This week, secret ‘negotiations’ are underway in a remote resort in Lansdowne,Virginia for the greatest global corporate coup in history. It’s called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and if you haven’t heard about it, then you are in the majority because there is a virtual media blackout in the United States.
To raise awareness of the TPP and to delay the ‘negotiations’, I shimmied up a 20 foot-high metal pole early yesterday morning in the driveway of the Lansdowne resort and attached myself at the top to a tripod. Negotiators abandoned their cars and walked up the driveway past me on the tripod and our banners that read “Trading away People’s lives and Planet’s future” and“FlushtheTPP.org”
Police arrived almost immediately and initially threatened to spray me with pepper spray and to taser me until I came down. A member of our team tossed me a pair of goggles. I quickly attached my safety lines and then I let go of the poles. I was ready for their assault and willing to accept it knowing that millions will lose their jobs or have poverty wages and slave working conditions, will suffer or die because they are unable to afford necessary medications and that the planet will be poisoned even more by large corporations if the TPP isn’t stopped.
US using its power to bully smaller nations
In fact, this agreement is largely being shaped by corporations. Ron Kirk is the US Trade Representative. He works for the Office of the President. And he has 600 corporate advisers working with him. These advisers have real-time access to the text of the treaty as it is being negotiated so they can comment and suggest amendments.
The ‘negotiators’ are trying to give the appearance of being inclusive, but it is a complete sham. On September 9, they held a Stakeholder Briefing at which non-profit organizations were allowed to make presentations to the negotiators and ask questions.Kevin Zeese of ItsOurEconomy.usdescribed how the drafts favored corporate greed over human needs and criticized how they were negotiated in an anti-democratic way. He asked if the U.S. Trade Representative would guarantee a democratic process including open debate in Congress and amendments rather than ‘fast-tracking’ the treaty.
The representative said that she could not guarantee that, pretty much confirming our concerns that this treaty will be rammed through without committee hearings, amendments or debate. After the briefing, many who attended marveled at the skill of the negotiators to avoid answering questions.
Secretive and lack of democracy
NAFTA has been responsiblefor the outsourcing of nearly one million US jobs and crashed the Mexican economy. The TPP is being called‘NAFTA on steroids.’
Even in Leesburg, VA, where many of the people are conservative, every person we met supported
our protest when we explained why we were there. We were protesting the TPP because what we know so far is that it will:
> Allow corporations to sue nations if laws such as those protecting the environment or labor conditions interfere with corporate profits.
> Create aprivate corporate tribunal to hear these cases in which the judges are largely corporate lawyers. \
> Extend the patent period for pharmaceuticals which will keep prices high and medications out of the hands of those who need them.
> End “Buy America” provisions which will lead to greater job outsourcing.
> Furtherde-regulate Big Finance.
> Undermine internet freedom of speech, right to privacy and due process, and hinder peoples’ abilities to innovate.
TPP is the biggest corporate power grab in history.
Time is of the essence because this is the final round of negotiations in the U.S. TPP negotiations were started under President Bush but didn’t really get going in earnest until three years ago. The goal of the White House is to complete the TPP soon because larger nations are interested in signing onto it.
Last Sunday I stood with hundreds of people outside of the Lansdowne Resort. We chanted, “The TPP stinks! Flush the TPP.” Visit FlushtheTPP.org for more information and sign the petition.
Click here to see a photo story of the action.
Margaret Flowers is a pediatrician from Baltimore, MD and co-director of ItsOurEconomy.us.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-trans-pacific-partnerships-global-economic-coup-secret-negotiations-behind-closed-doors/
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