The Electronic Frontier Foundation fights for a free and fair Internet. But it will barely get a chance to weigh in on a new trade agreement.
“Free trade” deals have traded away the jobs and rights of American workers for decades. The newest one being cooked up by politicians of both parties is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which some labor advocates are calling the “NAFTA Of The Pacific.”
Obama’s U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) office is responsible for negotiating this new trade deal. Although powerful corporations have gotten to weigh in on it for months, public interest groups are finally getting a chance to air their grievances to negotiators. A very, very small chance.
Techdirt reports that the Electronic Frontier Foundation — a leading Internet freedom group — will get just eight minutes to present its view on the agreement to USTR negotiators during a “Direct Stakeholder Engagement” meeting in Virginia next month. This is particularly disturbing in light of the revelation that TPP may include new intellectual property powers that may curb Internet rights.
That’s the role that public interest groups get when money dictates our politics. From trade, to health care, to consumer safety — Americans will always take a back seat to Big Money unless we reform the way our political system works.
The negotiators of TPP are well aware of how damaging this agreement will be to workers on both sides. That is why they are sneaking around and not allowing public scrutiny.
Thies so typical. At every turn democracy, freedom and expression of ideas, thoughts, beleifs are being taken away by super-rich backed groups who are out to destroy America.!!!!! No matter the issue the super-rich and their stooges attempt to have their way by blocking, passing phony & illegal legistaion or simply buying off officials.
Isn’t it funny after decades of staunch anti-communist rhetoric being constantly drilled into the minds of Americans that now all of a sudden our politicians eagerly advocate and support the Chinese communist party even to the detriment of their constituents? Our business community has abandoned the workers who were responsible for their success and have moved their operations so as to take maximum advantage of communist repression of the working poor. Their absence of any patriotic allegiance to the people of the United States is painfully obvious as they avoid paying any taxes while saddling wage earning taxpayers through corporate welfare and public bailouts. Their political contributions of limitless sums is easily subsidized through the tax code which is written in order to move the equity and wages of workers into the vaults of the 1%. Our elite criminal class has the best of both worlds, capitalistic freedom of communistic suppression. Not Another Foreign Take-over of America