It's the most outrageous attempted corporate power grab yet.Suppose some foreign transnational corporation wanted to come into your country and start fracking or they wanted to unilaterally rewrite your labor laws, you would be forced to submit to that.This sounds like the kind of hysterical hyperbole that right wingers are so fond of trafficking in.This is what is actually being pushed in secret. It's like NAFTA on steroids.

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My guest today is political activist, the PEN.  Welcome back to OpEdNews, PEN. 

JB: Usually, I wait at least a little while before returning to interview someone. But there are compelling reasons for another interview right now. What can you tell us about what you're currently working on? 

PEN: There are many people who even now have never heard of a proposal for a trade agreement called The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  And there is a reason for that, which is that it is being negotiated in the most extreme possible secrecy.  That alone ought to raise red flags and start alarm bells loudly ringing.  We had heard nothing about it ourselves until our own participants started emailing us asking when we were going to do an action page on it.  Over the years, the people on our distribution list have self-assembled into what we believe are the most informed and mobilized progressive activists in the country, and we can always trust them to keep us on our toes.

JB: So, fill us in, please. Our readers would love to know as much as possible about this far-reaching treaty proposal.

PEN: Quite simply,  it is the most outrageous attempted corporate power grab yet.  Suppose some foreign transnational corporation wanted to come into your country and start fracking.  Under this proposed deal, there is nothing you could do about it.  Suppose they wanted to unilaterally rewrite your labor laws, you would be forced to submit to that.  This sounds like the kind of hysterical hyperbole that right wingers are so fond of trafficking in, but this is what is actually being pushed in secret.  It's like NAFTA on steroids.

JB: It does sound incredible, PEN. Who's behind this and why is it even being considered?

PEN: You'd better brace yourself.  The big pressure is coming from the White House itself.

JB: Are you joking? Why? This sounds like a really terrible idea.

PEN: President Obama has been urging (demanding?) that the deal be done by literally the end of the month, while members of Congress have been ordered not to disclose any of the proposals, and many have complained they can't get access to them even if they wanted to.  Now, it would be one thing if someone was disclosing our bottom line trade negotiation position.  But they are forbidding anyone from even talking about proposals put ON the table for other nations to consider.  This stuff is for the eyes of mega-corporations and their lobbyists only.  But what we do know from leaked and often heavily redacted documents is truly horrifying.  A lot of our people are asking themselves, "Who is that guy in the White House and what has he done with President Obama?"

JB: Sad. And scary. Why the secrecy and why the huge rush? Just that alone is enough to make me suspicious.

PEN: Well, the answer is contained in your own natural reaction to hearing about some of these proposals.  And that reaction is almost universal.  And we are just starting to talk about the obnoxious things in their initiative: crippling of internet freedom, a broad expansion of corporate property rights.  I hesitate to use an expression like "up in arms," but clearly they knew we would be just as upset as we are if we knew what they were up to.

JB: Has the legislation been crafted, once again, by lobbyists representing Big Business? 

PEN: Yes, of course, that's it.  It's pretty much a Christmas gift list of everything your average billionaire fascist would want in his billion stockings.  And yet, the reason it has not already happened behind our backs is apparently that no other country in the world is willing to go along with it.  That's right, folks, the biggest thing protecting the American people right now is the protest of foreign leaders, who actually feel they have some accountability to their own people.  It just boggles the mind.

JB: How fortuitous. At least someone is looking out for their constituents. Even if the someones reside outside our borders. On the home front, I understand that even conscientious members of Congress can't do much about this. The fast track provision means that they have to vote up or down on the bill in its entirety. And it's long and complicated. Who will even have time to read the whole thing, let alone figure out all its ramifications? And all that by the end of the year?  Yikes!

PEN: The good news is that we have time to mobilize.  Clearly it's not going to happen before the end of the year, with no other countries on board.  But just to protect ourselves we need to ensure that this deal is not given fast track treatment.  So our current action is to demand that Congress assert its constitutional duty to regulate trade, and to allow no such fast track treatment.

JB: Where is Congress in all this? And what about the press?

PEN: Actually, we are off to a great start.  Many members of Congress have already signed letters demanding that they have a say in this on our behalf.  There are even some Republicans, who we agree with about absolutely nothing else, who get this.  As far as the press goes, the various progressive blogs have been blowing the trumpet and publishing whatever leaked documents we have been able to obtain.  But not surprisingly, the corporate "mainstream" media is playing asleep at the switch.

JB: It's not usually a problem getting the word out in the progressive blogosphere. But that's not enough. I'm worried that there are too many members of Congress whose bosses are not their constituencies, but rather their corporate masters. 

PEN: That's all the more reason why we need to speak out strongly and not be complacent.  They've been slowed down, but they will never stop pushing, and we can never stop pushing back.

JB: Agreed; I think it's called eternal vigilance. So, I understand you have a petition for people to sign. That's a good start. Got any good articles for people to read to understand more about the dangers of this agreement?

PEN: What good activist would ever not have a petition ready to go?  This one specifically calls for Congress to reject fast track treatment for this, and we're off to a good start with over 5,000 submissions already.

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1143.php 

Also, on this same action page are links to reference articles for all the important points made, so people can just follow the links and get up to speed on this issue quick, fast and in a hurry.  But above all, remember to actually submit the action page itself, because just being knowledgeable does not change policy, only acting on this knowledge does.

JB: Sounds good. Anything you'd like to add before we wrap this up?

PEN: We the people have had some great victories recently because we have been speaking out.  

JB: Hear, hear!

PEN: We stopped a new quagmire in Syria.  We stopped the totalitarian blockade of federal judges by putting some spine into the Senate Democrats.  All people need to do is stop giving our politicians a pass for self-partisan reasons, to demand that they actually represent us and not just have the right party designation letter after their names, and people power can become an instant reality.

JB: Thanks for talking with me once again and for spearheading this campaign to block the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). And thank goodness the politicians in other countries have more sense than ours here seem to. 

PEN: Our job is to make sure they get it.  Let's do our job.

JB: Okay, PEN.  We're on it!

***

Stop The Trans Pacific Partnership Action Page:

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1147.php 

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.