Above: Photo by Anne Meador of two of the four banners attached to the Office of the US Trade Representative in Washington, DC.
Below is a video of activists working in the coalition FlushTheTPP.org dropping multiple banners from the US Trade Representatives Building in Washington, DC to protest the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The groups sought to expose the secret negotiations that have been ongoing throughout the five years of the Obama administration and mobilize people concerned about workers, the environment, banking, food, water, Internet freedom and other issues to take action to oppose the TPP. The TPP will give large transnational corporations absolute power over our lives and make them more powerful than governments.
If the TPP becomes law the US government will have negotiated away the sovereignty of US communities to deal with food, water, health, the environment and other issues. It will have put in place an economy rigged for the wealthiest that will cost the US jobs and drive down wages. Experience with agreements like NAFTA have taught us that these agreements are not good for the economy, increase US trade debt, hurt workers in the US and foreign countries and only help the wealthiest. A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that the US would see only a .1% increase in the economy if the TPP becomes law but 90% of workers would see their wages go down. These agreements are misnamed “free” trade for propaganda purposes as what they really are is “rigged” trade building on the corrupt crony capitalist economy that funnels money to the wealthiest transnational corporations. Foreign governments should wake up and realize the TPP will put them at the mercy of US trans national corporations.
The first battle is stopping Fast Track which undermines the US Constitution which under the Commerce Clause gives Congress responsibility to negotiate trade between nations. This should be opposed by members of Congress no matter what their political viewpoint because it is a Constitutional issue that upsets the checks and balances of government. It puts too much power in the hands of the president without sufficient involvement of the Congress. Call your member of Congress and Senators today and urge them to oppose Fast Track authority for the president: 202-224-3121.
Groups participating in this protest included Flush The TPP, Backbone Campaign, Earth First!, CODE PINK and Veterans for Peace.
For more see Protesters Take Over US Trade Rep Building Expose Secret Negotiations.