New report on the corporate attack on the movement for trade justice

[Pia Eberhardt]

Hello everybody,

Corporate lobbies and think tanks have gone on what appears to be a concerted attack against NGOs and other groups opposing new free trade and investment deals such as TTIP and CETA. A new report by Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobbycontrol, Blaming the Messenger: the corporate attack on the movement for trade justice, exposes how big business interests with the most to gain from these trade agreements have been trying to undermine and discredit civil society groups.

The report looks at some of the big business associations and corporate think tanks that have been trying to delegitimise their civil society critics. It shows how the arguments and tactics used by corporate interest groups do not stand up to scrutiny, and how big business political and media allies may be facilitating a more general crackdown on NGOs.

Some of the most prevalent arguments and smear tactics being used by big business lobbies and corporate think tanks outlined in the report include:

• Portraying NGOs as ‘puppet masters’ with narrow and self-motivated concerns that are separate from the public at large
• Lumping all those who criticise EU trade deals together, no matter how diverse their motivations or preferred alternatives, including far-right and nationalist voices that have criticised globalisation
• Defining ‘evidence’ and ‘facts’ as only statements and assertions that come from the pro-TTIP camp, while dismissing research by critics as ‘myths’ and ‘misconceptions’.
• Assuming that those that don’t support TTIP-style trade deals are economically illiterate and don’t understand how things really work. This is part of a broader portrayal of neoliberalism as a non-ideological, natural law. It depicts only deviations from neoliberalism as being ideological and means people can be discredited by saying they don’t understand the ‘technicalities’ of trade.
• Going after funding sources: by sowing the seeds of doubt about the motivations of critics by insinuating that their funding comes from Russia or other dubious funding sources. Attacking NGOs’ funding or transparency in this way provides a diversion from having to address their arguments.

I hope that you find this useful.

Friendly greetings,

Pia

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P i a   E b e r h a r d t

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)

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