Trans-Pacific Partnership Teach-In in Syracuse

 

The Trans Pacific Partnership is a major trade pact, much bigger than NAFTA, being negotiated in secret by the US and many other Pacific Rim Countries. Learn more about the TPP and how to get involved in stopping this free trade agreement at our Teach-In. Our panelists for the teach-in will be:

Emily Bishop, New Yorkers Against Fracking.

Frank Cetera, GMO Free CNY, is a local permaculture activist. He works on issues of permaculture, ecology, cooperative business, politics and community.

Howie Hawkins is active in the Green Party and a Teamster who unloads trucks at UPS.

Aly Wane, Syracuse Peace Council.

 

600 lobbyists mostly from multinational corporations are active in the negotiations but your elected representatives are excluded. The TPP is not mainly about trade. Its real purpose is to help global corporations sue governments in an international trade tribunal, to force governments to abandon laws that protect the public, workers and the environment. The TPP threatens internet privacy and innovation. The TPP accelerates the “race to the bottom” by threatening many important safeguards in business. It undermines financial industry regulations, dismantles “Buy Local” preferences, restricts countries from providing generic drugs or negotiating lower drug prices for their residents, challenges food safety, chemical safety, and labeling requirements, threatens environmental policy, and further delays action on climate change.

The TPP won’t pass unless it is allowed to bypass normal congressional review through the “Fast Track” process that stifles debate and bans amendments and filibuster. To stop TPP, we must get Congress to reject the fast Track option before TPP is finalized and presented for approval. We must act now! The White House is seeking Fast Track, and a vote in Congress is likely in early February. Rep. Dan Maffei has stated his opposition to Fast Track. Please contact Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (202) 224-4452 and Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542 and tell them to vote "No" on Fast Track. 

For more information about the TPP, visit www.flushthetpp.org