The protest against The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) started at the Business Innovations Services (BIS) at 1 Victoria street where about 1000 gathered on the pavement.
Organisers then guided the crowd to march through the Westminster area which was jam packed with site seers and commuters chanting the message that TTIP is a threat for democracy and for all the civil protection rights that have been hard won in the last 100 years or so. TTIP threatens to be the greatest transfer of power to transnational capital in a generation.
The destination of the march was the European Parliament on Smith St where the protest felt more like a civilised street party with speakers, workshops, performers, participant activities (an unbalanced soccer match played between corporate lawyers who broke all the rules and public services and the public who the referee always has a problem with.) There were some big banners specifically made for the right imagery. War on Want and World Development Movement had funded this day and had worked collectively with Occupy Londoners and UKUncut to organize a wonderful day. The only failing was that the mainstream media did not show up, other than Russia Today (to my knowledge)
See the Live streamed footage at the original article in the Occupy London website
Mark Thomas: “..we keep corporations civilised”
Paraphrased:- ” if it were not for us we would still have chimney sweeps (child labour) and the 7 day week”
Nick Dearden, director of the World Development Movement, said today:
“This deal would hand multinational companies unprecedented powers over life in this country, including the ability to sue a future government for billions of pounds if they didn’t like its decisions. David Cameron waxes lyrical about national sovereignty, but in pushing for this deal he is wilfully handing sovereignty to big business. The deal is not really about trade, it’s about entrenching the position of the one percent. It should be abandoned.”
Natalie Bennett, Green Party Leader, said:
“The proposed deal threatens to blow apart the power of our democratic decision making. TTIP is a huge threat to hard-fought-for standards for the quality and safety of our food, the sources of our energy, workers’ rights and our privacy.
“The harmonization of food standards is particularly concerning. Under the deal food products include chemically washed poultry, livestock treated with growth hormones, and genetically modified crops – all allowed in the US – could be sold in the UK.”
Jean Lambert MEP said:
“TTIP supporters push the myth that more trade means more jobs. It doesn’t.
“There is no guarantee that TTIP will be good for job creation – let alone decent jobs that pay enough to live on, respect labour rights and promote high health and safety standards. Why should we assume those standards will be upheld when other standards are likely to go down? These are the standards seen as barriers to business and TTIP is all about promoting business.”
Keith Taylor MEP said:
“Though huge chunks of this trade deal are shrouded in secrecy what we do know is that TTIP poses a very real threat to the quality of life of people in the UK.
“This deal, favoured by multinationals, threatens to slash regulations that protect our environment and health. But, most worryingly, it represents a serious threat to democracy in our country.
“It’s astounding that the Lib Dems, a party with the word ‘democrat’ in their name, are attacking those who want to protect Brits from a trade deal written by big business.”
Molly Scott Cato, the first Green MEP to represent the South-West and Green party Finance spokesperson, said:
“Greens are totally opposed to TTIP, which threatens to undermine our ability to protect the high standards of environmental protection, employment rights, and animal welfare that we take for granted.
“The proposals to protect corporate investors against the democratic interests of citizens must not be allowed to stand. As Greens in the European Parliament we pledge to do everything in our power to prevent TTIP from being agreed.”
END OF EXCERPTS FROM THE ECONOMIC VOICE
ASSOCIATED LINKS
http://corporateeurope.org/international-trade/2014/07/who-lobbies-most-ttip
