Dear friends,
Australia and 11 other countries just sealed a secret deal that gives corporations vast powers over 40% of the world’s economy. But the Australian parliament can stop it.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a monster global trade deal that could massively expand internet censorship, and is Big Pharma and Monsanto’s dream come true. But to become law, each country has to ratify it, and if the Labor Party votes no, this terrible agreement dies. The good news is a growing chorus of Greens, Nationals and Independents oppose it.
Even Labor’s key supporters, the trade unions are pushing hard to stop it. Avaaz can uniquely bring voices from across Australia and the whole world to the table. Let’s give our allies in Parliament the massive public backing they need to protect all our freedoms — join the call and tell everyone:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tpp_2015_loc_aus/?bhPqncb&v=66176
The TPP will shape lives across the world, but most of the text was written in secret by negotiators and corporations, without public input. When Wikileaks revealed a portion, we got a sampling of how bad it is:
- If a nation bans a toxic chemical, or labels genetically modified foods, or tightens environmental regulations, TPP empowers companies to sue governments in secret global tribunals, run by corporate arbitrators. If the government loses, taxpayers could be forced to pay companies billions of dollars for lost profits.
- Under TPP, pharmaceutical giants could extend their monopolies so far that cheap life-saving drugs for cancer and AIDS patients could be prevented.
- The deal could criminalise those who sound the alarm on corporate illegal activity through a computer system.
Those are just a small part of the agreement. We have no idea what corporate lobbyists wrote into the bulk of the treaty because governments have refused to release the text to the public. While trade treaties can be critical to a healthy global economy, representatives should never be able to ram through new laws without letting citizens know what’s in them — and they certainly should not do it in service to corporate profits at the expense of the public good.
We’ve been fighting these types of agreements for years, and have won. Allies in the US Congress just told us ‘this is not a done deal’, but to bury it, they need all the public help they can get. Let’s stop the corporate takeover of our democracies. Join the call and spread the word. This needs all of us:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/tpp_2015_loc_aus/?bhPqncb&v=66176
It can be easy to feel small in the face of big corporate forces driving our governments. But when they tried to push a trade deal that threatened our internet freedom, almost 3 million Avaazers took action, and our community was a key force in stopping it completely. Let’s do it again here and remind our governments that people, not money, are the true source of power.
With hope and determination,
Dalia, Nataliya, Alice, Mais, Emma, Danny and the entire Avaaz team
Sources:
An explainer on Obama’s ‘secret’ trade pact (Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/12/trans-pacific-partnership-explainer
Who is writing the TPP? (Boston Globe)
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/05/11/elizabeth-warren-and-rosa-delauro-who-writing-tpp/2FQ…
Trans-Pacific Partnership is reached, but faces scrutiny in Congress (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-is-reached.html?_r=1
TPP: What is it and why does it matter? (BBC)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32498715
