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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
Thu May 8, 2014, 10:18 AM May 2014

Hundreds Rally Outside US Capitol against TPP: 'FAST TRACK!' -- WE SAY 'FIGHT BACK' (2 photos)

Speaking before the crowd, Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice President of AFL-CIO America, declared: "This is what solidarity looks like!" Gebre was joined by other speakers including Reps. Rosa deLauro (D-Conn.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Mike Michaud (D-Me.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).


Braving thunder and rain, hundreds of protesters rallied outside of the Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesday to declare to the government that "the entire progressive movement is united" in the call to reject unjust trade deals and embrace an economy for all.

"They say 'Fast Track!' We Say 'Fight Back!'" the group chanted, referring to recent efforts by President Obama to push through legislation to cement the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, without congressional deliberation. Thus far, the details of the deal have been negotiated behind closed doors, with the only information made available to the public via leaks.

Under the banner "Fair Trade is Not Free," a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, good government groups, farm groups, and over a dozen unions took part in the protest, carrying umbrellas and placards, which read: "Stop Secret Trade Deals."

"Let's show Congress that the entire progressive movement is united in the fight for a 21st century global economy that works for everyone," declared the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which organized the rally.




The TPP has been blasted by critics for undermining labor and environmental standards, as well as the open Internet. "The TPP is a horrific thing," said Kian Frederick, national field director for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "There's something for everyone to hate."

Frederick, who attended the action, told Common Dreams that she believed the aspect of the deal with the most potential harm is the Investor State Dispute Resolution, which grants global corporations state status, much like NAFTA, allowing them to sue a country for supposed loss or damages if they amend their laws. However, according to Frederick, the TPP goes a step further by allowing a corporation to sue for the loss of future expected profits.

"It's an absolute race to the bottom," Frederick declared, citing the myriad ways a government will be handcuffed to old legislation: food safety standards, environmental standards, labor laws. "If we go through with it, taxpayer money will all be recouped by the corporations."



Public Citizen is hoping the rally draws attention to an upcoming congressional vote on whether to eschew legislative authority and "Fast Track" the trade deal without deliberation or input. The vote will likely occur after the midterm elections.

Speaking before the crowd, Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice President of AFL-CIO America, declared: "This is what solidarity looks like!" Gebre was joined by other speakers including Reps. Rosa deLauro (D-Conn.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Mike Michaud (D-Me.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).


http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/07-6
23 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Hundreds Rally Outside US Capitol against TPP: 'FAST TRACK!' -- WE SAY 'FIGHT BACK' (2 photos) (Original Post) KoKo May 2014 OP
Enthusiastic K&R !!!!! marmar May 2014 #1
du rec. xchrom May 2014 #2
R #5... to the front page! nt HooptieWagon May 2014 #3
won't happen.... KoKo May 2014 #21
K & R They_Live May 2014 #4
Standing K&R! bvar22 May 2014 #5
kr....nt MindMover May 2014 #6
It is important that this fight not end if and when TPP is approved Jack Rabbit May 2014 #7
While I agree with the protesters, are we being hypocrites? mostlyconfused May 2014 #8
That barn door marions ghost May 2014 #9
It's the new normal to work around the "legislative authority" fasttense May 2014 #11
executive orders are not done in secret behind our backs by cowardly corporate stooges nt msongs May 2014 #12
WE want Congres to DO its' job and use its' authority to publicaly discuss and debate the POS TPP Vincardog May 2014 #18
It should be debated, and Congress accept or reject it mostlyconfused May 2014 #19
There is this straw man in your aggument: " Yet on DU we cheer when PBO talks of circumventing Vincardog May 2014 #20
The Unions are part of the big coalition that formed before the last election sabrina 1 May 2014 #10
It's worth noting that they might be getting more active given what's going on KoKo May 2014 #23
k/r nationalize the fed May 2014 #13
Thanks for posting this...Quite a revelation there...as to where Hillary stands KoKo May 2014 #14
Prosperity and security for whom? JEB May 2014 #15
Excellent! A gazzillion recs Populist_Prole May 2014 #16
The latest smear (from Obama no less) is "Conspiracy Theorist" nationalize the fed May 2014 #17
Oh but they have to wait till after mid-terms elections. Jasana May 2014 #22

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
21. won't happen....
Thu May 8, 2014, 05:56 PM
May 2014

It's not the policy of the Party..it seems.

