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   From: acc725@etaoin.com   
      
   [32]Meet the TPP: A Worldwide Corporate Power Grab of Enormous Proportions   
      
       Written by [33]Laurel Sutherlin   
      
       As international trade negotiators   
       gathered this week at a posh golf resort in rural Virginia to hammer   
       out details of the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), they   
       sought to project an image of inclusion and receptivity to public   
       input. In reality, this high-stakes global corporate pact, now in its   
       14^th round of discussions, is heavily guarded by paramilitary teams   
       with machine guns and helicopters as it is developed behind closed   
       doors under a dangerous and unprecedented veil of secrecy.   
      
       What the hell is the TPP, you may ask? While it is among the largest   
       and potentially most important `free trade' agreements the world has   
       ever seen, one can hardly be blamed for not being familiar with it yet.   
       The corporate cabal behind it, including names like [40]Cargill,   
       Pfizer, Nike and WalMart, has done an exceptional job of maintaining an   
       almost total lack of transparency as they literally design the future   
       we will all inhabit.   
      
       While 600 corporate lobbyists have been granted access and input on the   
       draft texts from the beginning, [41]even high-ranking members of   
       Congress have been denied access to the most basic content of what US   
       negotiators are proposing in our names.   
      
       Thankfully, draft texts of the proposal have appeared on Wikileaks and   
       the [43]website of Citizen's Trade Campaign. It is difficult to   
       overstate the potential implications on the lives of people around the   
       world if anything like the agreement in these leaked documents were to   
       be implemented with the force of law.   
      
       The TPP is called a `trade agreement,' but in actuality it is a   
       long-dreamed-of template for implementing a binding system of global   
       corporate governance as bold as anything the world's wealthiest elite   
       has attempted before. Of the 26 chapters under negotiation, only a few   
       have to do directly with trade. The other chapters enshrine new rights   
       and privileges for major corporations while weakening the power of   
       nation states to oppose them. The TPP essentially proposes to establish   
       a parallel system of justice where companies can sue countries in a   
       tribunal of judges composed of unaccountable international trade   
       lawyers with little to no process for appeal.   
      
       This wild bastardization of the concept of justice endangers everything   
       from affordable medicines, internet freedoms and intellectual property   
       rights to democratically enacted labor laws and environmental   
       protections. And that's not to mention the massive outsourcing of   
       middle class jobs from the US to countries like Vietnam and Brunei.   
      
       This isn't just a bad trade agreement, it's a wish list of the 1%--a   
       worldwide corporate power grab of enormous proportions.   
      
       This week, in an empty warehouse on the outskirts of downtown   
       Baltimore, a group of activists from around the US gathered to plan a   
       spirited week of resistance to the TPP. Finally, after three years of   
       secret negotiations, the momentum of an opposition movement is   
       building. On Sunday, [44]a diverse and raucous crowd of a couple   
       hundred people descended on this exclusive golf resort to demand their   
       voices be heard, chanting after each speaker: "Flush the TPP!"   
      
       NAFTA was the last straw that sent the Zapatistas into armed rebellion.   
       The WTO negotiations spawned a robust and global anti-globalization   
       movement the likes of which the world had never seen. Even after 9/11,   
       the FTAA elicited a pushback of people power that even a fully   
       militarized Miami police force could not completely suppress.   
      
       But near as I can tell, even though the TPP is bigger, bolder and   
       badder than any trade agreement before it, the small group gathered   
       this week on a grassy hillside in rural Virginia is the backbone of   
       resistance to the TPP today.   
      
       The elements are there: a diverse coalition of wonky NGOs, social   
       justice and trade policy experts, urban anarchists, Occupiers and   
       suburban activists painting banners and scheming pranks--labor leaders,   
       environmental groups and representatives from Mexico, Peru and beyond,   
       but the scale is so far totally out of proportion to the threat we're   
       facing.   
      
       But this is beginning to change. Speakers at Sunday's rally included   
       key labor leaders from the Teamsters, and the Communications Workers of   
       America joined with the leaders of environmental groups from the Sierra   
       Club, Friends of the Earth and Rainforest Action Network.   
      
       The TPP was conceived under the second Bush administration, but it has   
       been embraced and nurtured into maturity under Obama's watch. The   
       widespread belief among people here opposing it is that the current   
       Administration is in a race to finish much of the negotiations while   
       they can bank on the fact that labor leaders and environmental and   
       human rights advocates will shy away from challenging a democratic   
       president in an election year. Free trade agreements are particularly   
       unpopular in the key swing states Obama needs to win this   
       election--making right now a crucial moment of opportunity to pull the   
       TPP out of the shadows and leverage our combined political power to   
       kill it before it takes root any deeper.   
      
       Stay tuned, one way or another history will be made in the coming   
       months and the outcome will forever influence how our communities and   
       countries relate to each other in an ever-shrinking world.   
      
       For more background and details on the TPP negotiations and content,   
       [45]click here.   
      
       Posted on 10 September 2012   
      
   About the Author   
      
       Laurel Sutherlin is RAN's Communications Manager for the Forest   
       Program. He is a life long forest defender and social justice advocate   
       specializing in environmental education and strategic communications.   
       Before coming to RAN, Laurel worked closely with diverse groups   
       including the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild), the Oxygen   
       Collective, Students for a Free Tibet and The Yes Men. He is also a   
      
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