TPP

TransCanada’s $15 Billion Lawsuit Against US Bad Omen For TPP

January 12, 2016 Chris Paulus, www.occupy.com Resist! KXL, TPP

By Chris Paulus for Occupy - The latest expression of our corporate-controlled economic structure revealed itself last week when TransCanada, the Canadian-based energy giant that hoped to build the Keystone XL pipeline, filed a $15 billion lawsuit against the United States government for rejecting the pipeline's construction, under guidelines set forth in NAFTA. The lawsuit presents the most recent evidence of the prioritization of corporate profits and interests over the rights of citizens in a sovereign, domestic nation. Yet instances like this will only increase with the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

TPP & SOTU: The Facts vs. Obama

January 12, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.FlushTheTPP.org Educate! Banking, China, Climate Change, Democracy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Food Safety, Globalization, Human Rights, Internet Freedom, NAFTA, TPP, Trade Deficit, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Flush The TPP. President Obama will make his push for the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a major part of the State of the Union as this is a major goal of his final year in office. This is an opportunity for a widespread discussion of the TPP and what impacts it will have on the economy, workers, the environment and more. Just yesterday the World Bank published a comprehensive analysis of the TPP and concluded that by 2030 the TPP will have a miniscule 0.4% impact on US trade. The economic impact for the United States is minimal but the impact on workers, the environment, food safety, traditional energy and the overall balance between corporate power and government is dramatic. The president’s claims about the TPP should be examined closely and measured against the facts of what the TPP will actually do and the impact similar trade agreements have had. We know from past comments by the president and the US Trade Representative that their sales pitch for the TPP is not always consistent with the facts.

Newsletter: After The Crash…

January 9, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter #BlackLivesMatter, Banks, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Capitalism, carbon free nuclear free, Climate Change, Community Banks, Credit Unions, Debt, Debt-Free Money, Democracy, Economic Democracy, Education, Eric Holder, Federal Reserve, Finance and the Economy, Foreclosures, Guaranteed basic income, Income, Income inequality, Infrastructure, Living Wage, Medicare, Medicare for all, Minimum Wage, Occupy Movement, Plutocracy, Poverty, Public Banking, Student Debt, TPP, Tuition, Unemployment

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The economic agenda described here would create a radical transformation of the economy from a top-down system designed for the wealthiest, to a botton-up system that creates a foundation for an economy that benefits all. Putting in place this economy would move us from a plutocratic economy to a democratized economy where people have economic control over their lives. It is a radical shift – how can it happen? There is only one path – the people must be educated, organized and mobilized to demand it. We need to change the political culture to one where the necessities of the people and protection of the planet are the priorities of the economy. If predictions are correct, the next economic collapse will deeper and more damaging than the 2008 collapse. It will be a tremendous opportunity to demand radical economic change. It is one the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice should be preparing for now.

Congress Asked To Block Obama’s Pacific Rim Trade Pact

January 8, 2016 David Nakamura, www.washingtonpost.com Resist! Finance and the Economy, TPP, Trade

By David Nakamura for The Washington Post. A coalition of more than 1,500 interest groups is sending a letter to Congress on Thursday demanding that lawmakers block the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade pact championed by the Obama administration. "The questions policymakers should be asking about these rules is whether, on the whole, they would create American jobs, raise our wages, enhance environmental sustainability, improve public health and advance human rights and democracy," the coalition writes in the four-page letter. "After careful consideration, we believe you will agree, the answer to these questions is no." Labor unions, environmental groups, consumer advocates and faith groups are among the 1,525 organizations that signed onto the document, which was organized by the Citizens Trade Campaign. Hundreds of local labor union affiliates have signed on.

TransCanada Will Sue In Trade Tribunal Over KXL

January 7, 2016 Samantha Page, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Canada, Environment, NAFTA, Pipelines, TPP

By Samantha Page for Think Progress - TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, announced Wednesday it is filing a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying that the project’s permit denial was “arbitrary and unjustified.” TransCanada is seeking $15 billion in costs and damages due to the denial, and has also filed a separate lawsuit against the U.S. in federal court. Under NAFTA, companies can sue governments that put investments at risk through regulation. If it proceeds, the case will go in front of an international tribunal.

