Stop the Anti-American Power Grab
The U.S. Trade Representative - the federal agency responsible for negotiating trade treaties - has said that the details of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) are classified due to "national security".
A Congressman who has seen the text of the treaty says:
There is no national security purpose in keeping this text secret … this agreement hands the sovereignty of our country over to corporate interests.
It will,
literally act to destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and the other nations which sign the bill
To give an idea of what would happen to American law if TPP passes, just look at Ecuador…
It’s courts awarded billions against Chevron for trashing huge swaths of rainforest. But then a private arbitration panel simply ignored the country’s court system.
If TPP passes, American courts will be sidelined as well. (Conservatives might want to read this and this.)
William Pesek writes at Bloomberg:
The Big Brother-like secrecy enshrouding the treaty on the U.S. side [is stunning.]
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WikiLeaks did what Barack Obama’s White House refuses to: share portions of the document with the public.
The draft of the intellectual-property rights chapter by Julian Assange’s outfit validated the worst fears - that TPP is a corporatist power grab. Rather than heed the outcry, the U.S. doubled down on secrecy, refusing to disclose more details.
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You know you have a transparency problem when citizens of a democracy need to rely on WikiLeaks for details on changes to laws on Internet use, labor, environmental and food-safety standards, and the cost and availability of drugs.
It’s worth considering something Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt told CNBC in December 2009:
"If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place."
So why is the Obama administration behaving as if it runs a closed Communist Party state? The answer can only be, To circumvent the legislative process.
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Last month, 151 House Democrats, members of Obama’s own party, sent a letter to the White House stating their opposition to granting him fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements, citing a lack of congressional consultation.
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What would America’s founders make of this process?
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Asians should say no to a trade deal that’s as democratic and transparent as a one-party state.
Pacific Trade Deal Needs More WikiLeaking
by William Pesek
December 19, 2013
from Bloomberg Website
Self-awareness often eludes U.S. officials who push American interests
on Asia.
John Kerry’s visit to Vietnam was a
case in point as the secretary of state implored the government to
ratify
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
In his pitch earlier this week, Kerry said the U.S.-led trade deal would
bring "transparency" and "accountability" to the communist nation,
helping it become a more open society that supports free expression. An
odd thought, considering the Big Brother-like secrecy enshrouding the
treaty on the U.S. side.
The pro-TPP argument goes as follows:
This is the moment Asia’s reformers have been waiting for.
It’s a chance for Japan to take on vested interests, Malaysia to kill growth-stifling affirmative-action policies, Vietnam to rein in bloated state-owned enterprises and Singapore to spur innovation.
Think of TPP as an economic Trojan horse - a means of shaking up stagnant political systems by stealth.
Yet the dearth of details about the treaty
is exactly why Asia should opt out of the most ambitious free-trade deal
in U.S. history.
U.S. lawmakers and civil-liberties groups have complained for some time
about the opacity surrounding the treaty’s terms. Mild grousing turned
into outrage last month
after WikiLeaks did what Barack
Obama’s White House refuses to:
share portions of the document with the public.
The draft of the intellectual-property
rights chapter by Julian Assange’s outfit validated the worst
fears - that TPP is a corporatist power grab. Rather than heed the
outcry, the U.S. doubled down on secrecy, refusing to disclose more
details.
Hasn’t the U.S. wondered why so many of East Asia’s most promising
democracies have so far avoided the treaty?
The popular excuse for why,
Indonesia
the Philippines
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand,
...aren’t yet among the 12 TPP economies is that they aren’t ready or are trapped by their own timidity.
A better explanation is that their leaders
realize that truly transparent and accountable governments, to borrow
Kerry’s own words, shouldn’t be leading their people into the unknown.
Take Japan, which recently spirited a government secrets bill into law
without public debate, even though most Japanese oppose it.
The ostensible reason for the move by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to ensure confidential sharing of intelligence with the U.S. in the post-Edward Snowden world. But human-rights groups are up in arms over its far-reaching and ambiguous language and the potential jail terms for journalists and whistle-blowers.
In form and timing, it had TPP written all over it.
"The vagueness of the secrets act reflects a basic theme of Japanese governance, which is ‘I work for the government, therefore I know more than you, therefore you should do what I say,’" says Colin Jones, a legal scholar at Doshisha Law School in Kyoto, Japan.
That, in a nutshell, explains the Obama administration’s TPP argument:
Oh, don’t worry, we know what we’re doing and it will be fine.
The trouble is that this poses a demand for
trust, with no opportunity to verify.
You know you have a transparency problem when citizens of a democracy
need to
rely on WikiLeaks for details on changes to laws on Internet
use, labor, environmental and food-safety standards, and the cost and
availability of drugs.
It’s worth considering something Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt told CNBC in December 2009:
"If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place."
So why is the Obama administration behaving as if it runs a closed Communist Party state?
The answer can only be, To circumvent the legislative process.
"If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, TPP has you in its crosshairs," Assange said last month.
If instituted, TPP "would trample over individual rights and free expression as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons."
Asian governments should reject TPP unless they can tell their people exactly what is in it, and why and how it will affect their lives.
Thanks to Assange, we now know that the U.S. wants signatories to allow patent changes that could raise the cost of food and health care in developing nations, including increasing the price of treating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
Is that progress?
Last month, 151 House Democrats, members of Obama’s own party, sent a
letter to the White House stating their opposition to granting him
fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements, citing a lack of
congressional consultation.
Why have officials from Johnson & Johnson, Cisco Systems Inc. and General Electric Co. seen details that skeptical legislators such as Elizabeth Warren and Alan Grayson can’t?
What would America’s founders make of this process?
Asian governments should hold public hearings, encourage a public debate, and let legislatures see and vote on the TPP based on the treaty’s fully disclosed terms.
If that isn’t something they can do, Asians
should say no to a trade deal that’s as democratic and transparent as a
one-party state.