Tomorrow there are 610 events planned across the UK, from Wells to Aberdeen, central London to Orkney, Northern Ireland to Cornwall. 9,305 members of 38 Degrees are turning out to sound the alarm about TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership also known as the Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA).
38 Degrees sent out a missive saying…
“If this dangerous trade deal isn’t fixed or scrapped, private companies will have a field day with our Health Service. The NHS would have to compete with American private healthcare companies. [1]
“There’s more. Under TTIP, big corporations could sue the UK government if our laws hurt their profits. 38 Degrees members have spent years campaigning to stop creeping privatisation in the NHS. Under TTIP, if a future government reversed NHS privatisation they could be sued by the private health industry. [2]
“So we’re turning out tomorrow to protect our NHS, to stop big business taking the government to the cleaners, and to stand up for democracy.
“As Sarah in Lewes says: “I’m raring to go for the leafleting on Saturday – we have to stop TTIP before it becomes a fait accompli.”
Further from 38 Degrees – Here are some last-minute top tips on how to handle the street action:
TTIP IN 30 SECONDS
Most people you encounter will be busy, and won’t have heard about TTIP before. You won’t have long to get their attention. Keep it simple! Here are some things you could say:
Right now, the government is negotiating a secret international trade deal called TTIP. It could privatise our NHS and let big businesses take us to the cleaners. We have to fix or scrap this deal.
The deal is being decided behind closed doors. So we’re coming together to sound the alarm and force it into the spotlight.
This matters. Imagine a world where the profits of healthcare companies dictate how we help the sick and elderly. Or a world where global corporations drag us through the courts if they don’t like our laws. That’s the reality if this deal goes through.
Big business loves this deal, but most ordinary people don’t once they hear about it. We need to put politicians under pressure to get this deal fixed or scrapped.
You can help by signing the petition, by visiting the website to find out more, and by spreading the word to your friends and neighbours. [3]
WHERE ARE MY LEAFLETS?
They’re in the post, and arriving all over the country today. If they haven’t arrived by tomorrow morning, here’s a link to a pdf of the leaflet – you can print them out in black and white:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/TTIP-leaflet-onesided
WHY IS THERE A PETITION SHEET IN MY PACK?
When you talk to interested people tomorrow, ask them if they’d like to add their name to the 38 Degrees petition. It’s currently at 126,000 signatures! After the day’s over, you can either submit those names via the secure link on the sheet, or else send the sheet into the office.
HOW CAN I TELL OTHER PEOPLE WHAT I’M DOING?
If you’re on social media, please make sure you tweet using the #NoTTIP or write on Facebook.
You can also keep other 38 Degrees members up to date with what you’re doing by texting the office team your photos on 07537416804.
If you want to share your pictures, please send them to ttipaction@38degrees.org.uk
The best pictures will be sent out to all 38 Degrees members!
HOW CAN I CONTACT THE MEDIA?
Please click this link for a template press release that can be sent to your local paper:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/template-TTIP-press-release
There are marked sections in the template press release that need to be filled in before you send it.
WHAT IF I HAVE A QUESTION TOMORROW?
There will be staff in the 38 Degrees office answering last-minute questions from 8am onwards on Saturday:
Call: 0207 970 6023
Tweet: @38_degrees
Email: ttipaction@38degrees.org.uk
Text (this phone only receives texts, please don’t call it): 07537416804
Let’s do this!
Susannah, Blanche, David and the 38 Degrees team
*************************************
All of what follows is subject to change:
1) Description of the bare bones of the agreement: that it is in fact mostly not a trade agreement but a mechanism designed to put corporate power over the sovereign power of nations, that when any country agrees to the TPP agreement, it agrees to having its laws conform to or be inferior to rules within the agreement, that there is a court which rules whether countries are in violation of the agreement, that those courts are composed of 3 corporate lawyers, all of whom rotate between representative of corporations to the court and being judges of the court.
2) Statement that what we know about the TPP is a result of leaked information from participants. Our president has been meeting with large multinational corporations, such as Monsanto, and with heads of the other 12 countries involved while keeping the U.S. Congress and the press blind as to what the agreement entails.
3) Some of the areas impacted by the agreement are: environmental law, labor law, government procurement and “buy local” campaigns, intellectual property including internet, communications, and pharmaceuticals, public health care systems, and the finance industry; probably other areas are involved as well.
4) Monsanto could be a big winner. So could the entertainment industry that was pushing SOPA and PIPA and were defeated. The Keystone Pipeline could become effectively mandatory. Wall Street bankers could sue the regulators and the government for interference with it “expected profits”.
5) Right now there is concern about the shut down of the federal government. If Trans Pacific Partnership passes, whether the government is up and running will be a moot point. When shut down, the government will not be able to deliver services. When open but under TPP rule, the government will use taxpayer money for the corporations and against the interests of the taxpayers.
6) The TPP agreement is expected to be in a complete enough form to be voted on by the end of this year.
7) The bill is being presented to Congress in a “fast track” form. This means, voting for or against the bill and not altering any of its contents. The president is given the final say on all “trade related” items.
What I am imagining for a program: the above restated and representatives from the various areas impacted who describe what the TPP means for each of their impacted areas. For example, a activist that worked hard and eventually stopped SOPA would describe how the TPP would effectively reintroduce SOPA as law but through the “back door” of an international trade agreement.
Our goal should be to incite activism around this issue, the most important parts of which being full exposures and discussion of its contents before any vote on the TPP, up or down, is allowed and only allowing the TPP to go forward with Congress having the complete ability to add to, subtract or otherwise modify any of the bills contents.
When NAFTA passed, most of the country was optimistic about the results it would deliver. Now NAFTA, upon which the TPP is largely modeled, is highly unpopular. Once exposed to “the light of day”, I expect the TPP, NAFTA II, will die a much deserved death.
