purpose of the trip: to culminate in reaching a contractual agreement with Chevron to drill for the oil. One Russian then asked unexpectedly, "Do you have any advice for us?" Agnos quickly responded, "Yes, get all that you can." The interpreter translated his advice, which left the delegation stunned. Gathering their wits, they asked him to explain what he meant. "Well, in the American system, you are about to enter into a process that we call bargaining and negotiating. Don't accept their first offer; your goal should be to get as much as you can for your country and your people. That's what we do here; it's the American way." A discussion ensued, then the delegation thanked him profusely and resumed their arranged tour.

Several days later the mayor received several heated calls from Chevron executives livid over his advice to the Russians. They charged that he was very unpatriotic in supporting American business interests. Agnos replied, "I believe deeply in the American values, but that requires me to reach out to other people and make sure that we're all treated the same way."

Agnos was pointing to a deep choice of values. Surely that's the single most important issue surrounding globalization; people in the underdeveloped world do not feel as if they will get their fair share. We have a double standard - fair trade and profit for us, the spoils for you. It permeates big business assumptions about value. A word of advice for the corporates: leave something on the table so that everyone can improve their standard of living.

DAVID BATSTONE is executive editor of Sojourners.

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