Corporatism

Stiglitz: The Secret Corporate Takeover

May 17, 2015 Joseph Stiglitz, www.project-syndicate.org Educate! Corporatism, fast track, TAFTA, TPP

The United States and the world are engaged in a great debate about new trade agreements. Such pacts used to be called “free-trade agreements”; in fact, they were managed trade agreements, tailored to corporate interests, largely in the US and the European Union. Today, such deals are more often referred to as “partnerships,”as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But they are not partnerships of equals: the US effectively dictates the terms. Fortunately, America’s “partners” are becoming increasingly resistant. It is not hard to see why. These agreements go well beyond trade, governing investment and intellectual property as well, imposing fundamental changes to countries’ legal, judicial, and regulatory frameworks, without input or accountability through democratic institutions. Perhaps the most invidious – and most dishonest – part of such agreements concerns investor protection. Of course, investors have to be protected against the risk that rogue governments will seize their property. But that is not what these provisions are about.

Critical Issue: Future Of Global Governance, End Of The Nation State?

May 12, 2015 Margaret Flowers, www.clearingthefogradio.org Educate! Capitalism, Corporatism, Globalization, Nationalism

Clearing the FOG speaks with two guests from the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts – Boston about the current direction that global governance is taking. Senior fellow Harris Gleckman authored a response to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Redesign Initiative which was released in 2010. In brief, the direction proposed by the WEF would give a stronger role to multinational corporations and reduce the role of the nation-state. Maria Ivanova, co-director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability, will discuss governance systems with respect to environmental issues around the world that function well and those that do not. The future of global governance is the major question of the century. Maria Ivanova is an international relations and environmental policy scholar specializing in governance and sustainability. Her research and policy work focus on global environmental governance and the performance of international environmental institutions. She has worked on issues such as financing for the environment, US foreign environmental policy, and sustainability on campuses and in organizations.

Arts Groups Occupy Venice’s Guggenheim #GuggOccupied

May 10, 2015 Hrag Vartanian, www.hyperallergic.com Resist! Art, Corporatism, Worker Rights and Jobs

VENICE, ITALY — At 10:20am this morning, two boatloads of artists and activists occupied the dock landing of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (PGC) in Venice. It marks the first joint action between GULF (Gulf Ultra Luxury Faction) and Gulf Labor, which is an official participant in the 2015 Venice Biennale, and two Italian organizations, Sale Docks in Venice and Macao from Milan — an independent art space which started organizing art workers in 2012. The crowd of roughly 40 people are hoisting banners and flags that read, “Meet Workers’ Demands” and other labor-related messages. The museum occupation is the latest effort to highlight labor issues impacting migrant workers at Saadiyat Island, where Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi, and other luxury culture brands are building outposts.

Occupy Democracy Fight Corporate Power In 10-Day Spectacle Of Dissent

May 4, 2015 RT, www.rt.com Resist! Capitalism, Corporatism, Occupy Democracy, United Kingdom (UK)

As Britain braces for next week’s general election, political activists, academics and artists will occupy London’s Parliament Square for ten days in an effort to tackle corporate capture, environmental chaos and cronyism. The ten-day affair has been organized by Occupy Democracy, a social and political movement that seeks to address Britain’s democratic deficit, and build a fairer society in the process. Billed as a Festival of Democracy, the ten-day spectacle will feature workshops, artistic performances, creative direct actions and discussions throughout the election period. It will begin on Friday evening with a show from New York-based radical performance group Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir.

Newsletter – We Demand Accountability

April 18, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Banking, Climate Change, Corporatism, Corruption, Democracy, Empire, fast track, killed by police, Police abuse, Taxes, TPP, Wages, Wealth Ineqaulity, World Bank

On Tax Day, April 15, 61 year old Doug Hughes, a mailman from Florida, landed a gyrocopter on the Capitol lawn to deliver 535 letters to members of Congress in order “to spotlight corruption of Congress and to present a solution to legalized bribery.” Hughes told the Tampa Bay News that "I'd rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall." He has been released on bond with home detention and returns to court on May 8th to face charges of operating an unregistered aircraft and violating restricted airspace, facing a total of four years incarceration. On Saturday, April 11, 22 year old Leo Thornton shot and killed himself in front of the Capitol. He had a sign taped to his hand that read, “Tax the 1%.” The media ignored him, some called him an extremist and did not report his "radical" message of fair taxes. Protests by individuals and groups become impactful when they ignite others to join, to mobilize in support of the call. We urge you to support protests by participating, spreading the word and mobilizing in whatever way you can.

