Demand referenda in the EU & US on TTIP, that would let companies sue governments!

[steve.wa...@gmail.com]

The "free trade" deal between the European Union and USA, TTIP (also called TAFTA, and the similar TISA and BITs) would allow companies to sue governments in secret international courts, with 3 elite judges and no right of appeal, that ordinary citizens might not even find out about. They could sue if environmental or health and safety laws, workers' rights, etc., are stronger in the EU than US, or legislation against genetically modified crops (including labelling) or for nationalisation is passed, based on their assets or expected future profits. It is similar to NAFTA, through which the Canadian government was sued for (US) $250 million by a fracking company when people in Quebec voted to ban it in a referendum.

Some political parties are calling for a referendum on leaving the European Union. Surely transferring massive powers to big corporations is something we should be at least as concerned about! Manchester Left Unity passed a resolution calling for referenda in all EU member states as a strategy to defeat TTIP, but I didn't think we should wait until our national council to discuss it since a round of secret negotiations took place this week (and Left Unity is not a "democratic centralist" party so I didn't have to or risk expulsion).

Join my "thunderclap" at http://thndr.it/1jxnV6E before 8pm, which could potentially coincide with the results of the negotiations being mentioned on Channel 4 News - it has nearly reached the required number of supporters to send out tweets, Facebook posts and Tumblr posts en masse.

I've also created a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TTIPreferenda to continue organising around the need for referenda. I'm inclined to think an online petition (e.g. using 38 degrees) would be a sensible next step.