3 million Europeans say no to TTIP

10/11/2015 corporate capture , democracy , economic growth , Europe , trade agreement , TTIP 2 Comments

On  the 6th of October, the self-organized European Citizens' Initiative against TTIP (Transatlantic trade and investement partnership) and CETA managed to pass the goal of getting more than 3 million people to sign the citizen petition against the secretly negotiated and highly controversial trade deals between Europe, the US and Canada.

With reference to major risks of the ISDS clause (corporations suing states), lowering environmental standards and worker rights, deregulation of public institutions and infringement on internet freedom, the initiative wants the negotiations to be stopped.

Yesterday, citizens all over Europe went out to demonstrate the undemocratic so called trade deals, attracting hundreds of thousands of people in Berlin. The biggest protest in Germany for many years. Demonstrations also took place in eight Swedish cities.

One of the most common arguments for TTIP is that "there will be more growth and jobs" through, for example, removing safety procedures (crash testing) in the automobile industry which according to a recent study could lead to a drastic increase in traffic-related deaths in Europe (since a European car is 33% more safe than the American counterpart). In other words,  it would generate more financial capital for the big multinationals at the expense of ordinary Europeans' health and safety.

According to a leaked document, published on Corporate Europe Observatory (20th of April, 2015), murky negotiations of "regulatory exchange" that would force laws drafted in any of the 78 states to go through a screening processes by a technocratic elite has taken place without public knowledge. This screening process would be done by a bunch of lawyers and lobbyists, in form of a permanent, undemocratic, and unaccountable group of technocrats. Most people think this type of group only will serve to uphold the interests of multinational corporations. 

According to attorney David Azoulay, at the Centre for International Environmental Laz, "Not only will it extend an outrageously burdensome process on future legislation, but any current legislation in the public interest that doesn't sit well with trade interests on either side of the Atlantic could be subjected to the same process to make it conform to corporate interests"

In summary, this is the response of a predatory Empire, and it's elite, to a world without growth. It starts cannabilizing on the very foundation that underpins it, ordinary people and nature. Now is the time to change the entire system, or crumble under it.