Civil Society Asks World Bank Three Questions

April 17, 2015 Anuradha Mittal, Alnoor Ladha and Joseph Rahall, www.ourlandourbusiness.org Resist! Corporatism, Food and Agriculture, World Bank

Oakland, CA - As the World Bank prepares for its annual Spring Meetings, members of Our Land Our Business, a campaign of over 260 NGOs, farmer groups and trade unions from around the world, are publically posing three questions about the Bank’s role in land grabbing, climate destruction and the corporatization of agriculture. These questions penetrate to the heart of the World Bank’s development model and throw its loudly and expensively self-promoted claim to serve the interests of the world’s poor into stark relief. Why have you not spoken to farmers before promoting massive agriculture-reform programs? Your flagship agricultural reform initiative – “Enabling the Business of Agriculture” (EBA), formerly known as “Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture” (BBA) – is due to be rolled out across 40 countries this year. At no point in your decision to create the EBA have you consulted farmers or farmer groups.

Fast Track And TPP: Lost Jobs, Lower Wages

April 14, 2015 Communications Workers of America, www.cwa-union.org Educate! Corporatism, TPP, Workers Rights and Jobs

When ordinary Americans learn more about “fast track” authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, they recognize it as a bad deal for workers’ jobs and wages, small business, food safety and the environment. This trade deal has been negotiated in secret for nearly four years. Now, as the multinational corporations and trade negotiators are closing in on the final round, they’re pushing for “fast track” authority, which would block Congress from amending or improving the deal in any way. The House and Senate would be limited to an up-or-down vote on the entire package. CWA and a diverse group of allies has been shining a bright light on the secrecy surrounding the TPP and 600 corporate advisers who have access to all the texts while members of Congress, unions, and all public interest groups can only speculate about what this massive trade deal would do to working and middle class families.

Corporations Spend Billions, Get Trillions, From Congress

April 10, 2015 Bill Allison and Sarah Harkins, www.occupy.com Educate! Campaign Finance, Corporatism, Corruption

We focused on the records of 200 for-profit corporations, all of which had active political action committees and lobbyists in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 election cycles — and were among the top donors to campaign committees registered with the Federal Election Commission. Their investment in politics was enormous. There were 20,500 paid lobbying clients over the six years we examined; the 200 companies we tracked accounted for a whopping 26 percent of the total spent. On average, their PACs, employees and their family members made campaign contributions to 144 sitting members of Congress each cycle. After examining 14 million records, including data on campaign contributions, lobbying expenditures, federal budget allocations and spending, we found that, on average, for every dollar spent on influencing politics, the nation’s most politically active corporations received $760 from the government.

Trade Tribunals Favor Foreign Trans-National Corporations

April 10, 2015 Ben Lilliston, www.iatp.org Educate! Capitalism, Corporatism, Environment, Law, NAFTA

We have entered a new era of corporate rights—where, in their quest to access natural resources around the world, multinational firms now routinely ride roughshod over governments and communities. Two trade tribunal rulings issued last month explain how. Digby Neck, on the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, is a popular whale-watching area. After hearing community concerns about the environmental impact of a proposal to expand a basalt quarry, a Canadian government review panel denied approval of the project. The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador requires oil companies drilling offshore to invest a portion of their profits into local research and development projects.

