TPP Negotiators Come To DC, Protests Planned as Obama Pledges to Work With Republicans to Enact Rigged Corporate Trade Agreement
It’s time to release the text of the TPP!
Take action!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
4 pm Rally and Light Brigade at the USTR office 600 17th St., NW Washington, DC
We’ll greet the negotiators with light projection, LED light letters that spell “STOP THE TPP,” banners and more. Bring your own sign if you have one and noise makers too.
Monday, December 8, 2014
8 am Sit-In to End the Secrecy! We’ll demand they release the text. On the steps of the USTR office 600 17th St., NW Washington, DC.
We’ll greet the negotiators as they arrive for their meetings with a sit-in on the brick steps in front of the USTR. No risk of arrest for those who are unable to do so. We also need banner holders and coffee runners. Wear warm clothing and consider bringing a pad to sit on. We’ll sing songs, chant and make noise. This will be a sustained sit-in so join when you can and leave when you must.
If you can’t make it to DC, please sign the letter below.
We’ll deliver it on Monday.
And take action all week long at ReleasetheText.com!
We must stop the TPP because it affects everything we care about from the food we eat to our right to healthy and safe communities to worker rights and Internet freedom. Make it a priority this week to join us in stopping the TPP!!
Following Obama’s unsuccessful trip to Asia last month, negotiators from the 12 TPP countries will meet this week in Washington, DC to attempt to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Obama has become so desperate that he pledged this week to defy his own party and ally with the Republicans to force the secretive and wide-reaching agreement through Congress. Obama has been aggressively pushing the TPP for 5 years now with little headway. Everywhere he turns, the people rise up to stop this rigged corporate deal.
In Australia and New Zealand last month, tens of thousands of people turned out to protest the TPP. Most of the anti-TPP protests in Japan have been attended by thousands of people too.
Can we do the same in Washington,DC? The more of us who show up, the stronger our message will be to the negotiators and the administration that the era of trade deals that undermine our democracy and sovereignty and that threaten human rights and the future of the planet is over. It’s time to stop trying to sneak these corporate give-aways through Congress and move to an era of trade that works for everyone, that protects people and the planet rather than destroying them.
Our focus while the trade negotiators are here is to release the text of the TPP to the public so we can understand what is being written in our name. Due to public pressure, the European Union recently announced that it will share its proposals for the Atlantic trade deal, TTIP, with the public. The US is preventing release of the entire text to the public.
Prior to the TPP era, trade texts were available to the public.