Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership By Andrew Gavin Marshall, Occupy.Com 24 November 12 http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/441-occupy/14699-focus-why-so-secretive-the-trans-pacific-partnership
[Excerpted] Dubbed by many as "NAFTA on steroids" and a "corporate
coup," only two of the TPP's 26 chapters actually have anything to do
with trade. Most of it grants far-reaching new rights and privileges to
corporations, specifically related to intellectual property rights
(copyright and patent laws), as well as constraints on government
regulations.
The leaked documents revealed that the Obama
administration "intends to bestow radical new political powers upon
multinational corporations," as Obama and Kirk have emerged as strong
advocates "for policies that environmental activists, financial reform
advocates and labor unions have long rejected for eroding key
protections currently in domestic laws."
In other words, the already ineffective and mostly
toothless environmental, financial, and labor regulations that exist are
unacceptable to the Obama administration and the 600 corporations
aligned with the TPP who are giving him his orders.
The agreement stipulates that foreign corporations
operating in the United States would no longer be subject to domestic
U.S. laws regarding protections for the environment, finance or labor
rights, and could appeal to an "international tribunal" which would be
given the power to overrule American law and impose sanctions on the
U.S. for violating the new "rights" of corporations.
The "international tribunal" that would dictate the
laws of the countries would be staffed by corporate lawyers acting as
"judges," thus ensuring that cases taken before them have a "fair and
balanced" hearing - fairly balanced in favor of corporate rights above
anything else.
A public interest coalition known as Citizens Trade
Campaign published a draft of the TPP chapter on "investment" revealing
information about the "international tribunal" which would allow
corporations to directly sue governments that have barriers to
"potential profits."
....So, why all the secrecy? Corporate and political
decision-makers study public opinion very closely; they know how to
manipulate the public based upon what the majority think and believe.
When it comes to "free trade" agreements, public opinion has forced
negotiators into the darkness of back-room deals and unaccountable
secrecy precisely because populations are so overwhelmingly against such
agreements.
An opinion poll from 2011 revealed that the American
public has - just over the previous few years - moved from "broad
opposition" to "overwhelming opposition" toward NAFTA-style trade deals.
A major NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll from
September of 2010 revealed that "the impact of trade and outsourcing is
one of the only issues on which Americans of different classes,
occupations and political persuasions agree," with 86% saying that
outsourcing jobs by U.S. companies to poor countries was "a top cause of
our economic woes," with 69% thinking that "free trade agreements
between the United States and other countries cost the U.S. jobs." Only
17% of Americans in 2010 felt that "free trade agreements" benefit the
U.S., compared to 28% in 2007.
Because public opinion is strongly - and increasingly -
against "free trade agreements," secrecy is required in order to
prevent the public from even knowing about, let alone actively opposing,
agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And this, as U.S. Trade
Representative Kirk explained, is a very "practical" reason for all the
secrecy....
MAJIA HERE: TIME TO OPPOSE THIS TRADE DEAL!
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