A Message Of Hope For The New Year

January 6, 2016 Jack Balkwill, www.dissidentvoice.org Strategize! #BlackLiveMatter, Antarctica, Banks, Bolivia, BXE, Capitalism, China, Climate Change, Cooperatives, Democracy, Ecuador, Elections, Empire, Energy, Environment, Finance and the Economy, Greece, Kurds, Marijuana, Media, militarism, Occupy, Portugal, Russia, sHellNo!, Spain, TPP, Ukraine, Venezuela, Wall Street, Zapatistas

By Jack Balkwill for Dissident Voice. There have been many victories and we need to celebrate them. Among the victories was stopping the northern portion of the KXL pipeline, various new laws in 24 states to prevent police violence and an increase inprosecutions of police who commit violence, and the increase in wages across the country and winning the critically important battle for net neutrality. These were people-powered victories that showed when we act together we have the power to defeat corporate interests. Another ongoing series of victories is seeing local people, who have not been involved in activism, working along with experienced, often young, energy activists, taking on big energy companies in an aggressive way. This is a victory.

Newsletter – In With The New!

January 2, 2016 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Empire, Food and Agriculture, Housing, Internet, Media, Neoliberalism, New Economy, Renewable Energy, TPP

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. For the new year, we thought we would start with a newsletter that highlights a critical task of the movement for transformation - the creation of alternative systems to replace the current dysfunctional systems. There are exciting advances in this work. There were many actions of resistance this past week, especially around the holidays, and you can read about them here. In addition to stopping harmful policies and practices, people are creating alternatives that may mature to a place where they replace the current systems and the current systems of capitalism, oppression, militarism, racism, etc, will wither away. We call this combination "Stop the machine, create a new world".

Tell The USTR What You Think About The TPP

December 29, 2015 Staff, www.flushthetpp.org Resist! Labor, TPP, Trade, Worker Rights and Jobs

By Flush the TPP. According to the Federal Register, the Office of the US Trade Representative announced on Dec. 28 that it “is seeking public comments on the impact of the TPP Agreement on U.S. employment, including labor markets.” The open comment period extends until January 13, 2016. It is critical that as many people as possible write to them about this. (In 2014, millions of public comments pouring into the FCC saved the Internet) We make it easy with step-by-step instructions, information about the TPP's impact on labor with links to places where you can read more and a sample comment that you can copy and paste. This only takes a few minutes to do. Please share this with others. Let's flood the USTR with comments opposing the TPP!

Newsletter: Looking Back And Ahead

December 27, 2015 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.popularresistance.org Newsletter Black Lives Matter (BLM), Climate Change, Elections, Local Economy, New Economy, Podemos, Racism, TPP, Venezuela

By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. As we look back over 2015, we see progress and, as we look forward to 2016, we see continued challenges ahead. Overall, the strategic path of resisting harmful policies and practices and building alternative systems to replace the current dysfunctional ones, known as 'stop the machine, create a new world,' is being taken by a growing number of people. The movement continues to grow on multiple fronts and is unifying around issues, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that impact us all. We are on our way to the 3.5% of activated people necessary to defeat the plutocracy, but there is still much to do. And we must be prepared to face even more difficult times before we break through the current paradigm and transform our economic, social and political systems.

2015: People’s Battle To Protect The Internet From TPP

December 27, 2015 Maira Sutton, www.eff.org Resist! Internet, TPP

By Maira Sutton for EFF. Our campaign to fight the anti-user Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was a rollercoaster this year. Our mobilization against the Fast Track trade bill resulted in some major twists and turns before the sudden conclusion of the negotiations in the Fall, then finally after more than five years of secrecy, the governments officially released the completed TPP text. This definitively confirmed that this trade agreement contained a whole host of restrictive digital policies—including bans on circumventing DRM, heavy-handed criminal and civil penalties for copyright infringement, and excessive copyright term lengths. This, of course, was hardly surprising given the secret, corporate-captured process that plagued this deal from the very beginning. As we continue on to the fight against the TPP's ratification into 2016, it's important to take stock of the critical battles that we've won along the way.

