DOWNTOWN : Students Get Lesson on NAFTA’s Impact

They came to learn about the North American Free Trade Agreement and how it may affect their lives and the world at large. But the high school students who attended a recent “Youth NAFTA Summit” left with a broader message--the future is their responsibility.

Several hundred students from Belmont, Manual Arts and Venice high schools and the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, a magnet school, attended the daylong Tri-National Youth Encounter with about two dozen students from Canada and Mexico. The conference gave youths an opportunity to speak out and encouragedtheir involvement in community and world affairs.

The Oct. 22 conference at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., was funded by several ethnic media companies. Organizers hope to make it an annual event that regularly brings together young people from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“We need to begin a dialogue among today’s youth now because, as we should constantly remember, they are tomorrow’s leaders,” event organizer Patricia Hernandez said in a statement.

A journalist by trade, Hernandez originally envisioned a general conference in which local youth would discuss a variety of topics. But because of recent discussions about NAFTA and its potential global and local impact, Hernandez decided the agreement, which is still being negotiated among the three countries, would be a perfect focal point.

Local politicians, labor leaders and educators spoke on three panels about the agreement’s potential effects on immigration, labor, education and culture. The students were encouraged to ask questions and voice their opinions and concerns, not only at the conference but also later, to politicians and government leaders.

Many of the local students came as part of economics or social studies classes. And some admitted they saw the conference as a way to get out of the mundane routine of school for a day. “I wasn’t really paying attention,” one young man confessed after one panel.

But most said they found the conference an enlightening experience that provoked thoughts not only about NAFTA but about quality of life in general.

Some students, particularly Latinos, echoed the concerns of labor leaders and said they feared the agreement would intensify the disparities in work conditions among the three countries, with Mexican workers stuck with the lowest standard of living.

Others, like Rosa Cruz, a senior at Manual Arts, had concerns about the agreement’s effect on the American economy and its workers. Cruz, 18, said she wonders if free trade will prompt more spending of American dollars in other countries, “when money is needed here.”

“I’m concerned about what’s going on economically here,” Cruz said. “People are out of jobs.”

Cruz, who hopes to attend Georgetown University and eventually “work with the community and in my neighborhood for people’s rights,” said she knew nothing about NAFTA before the conference. Jose German, a junior at Belmont, said he too had little prior knowledge about the agreement.

“But now I’m interested in it,” said German, who expressed support for the agreement. “It’ll provide more opportunities for people. People won’t have to sneak over here (to the United States), or file all these papers. . . . “