Thanks for reading and replying, though. Thought it a bit of good news that this is going on outside of what we read and hear in mainstream. is good.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
5. Standing K&R!
Thu May 8, 2014, 11:34 AM
May 2014

Solidarity!!!

I'm DELIGHTED to see that many elected Democrats STANDING with The People in protest of POLICY
that is designed to Enrich the 1% at the expense of the Working Class & Poor!!!
That is as unusual as it is encouraging.

Study: "Trade" Deal Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2013/09/the-verdict-is-in-the-trans-pacific-partnership-tpp-a-sweeping-free-trade-deal-under-negotiation-with-11-pacific-rim-coun.html

"Obama Admin’s TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks"
http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/20/obama-admin%E2%80%99s-tpp-trade-officials-received-hefty-bonuses-from-big-banks/

Meet the TPP: Crony capitalism on a global scale
https://represent.us/action/tpp/

Korean Free Trade Deal devastating for US Workers

What happened to the 70,000 jobs that the Korea Free Trade deal was supposed to create? They never materialized. Instead, U.S. workers lost 40,000 jobs in the first year of the agreement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-cohen/koreaus-free-trade-agreem_b_4965492.html







[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity99![/font]

Jack Rabbit

(45,984 posts)
7. It is important that this fight not end if and when TPP is approved
Thu May 8, 2014, 11:51 AM
May 2014

A secretly negotiated trade deal that does violence to the right of the people to influence laws concerning public health and safety and the national sovereignty of representative democracies to pass such regulations is null and void from the start. If it is true that America is no longer a democracy but an oligarchy, then members of Congress and state legislatures no longer represent the people but the industrial/financial elite. The laws passed, therefore, are passed to oppress the people and place them under the boot of corporate tyranny. No proposal before any legislative body today puts this state of affairs in high relief more than the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The very secrecy that enshrouds this abominable "free" trade agreement says to us that the laws of the future that the government imposes on us are for the benefit of corporate tyrants and none of the people's business. We are expected only to obey and not complain that we breathe noxious air, drink dirty water and drown under rising seas.

We will not obey.

mostlyconfused

(211 posts)
8. While I agree with the protesters, are we being hypocrites?
Thu May 8, 2014, 11:52 AM
May 2014

Here we want open congressional debate on these issues (AS WE SHOULD) and do not want them to eschew their legislative authority to the executive branch, and the special interests, and whoever else is putting together the details of TPP.

Yet plenty here on DU are ok with and even cheer at the idea of President Obama using executive orders to work around the "legislative authority" of the do-nothing congress when it is on issues we support.

Whether we like the makeup of a particular congress or not, and whether we are for or against a particular issue, should we ever be ok with their authority on law making being circumvented? Once that door is opened, it can be used for evil as well as good.

Again...support the people rallying on this, just thought it a good point for some introspection.

marions ghost

(19,841 posts)
9. That barn door
Thu May 8, 2014, 12:13 PM
May 2014

got left open a looooooong time ago......the horses are gone. The laws are circumvented every day.

No point in trying to shut the door.

The protestors are certainly NOT the hypocrites in this.

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
11. It's the new normal to work around the "legislative authority"
Thu May 8, 2014, 12:31 PM
May 2014

Bush and the Dick did it regularly with signing letters and other maneuvers. It was started under Raygun with Iran-contra. Why shouldn't Obama use it? I agree it's not the right thing to do, but our democracy has disappeared and is now an oligarchy. Using all the tools against the corporate royalists is better than standing for a minor principle and getting run over.

Too bad Obama is such a RepubliCON about "free' trade deals though.

Vincardog

(20,234 posts)
18. WE want Congres to DO its' job and use its' authority to publicaly discuss and debate the POS TPP
Thu May 8, 2014, 02:33 PM
May 2014

before rejecting it. How is that in the least bit hypocritical?

