Protesters march on Capitol for 2nd day as TPP fast-track bill introduced

On April 16, 2016, Sen Orrin Hatch(R-Utah), Sen Ron Wyden(Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Misrepresentative Paul Ryan (R-WI) formally introduced "The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015," which is fast-track authority clearly meant for the proposed TPP or Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty. At or just before this introduction, protesters demanding "Flush the TPP" marched on the US Capitol, and some were able to enter one or more of the buildings of the Capitol complex

The TPP would be the largest "free trade" area ever set up, containing all of the GMO, drug and seed patent, investor lawsuit, union-busting, and anti-environmental aspects of the trade deals that global opposition stopped fifteen years ago. This is in addition to Internet censorship provisions demanded by Hollywood that were not an issue in 1999 or 2001.Wikileaks has revealed that Sony Pictures hs been working behind the scenes with USTR Michael Froman to push the TPP. This email may be particularily relevant to the Sony/TPP conection, it reveals that Sony was worried that Wikileaks leaking the draft "Intellectual property" chapter could scuttle the deal.

In late 2013 the Washington Post published this summary of the leaked TPP "intellectual property" chapter of the TPP, predicting it could "derail Obama's trade agenda and calling it a "Hollywood wish list." If it passes, expect to have to use Torbrowser for most Internet activity due to the pervasive censorship it would require.

It is perhaps appropriate that fast-track was introduced on April 16, just one day before the 2015 IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings. Fifteen years ago on this very day, protesters fought in the streets to shut down the 2000 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank. That took place in the shadow of the military defeat of the Seattle cops that forced the cancellation of the World Trade Organization's meetings there in November 1999. That sucess by protesters ultimate culminated in the sinking of what became the Doha Round of WTO trade talks. In the WTO meetings in Cancun in 2003, a South Korean farmer climbed atop the police barricades and stabbed himself to death. The next day, 20 African nations walked out of the talks and the Doha Round never recovered.

The failed FTAA or "Free Trade Area of the Americas" was another trade deal sunk by protesters, longtime readers of the Indymedia sites may recover the battles of Quebec and Miami fought by protesters and police over this trade deal.The Bush regime salvaged what it could with CAFTA, the "Central America Free Trade Area" containing most of the same provisions but applying only to those countries most subject to cooercion by the US Dept of State.

Now all the odious "investor protection," GMO food, seed and drug patent, and union busting provisions of the trade deals stopped by previous global uprisings are back. The deals we did not stop, such as NAFTA, have proven that these trade deals kill the middle class and lead to a wholesale export of jobs. After NAFTA, wages declined in both the US and in Mexico, instead of rising in Mexico and sinking in the US as one might expect. This was caused by a "race to the bottom" on wages, safety, and environmental protection. The US Korea Free Trade area killed more jobs and hollowed out the economies of several more US cities. No the Obama administration, Sen Wyden, and elements of the GOP want more of the same. Bigger profits for huge multinationals, more Citizens United legal campaign cash for themselves, more restrictions, job losses and poverty for everyone else.

Will this dirty trade deal inspire protesters to fight in the streets with everything they've got, the way previous trade deals were stopped? Or will Wall Street once again suceed in bulldozing Main Street? We won at Seattle, we can win again!