While candidates are furiously campaigning to be elected this November, a much quieter but just as furious campaign is being waged to pressure Congress to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in the lame-duck session just after the election, but before the new Congress convenes next January.
Not very democratic is it?
Neither is the TPP and its profoundly undemocratic Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision giving giant corporations the power to challenge national laws, rules and regulations protecting workers, consumers, communities and the environment that they claim has harmed their ability to maximize profits.
Today, Wednesday September 14, is a national call-in day opposing the TPP. Call toll free 1-888-659-7351 and tell your Congressperson and Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown to vote NO on the TPP. Global Trade Watch and the Citizens Trade Campaign are among the major organizers of this action.
The TPP is terribly misnamed. It’s not ultimately about trade (be it free or fair). It’s about corporate global rule.
Despite earlier hopes, the TPP is not dead. The Obama Administration is doing the bidding of hundreds of transnational corporations that had a seat at the table when the TPP was first negotiated by pressuring Congressional members to pass the TPP during the lame duck Congress.
The most dangerous provision of the TPP is the ISDS, which hijacks democratic self-determination. A detailed and devastating 4-part investigation into the ISDS is the Global Super Court: A BuzzFeed News Investigation. You don’t have to read much before concluding the ISDS is lethal to national sovereignty, workers rights, consumer protection and environmental sustainability.
AFSC has produced an earlier background piece on the TPP:
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement – Background Information
Click to access AFSC%20Trans%20Pacific%20Partnership.pdf
So, please call-in today. Call toll free 1-888-659-7351 and tell your Congressperson and Senators to vote NO on the TPP.
Not sure who your Congressperson is? Go to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Also, if you’re on Twitter, post this message right now to all your followers:
It’s National #StopTPP Call-in Day: Click here to call yr member of Congress & demand he/she commit to oppose #TPP! http://thndr.me/iU3NrV
Thank you.
create real democracy 