PBO wants Congress to cede its' authority to him and agree to pass it without debate or amendment. That WOULD BE " their authority on law making being circumvented".

Why not introspect on that?

mostlyconfused

(211 posts)
19. It should be debated, and Congress accept or reject it
Thu May 8, 2014, 03:20 PM
May 2014

You note:

PBO wants Congress to cede its' authority to him and agree to pass it without debate or amendment. That WOULD BE " their authority on law making being circumvented".

That's exactly the problem, they should not cede this authority to him. It is not the role of the President in this system of government to make law, to ask Congress to pass something without debate, or to enact via executive order new law just because Congress has chosen not to pass it.

So we agree on the stance of the protesters now and that Congress should not pass this, and certainly not without debate or amendment. Yet on DU we cheer when PBO talks of circumventing Congress via executive order because in those cases we agree with the policy. That seems a little inconsistent to me.

Our stance on who has the authority to make, debate, and pass new law should not vary based on our opinion of the law to be passed, should it?

Vincardog

(20,234 posts)
20. There is this straw man in your aggument: " Yet on DU we cheer when PBO talks of circumventing
Thu May 8, 2014, 03:31 PM
May 2014

Congress via executive order".

Doing what he can lawfully do as President by Executive order is not "passing new law".

Cheering when PBO talks of taking legal action in the face of a Clown Car Congress is not changing the authority of anyone.

So what is your concern?

sabrina 1

(62,325 posts)
10. The Unions are part of the big coalition that formed before the last election
Thu May 8, 2014, 12:16 PM
May 2014

warning Dems that they are going to have to EARN their votes from now on. Others who signed on to that coalition are several Liberal Advocacy Groups, SS advocates eg.

Great photos, thanks for the OP KoKo.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
23. It's worth noting that they might be getting more active given what's going on
Thu May 8, 2014, 07:22 PM
May 2014

with terrible job loss....and not only that these companies moving to Southern States and Texas to get around Union Wages/Contracts/Bargaining Power.

Come to South Carolina (We take your Union Jobs from Michigan and we work you like Chinese in Garment Factories). But, if you are RW you Praise this policy. You think you are doing GREAT because you have a job at all! (I have a nephew who is in this bind to do Factory Work with no Union and 12 hour Shifts).

Labor shift in the USA is like us becoming China. Get everything to the "lowest base for survival" and then the 1% can SUCK MORE out of us FOR THEIR KIDS/LIFESTYLE and the PERKS.

Populist_Prole

(5,364 posts)
16. Excellent! A gazzillion recs
Thu May 8, 2014, 01:16 PM
May 2014

This thing's gotta be stopped. If we're called luddites or isolationists by the scammers forcing this on us, so be it.

nationalize the fed

(2,169 posts)
17. The latest smear (from Obama no less) is "Conspiracy Theorist"
Thu May 8, 2014, 01:23 PM
May 2014
Obama Complains That TPP Critics Are 'Conspiracy Theorists' Who 'Lack Knowledge' About Negotiations

It's become fairly clear that the TPP agreement is in trouble these days (for a variety of reasons). And it appears that President Obama is losing his cool concerning the agreement and its critics. In a press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, President Obama lashed out at TPP critics, calling them "conspiracy theorists" whose criticism "reflects lack of knowledge of what is going on in the negotiations." Oh really?

If you take an issue like drugs, for example, the United States does extraordinary work in research and development, and providing medical breakthroughs that save a lot of lives around the world. Those companies that make those investments in that research oftentimes want a return, and so there are all kinds of issues around intellectual property and patents, and so forth...

...But my point is you shouldn’t be surprised if there are going to be objections, protests, rumors, conspiracy theories, political aggravation around a trade deal. You’ve been around long enough, Chuck — that’s true in Malaysia; it’s true in Tokyo; it’s true in Seoul; it’s true in the United States of America — and it’s true in the Democratic Party.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140429/14333827067/obama-complains-that-tpp-critics-are-conspiracy-theorists-who-lack-knowledge-about-negotiations.shtml


TPTB should tread carefully here because the proles might start wondering what other things are being stifled by calling people "conspiracy theorists"
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