Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

No more NAFTAs, no to the TPP: A call to arms from tri-national trade justice activists

The TPP is NAFTA on (insert performance-enhancing drug of choice here). That much we know. So what are we going to do about it?

In The Tyee, Raul Burbano (Common Frontiers), Kristen Beifus (Washington Fair Trade Coalition) and Manuel PĂ©rez-Rocha (RMALC, Institute for Policy Studies) ask people across North America to help create a tri-national resistance movement against the TPP and other post-NAFTA free trade deals that "create rich people, not rich communities." They show the NAFTA legacy for what it is -- 20-years of growing inequality, precarity, income- and job insecurity, and environmental degradation, and shrinking expectations of "what people can do together for the common good."

The trade justice activists, all members, like the Council of Canadians, of a new TPPxBorder c-oordinating group, write:

    "Next generation corporate trade deals like the TPP and the proposed 'comprehensive' pacts that Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are pursuing with the European Union, purposely take away our ability to pursue alternative economic strategies. These deals are designed to ensure that governments have no power in the economy, and that they are only useful when they are using tax payer dollars to bail out large banks and other corporations.

    "Like NAFTA, the TPP will handcuff our ability to set regulations in key areas like finance, industry, the environment, public procurement and fostering programs to create jobs at home," they continue. "Free trade offers corporate subsidies for the rich and cut-throat competition for everyone else. So it should come as no surprise that communities across the continent and the Western Hemisphere are mobilizing in what can be expected as the battle against the TPP."

The op-ed draws attention to the elephant in the room in the CETA (Canada-EU) and TPP negotiations, which is NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement turns 20 on January 1, around the time the Obama administration hopes to conclude its trans-pacific deal. NAFTA contributed to increased trade flows between our three countries but this has not translated into an overall increase in shared wealth or well-being. Most people work harder and longer for as much money or less than what they were making 20 years ago. The new wealth from free trade is concentrating and congealing in the pockets of the 1 per cent.

The op-ed urges Canadian and U.S. trade activists in particular to see a potential July 2013 round of TPP negotiations as an opportunity to come together against unfair trade deals. To help with the organizing, endorse the tri-national unity statement against the TPP, and get more information about TPPxBorder visit tppxborder.org.

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Stuart Trew

No comments:

Post a Comment