OCCUPY THE TPP: Stop the Global Corporate Coup!
Joanne O'Neill
OCCUPY THE TPP: Stop the Global Corporate Coup!
TPP: Out of the Shadows!
Rally for Good Jobs, Affordable Medicine & a Healthy Environment
Sunday, September 9
Dear Friends,
Back on July 23 [1], I had sent out an email to everyone explaining the dangers of the secret Trade Agreement the Obama administration has been negotiating behind closed doors with multinational corporations that has very little to do with trade.
While 600 corporate advisors are allowed to see what the U.S. Trade Representative is negotiating in our names; Members of Congress, Journalists and the citizens of this country are being kept in the dark.
Negotiations have taken place between the US, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It is expected that Canada and Mexico will be joining the negotiations being held September 6 to 13th in Leesburg , Virginia.
The name of this agreement is Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ( TPPA or TPP ) often referred to as NAFTA on steroids.
The next round of negotiations in September is crucial! The Obama administration is pushing to have as much of the negotiations completed as is possible prior to the November election. Why? Because they know that labor and progressive groups are unlikely to criticize Obama before the election and because major countries such as China and Japan are interested in joining the partnership, thus they will have to accept what has already been negotiated when they do so.
What we have learned from leaked negotiating texts, is that the TPP would lead to:
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Job Loss – This deal is slated to include extreme foreign investor protections that help corporations offshore jobs.
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Ban on “Buy America” – All firms operating in any signatory country would get equal access to U.S. procurement contracts—rather than the government using our tax dollars to create American jobs. Specifications like “renewable/recycled” or “sweat free,” and obligations for firms to meet prevailing wages can be challenged.
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Attacks on U.S. Environmental, [2] Health Laws – Expansion of the notorious “investor-state” enforcement system is slated for this pact. It empowers corporations to use World Bank & UN tribunals to sue governments to demand unlimited taxpayer compensation if they think our laws limit their “expected future profits.”
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Benefits for Banksters [3] – Wall Street wants to use the TPP to roll back new safeguards many nations have passed to get banks and securities firms under control and restore financial stability. Past NAFTA-style trade pacts locked in the extreme deregulation that led to the devastating financial crisis.
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Higher Medicine Prices [4] – Big Pharma would get extreme new privileges that would jack up prices and cut consumers’ access to life-savings medicines. This is not only patent extensions and data exclusivity in developing countries, but new rights to challenge decisions of cost-saving drug formularies – which are used here for Medicare and Medicaid.
Even though negotiations are moving quickly, great strides have been made to slow this race-to-the-bottom trade deal in its tracks.
· In June, Reps. George Miller and Rosa DeLauro, along with 130 other Democratic representatives [5] sent a letter to head United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk asking for greater transparency in the TPP negotiations.
· State legislators from 50 states sent [6] a letter to Ron Kirk denouncing the investor-state policies in the TPP that would impede their policymaking ability.
· During the last round of the negotiations, the AFL-CIO delivered a petition [7] with over 90,000 signatures asking for a trade agreement that protects workers and creates jobs.
It is up to us to stop this global corporate coup!
Learn More & Take Action
1. Help garner cosponsors for Sherrod Brown’s bill.
Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced a new bill, “S. 3347: 21st Century Trade Agreements and Market Access Act” [8] which would restore Congressional oversight to trade negotiations and ensure that American trading partners play by the same rules as the U.S.
· Please contact senators in your state and ask them to be a cosponsor.
Senator Bob Menendez [10]
· Ask to meet with them during the August recess.
2. ATTENTION UNION MEMBERS: Global Trade Watch organizers are willing to
visit your local labor unions to give presentations on the TPP and/or can offer trainings
through webinars, conference calls and briefings.
· Contact Steven Knievel skni...@citizen.org +1 202-454-5122 to arrange presentations and trainings.
3. Join us for an informational and organizing call
- Monday, August 20 at 9 pm eastern / 6 pm pacific time.
- On the call you will learn about the TPP and the upcoming round of negotiations
from Arthur Stamoulis of Citizens Trade Campaign.
- Hear what Occupy Houston did at the round of negotiations in Texas.
- Get inspired to attend the Direct Action training on Sept 8 and 9 in Baltimore by
Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign.
Register here: http://interoccupy.net/stoptpp/ai1ec_event/occupy-the-tpp-stop-the-global-corporate-coup/?instance_id=4187.
4. Join the Rally - TPP: Out of the Shadows! Rally for Good Jobs, Affordable Medicine & a Healthy Environment
When: 3:00pm on Sunday, September 9
Where: Outside the Lansdowne Resort at 44050 Woodridge Parkway in Leesburg, VA.
* For Information on Rally click here: http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/blog/2012/08/09/no-back-room-deals-for-the-1/
*Click here for a PDF of the rally flyer http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/LeesburgTPPFlyer_MainRally.pdf
* Click here to RSVP and get bus/carpool info https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG5aSTdaczZYMHA0ZWR3b0ZjVlpmTmc6MQ
More Information and Actions to Take
- Write a Letter to the Editor http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1006 About the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Help Drag the TPP “Free Trade” Agreement into the Media Spotlight
- Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Negotiations are a Fire Sale to Foreign Corporations http://itsoureconomy.us/2012/07/secret-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-negotiations-are-a-fire-sale-to-foreign-corporations/
- Controversial Trade Pact Text Leaked, Shows U.S. Trade Officials Have Agreed to Terms That Undermine Obama Domestic Agenda http://itsoureconomy.us/2012/06/controversial-trade-pact-text-leaked-shows-u-s-trade-officials-have-agreed-to-terms-that-undermine-obama-domestic-agenda/
http://itsoureconomy.us/2012/06/leaked-trade-document-shows-that-obama-is-worse-than-we-thought/
[1] http://www.scribd.com/doc/103221271/July-23-Far-Worse-Than-Citizens-United
[2] http://www.scribd.com/doc/103215357/TPP-Environment-finaL
[3] http://www.scribd.com/doc/103181109/TPP-Investment-services-finaL
[4] http://www.scribd.com/doc/103181344/TPP-Public-Health
[5] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilana-solomon/congress-calls-for-transp_b_1633968.html
[7] http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Union-Members-Drop-Off-TPP-Petitions
[8] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s3347/text
[9] http://www.lautenberg.senate.gov/
[10] http://www.menendez.senate.gov/