{"id":4930,"date":"2012-12-02T17:17:28","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T22:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?p=4930"},"modified":"2012-12-06T17:31:50","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T22:31:50","slug":"cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hundreds of activists from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond gathered for a Cross-Border Rally and Organizing Summit to Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)<\/a> held at Peace Arch Park on the U.S.\/Canada border on December 1, 2012. \u00a0(See photos and videos on Facebook here.<\/a>)<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
There, on the eve of the 15th major round of TPP negotiations, representatives from the trade justice movements in Canada, Mexico and the United States unveiled\u00a0a new tri-national unity statement on the threats posed by the TPP and announced\u00a0e a goal of collecting 1,000 organizational signatures on the statement from throughout North America prior to the start of the next TPP round, widely believed to take place in March 2013.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a corporate rights deal, which threatens workers, farmers, indigenous communities and our planet,” said Kristen Beifus, director of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, one of the summit’s main organizers. \u00a0“United people’s movements have defeated corporate-power grabs like the TPP before, and we plan to do it again this time around.”<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
According to the “North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),” the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has caused economic, environmental and cultural damage throughout the continent and the TPP will expand NAFTA-style trade and investment provisions throughout the Pacific Rim unless organizations mobilize to prevent that.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
\n
“It’s impossible to overstate how devastating NAFTA has been to working people and family farmers over the past twenty years,” said Manuel Perez Rocha, of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade and associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. \u00a0 “Leaked documents suggest the TPP would actually go beyond NAFTA in the powers it hands to transnational corporations. \u00a0Thankfully, a transnational movement is rising to stop it and our tri-national network is a part of it.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
“We’re calling on social justice organizations throughout Canada, Mexico and the Unites States to sign onto the unity statement, first, in recognition of the threat the TPP poses to their members and, second, in recognition that it will take all of us coming together across geographic and issue-area borders in order to win,” said Stuart Trew, trade campaigner for the Council of Canadians.<\/div>\n
\u00a0.<\/div>\n
Groups can sign onto the statement at tinyurl.com\/unitystatement<\/a>. \u00a0The statement as a whole reads as follows:<\/div>\n
\n
\n

North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)*<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The nearly two decades of economic, environmental and cultural damage wrought by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), while by no means experienced equally, have been highly detrimental to the majority of people across the North American region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As a direct result of NAFTA, there are fewer good jobs, more struggling family farms, less stable food systems, and everyday consumer safety measures are weaker and social inequality grows. The pact’s intellectual property rules continue to undermine access to affordable medicine, while its financial service provisions have undermined banking regulations. \u00a0NAFTA fueled even more the conditions that precipitated an economic emigration crisis and exacerbated a false drug war, leading to mass-scale human rights abuses where tens of thousands of citizens have been the victims. \u00a0It has degraded the earth and its ecosystems in numerous ways, including from mining and other resource extraction projects, and has had pronounced effects on indigenous peoples\u0092 sovereignty. \u00a0Subsequent trade agreements have similarly propelled a race to the bottom in wages, labor rights and environmental protection, as well as deregulation and privatization, contributing to the worldwide financial and climate crises.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Halting further damage should be a shared priority of our peoples. \u00a0Instead, because NAFTA has simultaneously redirected wealth and power to elites in each of the countries involved, the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States, among others, are now seeking to expand NAFTA’s trade and investment rules throughout the Pacific Rim in the form of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). \u00a0In fact, leaked documents suggest that the TPP could very well go beyond NAFTA in the new powers and rights it hands to transnational corporations, including an expansion of NAFTA’s infamous investor-state dispute process, by which international investors can challenge public interest laws, regulations and even court decisions that could threaten their expectation of profits through unaccountable tribunals that circumvent and violate domestic judicial systems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The world cannot afford this NAFTA expansion package. Instead, we need policies that help build a more just and sustainable global economy, including those that respect and promote fundamental labor rights, including equal rights for migrant workers; \u00a0the creation of high-wage, high-benefit jobs;\u00a0environmental protection; food sovereignty; financial market stability; food and product safety; access to quality healthcare; and local democracy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Together, we call on our sisters and brothers throughout North America and beyond to educate their communities about the TPP and to engage on it now, lest we all have even greater harms forced upon us and the people of many other countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

* The Trans-Pacific Partnership is currently under negotiation between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. \u00a0It is being written as a “docking agreement” that would allow other countries to join over time, but without them able to make changes to existing text (a pre-condition that Canada and Mexico agreed to).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of activists from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond gathered for a Cross-Border Rally and Organizing Summit to Defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) held at Peace Arch Park on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66,96],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a "North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a "North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citizens Trade Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-02T22:17:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-06T22:31:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"645\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CTC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\",\"name\":\"Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"description\":\"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg\",\"width\":\"864\",\"height\":\"645\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/\",\"name\":\"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-02T22:17:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-06T22:31:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea\"},\"description\":\"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a \\\"North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea\",\"name\":\"CTC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CTC\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/author\/ctcfairt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign","description":"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a \"North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign","og_description":"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a \"North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/","og_site_name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","article_published_time":"2012-12-02T22:17:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-06T22:31:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"864","height":"645","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CTC","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/","name":"Citizens Trade Campaign","description":"Working Together for Social and Environmental Justice in Trade Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/TPPxBorderfb02.jpg","width":"864","height":"645"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/","name":"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP - Citizens Trade Campaign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2012-12-02T22:17:28+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-06T22:31:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea"},"description":"Trade justice activists from the US, Canada and Mexico have unveiled a \"North American Unity Statement Opposing NAFTA Expansion through the TPP\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/2012\/12\/02\/cross-border-organizing-against-the-tpp\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cross-Border Organizing Against the TPP"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#\/schema\/person\/9d3513e21fbf580e742ca365e5b29cea","name":"CTC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99ccaaf6325245800715c05802f4c0b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CTC"},"url":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/blog\/author\/ctcfairt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.citizenstrade.org\/ctc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}