hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Obama’s secret trade deal receiving heavy opposition
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Obama’s secret trade deal receiving heavy opposition
The secretive trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Pact (TPP) is receiving heavy opposition. Major transparency activists and groups are stepping up efforts against the TPP, while the Obama administration continues to push it as a top priority.
Starting today and continuing through the limited congressional debate, activist groups are conducting campaigns to call congressional leaders and raise awareness of the TPP through social media. Their cause received major boosts when the advocacy group Electronic Fight for the Future released a memo after reviewing the leak stating that
...section after section contained clauses plucked from corporate wishlists and snubbed the public interest altogether.Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was scathing in his review of the leaked documents stating:
If instituted, the TPP’s IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.The Obama administration has addressed concerns through White House spokesman Jim Carney by simply ignoring them and saying.
Congress and the American public have high expectations for the TPP.
The administration is determined to get the best deal possible, and we are pleased with the progress made towards achieving an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard agreement.These types of statements display either a vast disconnect between the administration and the American public, or a blatant disregard of their wishes. The American public cannot have a high expectation of a trade deal most are not aware of and that has not been available for public discussion. From the few leaked documents that have been available for review it is clear to see that the only ambitious portions do not contain benefits for the American public, but instead contain overly-ambitious and far-reaching power grabs for large corporations. Speaking about the TPP, activist Tami Canal said
I think the government's compliance and encouragement of something so liberty strangling is very unsettling. When you think of the mindset of these people it is pure evil corruption. How such a great majority of this country is so unconcerned or uneducated truly is mind boggling.Of primary concern is the inclusion of a provision that grants corporations the right to sue governments under the authority of World Trade Organization treaties. This elevates multi-national corporations to the level of governments on the international stage and violates the national sovereignty of every member nation. If there was ever a provision that has the ability to bring about the dystopian future illustrated in books and movies, it is this. If a corporation is granted the power to sue governments for interfering with its bottom line, there will be no end to the litigation and loss of consumer protections. Similar provisions in NAFTA have been used to sue the Canadian government for $250 million because the government of Quebec enacted a ban on fracking, a controversial method of retrieving shale oil that pumps chemicals into the ground that will eventually be absorbed by ground water. Under a bilateral investment treaty between Switzerland and Uruguay, Phillip Morris has found legal footing to sue the government of Uruguay for a smoking ban, asking a sum a $2 billion in damages. These cases highlight how this power would be used by corporations: to circumvent national laws protecting the environment and public health. Thor Dickquist, an activist associated with the Anonymous collective, also expressed his concerns about the rights of corporations to sue governments.
I think the worst part of the TPP is that it undermines the bill of rights and allows corporations to sue countries if they do not enforce the laws that the TPP would create.A whole set of other concerns arise from those engaged in the fight against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), as Elisa Norton explained
Specifically the TPP destroys GMO labels, bans, or [the right to know] what country it comes from. So, any step forward we have made in this country towards organic food distribution will be completely destroyed. The same people that create these GMO foods are the same people that created Agent Orange during Vietnam.
And if we don't know what's in our food, where it came from; that is denying us a huge part of our liberties. They are basically saying “Trust me, eat this.”Advocacy groups compare the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the TPP with the key exception that NAFTA was subject to healthy scrutiny and debate prior its Fast-Track approval, whereas the TPP has been negotiated in secret and has only been publicly available for scrutiny through leaked documents. Studies of NAFTA 20 years after its passage, point to it as the cause for everything from lower wages to trade deficits. Norton also shared her views on the ability of the TPP to create jobs.
I have been writing and calling my local representative Congressman Tim Griffin because I'm displeased with how the TPP will affect our economy. It is supposed to ban "Buy American" so in the original appearance of TPP it will create jobs, but in the long run it will take money from our economy and place it in the hands of other countries when it’s hard enough right now for local businesses to get by. This will destroy mom and pops around the country, and enforce the strength of corporate owned everything.Activists are readily available to share their opinion and try to inform the general public. Christa-Dawn Jollymore had this to say:
It’s not what the people (we the people) want for human life here on earth. We want harmony & peace. We want to explore our earth and all that it has, naturally, to offer. The TPP is just another "fear factor" to add to the chaos of day to day function of those of us that are awake and pay attention.An activist with the screen name “Hazey Dazey” posted
I don't like the fact that we are giving the "1%" more power over our food and water supply, our environment which biotech companies are intent on destroying as well as our health, and last but not least our freedom especially over the internet. We are the 99%. No one should have that power over us and our children.While activists continue to bring up the issue of the secretive trade deal, the administration will likely ignore those voices and reiterate the same talking points that were used to push through NAFTA. The American people, thirsty for jobs and economic recovery, may very well follow the President into the desert seeking water where they will be met by a large corporate kiosk selling them back their own sweat, bottled and trademarked.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Obama’s secret trade deal receiving heavy opposition