Second Week Of Global Protests To Stop GE Trees

April 3, 2015 Global Justice Ecology Project, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Corporatism, Environment, Food and Agriculture, GE Trees

In Brussels, Belgium, dozens of people representing organizations from around the world traveled from the European Parliament to the Brazilian Embassy where they rallied againstGE trees and delivered letters of protest. In Melbourne, Australia, protesters dressed as koalas, owls and other forest creatures rallied against GE eucalyptus trees at the Brazilian consulate. Other demonstrations took place in Europe and North America. This week's actions follow a wave of protests against GE trees at Brazilian embassies and consulates on 3 March 2015. These protests were directed at a 5 March 2015 meeting of the Brazilian Technical Commission on Biosafety (CTNBio), which was to decide whether or not to approve a request by FuturaGene to commercially release GE eucalyptus trees in Brazil.

A New Fake Corporate Grassroots Campaign Uncovered

April 2, 2015 Tony Romm, www.politico.com Educate! Corporatism, Grassroots, Net Neutrality

A number of messages to lawmakers purporting to be from average constituents who oppose the Obama administration’s net neutrality rules don’t appear to have come from people within their districts, according to the company that manages the technology for some House members. The notes have identical wording to those organized by a group called American Commitment, which is led by Phil Kerpen, a former top aide at the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity. On Monday, American Commitment boasted that it helped direct more than 1.6 million messages earlier this month from more than half a million voters to members of the House and Senate.

Growing Movement To Save Public Ed From Corporatism

March 30, 2015 Ruth Conniff, www.progressive.org Resist! Corporatism, Education, Student Activism

All over the country, a growing movement of parents, teachers, and students is rising up against over-testing, school closings, and shady schemes that channel public funds into private schools. Saving public education is shaping up to be a key issue in the 2016 Presidential campaign. In a front-page article this week, The New York Times described Hillary Clinton’s dilemma on so-called education reform. On one side, charter school operators and hedge fund managers are urging Hillary to adopt their teachers-union-bashing, pro-privatization agenda. On the other side, communities all over the country are experiencing education “reform” as a major threat to their local public schools.

And Other Dangerous Thoughts, Part II

March 28, 2015 Alnoor Ladha and Martin Kerk, www.occupy.com Create! Capitalism, Corporatism, Democracy, Ideology

All we lack is the confidence to see beyond the constraints of the present story. And we start by asking the hard questions we have been told not to ask. People around the world are beginning to do just this. They are rising up in response to our civilization’s crisis – from Occupy Wall Street to the Arab Spring, from protests in Brazil to the Chilean Winter, from the Zapatistas in Mexico to the student uprising in Quebec, from the Idle No More Indigenous People’s movement to Transition Towns around the world. These are all expressions of a new world that is possible. They are signs of great hope for us all. The world is beginning to heal, but we can take it farther, faster.

Connection Between Rigged Trade & Rigged Government

March 26, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Educate! Corporatism, Corruption, fast track, TPP

This week Congressional Quarterly reported that Senator Wyden was holding a fundraiser at Bistro Bis, an upscale restaurant near Capitol Hill. The invitation said “Friends of all industries are welcome to attend.” The day before the event we called for a protest in order to highlight that Wyden was fundraising for industries that would profit from fast track. After our call for a protest, he moved the fundraiser to a still undisclosed location. It was interesting to see how quickly he moved to hide his actions at the big bribe-fest. He’s being tight-lipped not only about where it was held but who attended and how much money was raised. What’s he hiding?

Wikileaks Publishes Controversial Investment Trade Chapter

March 25, 2015 Staff, www.wikileaks.org Educate! Corporatism, TAFTA, TPP, TTIP

The TPP Investment Chapter, published today, is dated 20 January 2015. The document is classified and supposed to be kept secret for four years after the entry into force of the TPP agreement or, if no agreement is reached, for four years from the close of the negotiations. The Investment Chapter highlights the intent of the TPP negotiating parties, led by the United States, to increase the power of global corporations by creating a supra-national court, or tribunal, where foreign firms can "sue" states and obtain taxpayer compensation for "expected future profits". These investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals are designed to overrule the national court systems. ISDS tribunals introduce a mechanism by which multinational corporations can force governments to pay compensation if the tribunal states that a country's laws or policies affect the company's claimed future profits. In return, states hope that multinationals will invest more.

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