The Empire Strikes Back: The Return Of The WTO

December 23, 2015 Polly Jones, www.counterpunch.org Educate! CETA, TISA, TPP, WTO

By Polly Jones for Counter Punch - The last time the World Trade Organisation met was in December 2013. Back then neither the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) nor the campaign to stop TTIP had even started. Trade seemed to be off the agenda and after years of stalled negotiations the WTO was expected to slowly become irrelevant. The WTO is meeting again this week but this time in Nairobi and for the first time in Africa, and I will be there. While there are some obvious similarities to previous WTO negotiations – fears that no agreement will be reached and entrenched positions of the global north and south – many other aspects are entirely different.

Who Says They Don’t Protest In DC: Protest Year In Review

December 22, 2015 Luke, www.dcindymedia.org Resist! Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Climate Change, DC, Inequality, Pope Francis, Racism, Seattle, TPP, Washington

By Luke for DC Indy Media. Below is a month-by-month video review of activism, primarily in the Washington, DC region. If you think there are no protests in DC this video will disabuse of that thought. In fact, it was a busy year of protests on a wide range of issues. If these videos were shown on the commercial media or covered regularly by the corporate press it would look like the United States was in revolt. Luke who made the video is based in DC but he cannot cover all the protests that go on here. For example, few protests inside of Congress are included in this video, even though there have been many. Highlights of the past year include Black Lives Matter, the Baltimore Uprising, the TPP, the Pope, the climate protests and more. Below the video is a list of the protests covered by Luke, a DC independent media maker. Luke is primarily covering DC-area protests. In reality, many cities across the country have regular protests on the economy, climate, racism, wars, low wages and more. In the last couple of years as pipelines and other carbon infrastructure is being put in place we are also seeing protests outside of urban areas. When we are in the midst of the struggle, even if we are aware of many protests, we often can still not see how active the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice is.

2015: A Year In Review On Trade And The Environment

December 21, 2015 Ilana Solomon, www.huffingtonpost.com Strategize! Fair Trade, TPP, Trade, TTIP

By Ilana Solomon of the Sierra Club. In 2015, new trade and investment cases, leaks and texts all demonstrated how trade rules present a significant threat to our environment and climate. But 2015 was also a year of unprecedented grassroots mobilization on trade, indicating that -- if we continue to build on this momentum -- we can close the curtains of the free trade era. Let's review 2015's trade-and-environment highlight reel -- which demonstrates why 2016 must be the year to stop harmful trade pacts and build a new model of trade that supports communities, our environment and climate. 2015 was also a year of incredible mobilization against harmful trade pacts. If we continue this work and build our movement we will build a new model of trade that puts the interests of communities and the environment before the interests of multinational corporations. Our short-term work is to stop harmful trade agreements. Our long-term work is to continue to build our movement so strong and fierce that it becomes unthinkable for governments to allow trade rules to undermine environmental and public interest policies because the backlash would be too severe.

Nationwide Mobilization To Stop The TPP

December 18, 2015 Staff, www.flushthetpp.org Resist! Environment, Justice, Obama, TPP, Trade

By Flush the TPP. Flush the TPP - On February 4, 2016, President Obama will be permitted by Fast Track law to sign the TransPacific Partnership (TPP). During the recent APEC meeting in Manila, Philippines, leaders of TPP countries discussed holding a signing ceremony that day in New Zealand. Following the signing, Congress will still have to pass implementing legislation before the TPP can be put into place. The Obama administration is currently writing that legislation and is expected to send it to Congress as soon as it anticipates having enough votes to pass it. That can happen any time after Obama signs the TPP. The TPP implementing legislation could be sent to Congress as early as February 5 and as late as after the elections in the fall. It all depends on when Obama and leadership believe they have the votes. Our job is to make sure that never happens.

Newsletter: Opportunity For Climate Justice, If We Mobilize

December 13, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularesistance.org Newsletter Climate Change, Climate Justice, COP21, Corporatism, Fossil Fuels, Neoliberalism, TPP, Trade

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The COP21 resulted in an agreement that was 25 years in the making, beginning with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Until now the world had been unable to reach an agreement on combating climate change. Because the document required unanimous consensus it is the lowest common denominator. Countries that depend on oil as the basis of their economy, like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, as well as those with strong climate denialism, like Australia and the United States, which combines denialism with corporate domination of government, all had to agree. The lowest common denominator is not good enough.

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