Occupy San Diego July 7 STOP TPP Day of Action
From July 2 to July 10, the political leaders of the Pacific Rim nations met in San Diego on the 13th Round of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations aka TPP to turn the Pacific Ocean and its peoples into a giant privatized corporate lake characterized by non-union workers, Wal-Mart supply chain feeders, poisoned, landless agricultural laborers, a dying biodiversity, and rising, drowning sea levels.
Occupy San Diego, along with a Community-wide coalition, the STOP TPP Coalition, worked closely with Citizens Trade Campaign to raise awareness on the TPP, which is dubbed the NAFTA of the Pacific Rim.
Occupy San Diego, through the OSD Free Education Collective put on the First Annual Weeklong International People’s Conference: A Better World Is Possible as a way to give people in the struggle a platform to voice their grievances and build local, national, and international networks. The conference was recorded and will be made available online.
Also, on July 7, The Coalition to Stop TPP took to the streets with pots and pans to raised the alarm on the TPP.
What is TPP?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership would create a super-treaty which would jeopardize the sovereignty of the nations involved by giving that power to large corporations like Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, Halliburton, Philip Morris, GE, GM, Apple.
- There are currently 11 nations involved: U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico and Canada. Japan has shown interest.
- The economic power of this group is more than 40% larger than the 27- nation European Union.
- TPP will offshore millions of good-paying jobs to low-wage nations, undercutting working conditions globally and increasing unemployment.
- TPP will expand pharmaceutical monopoly protections and institute longer patents that will decrease access to affordable medications
- TPP will limit food GMO labeling and allow the import of goods that do not meet US safe standards.
- TPP will institute SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA-like regulations and Internet measures which restrict our right to free speech.
- TPP will roll back Wall Street regulations, and prohibit bans on risky financial services.
- TPP will give multinational corporations and private investors the right to sue nations in private tribunals. These tribunals have the power to overturn environmental, labor, or any other laws that limit profit, awarding taxpayer funded damages.
- TPP will encourage the privatization of lands and natural resources in areas where indigenous people live.
International People’s Conference Schedule and List of Guests - http://stoptpp.org/2012/06/29/peoples-conference-list-of-guests-4/
Chomsky to OSD on FTA’s - http://stoptpp.org/2012/06/22/noam-chomsky-to-osd-on-ftas/
“The words “free trade agreement” should bring to mind the response attributed to Gandhi when he was asked what he thought about western civilization: “it might be a good idea.” Same with “free trade agreements.” Maybe they would be a good idea, maybe not, but the question scarcely arises in the real world. What are called “free trade agreements” have only a limited relation to free trade, or even trade at all, and are certainly not agreements, at least if the people of a country are regarded as its citizens.
The FTAs are investor rights agreements, negotiated mostly in secret by representatives of transnational corporations and the few powerful states that cater to their interests. The public is largely excluded, and often opposed. The agreements include highly protectionist elements, such as the monopoly pricing rights that impose enormous costs on consumers and have no legitimate justification. They interpret “trade” to include actions internal to command economies, as when a giant corporation produces parts in Indiana, ships them to a subsidiary in Mexico for assembly, then sells the product in California, with each border crossing called “trade” — a very large component of world “trade.”
We did not call it “trade” when parts were produced in Leningrad, assembled in Poland, and sold in Moscow, all within the Soviet command economy. The concept of “trade” is further illuminated by events taking place right now. The World Bank has just ruled that the Canadian mining corporation Pacific Rim can proceed with its case against El Salvador for trying to preserve lands and communities from highly destructive gold mining. Under the investor rights agreements, the crime of imposing environmental constraints can be punished on the grounds that it harms potential profits.
Predatory corporations must be guaranteed the right to destroy for profit, whatever the human cost. That is only a tiny sample of what is called “trade,” a category designed, not surprisingly, to enhance the power and privilege of the designers. The public should be concerned, informed, and engaged.”
…more videos coming soon