The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated right now by countries and corporations would be a disaster for the world environment and world citizens. The agreement gives global corporations as much or more power than sovereign countries, allowing them to override environmental and labor law through secret courts, if they are deemed to cut into their sacred profits.
There has been widespread opposition to the agreement, which has been called NAFTA on steroids, and the popular resistance is starting to show signs of progress.
As the Global Research website notes:
After four years of secret negotiations with more than 600 corporate advisers, the once seemingly invincible largest trade bill in history, covering 40% of the world’s economy, looks very much like it can be defeated.
Why is the TPP looking like it can be stopped? One reason is its secrecy.
Leaks are sinking the TPP like the Titanic on its way to the bottom of the ocean. Ron Kirk, the former US Trade Rep said they were keeping it secret because the more people knew, the less they would like the TPP and it would become so unpopular it could never become law.
Each leak has proven him right.This week, Wikileaks published the . The bottom line – there is no enforcement to protect the environment. The TPP is worse than President George W. Bush’s trade deals. Mainstream environmental groups are saying the TPP is unacceptable.
Similarly, the leak of the revealed that it created a path to patent everything imaginable, including plants and animals, to turn everything into a commodity for profit. The Obama administration was pushing it way beyond normal intellectual property law in order to increase profits for everything from pharmaceuticals to text books.
The refrain is always the same: profits come first. The necessities of the people and protection of the planet come last.
The “fast-tracking” of the bill in the U.S. is nothing short of criminal and must be stopped. Write your representatives, sign online petitions, talk to your friends and neighbors. This is one of those fights that simply must be won.
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