Trade is only a minor part of the agreement, that’s just a clever branding exercise. A TPPA would be an agreement that guarantees special rights to foreign investors. If these negotiations succeed they will create a mega-treaty across nine countries that will put a straight jacket around what policies and laws our governments can adopt for the next century – think GM labelling, food security, foreign investment laws, price of medicines, regulating dodgy finance firms, NZ content on TV etc.
The New Zealand Human Rights Commission has declined a request for a scoping study on the human rights implications of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), saying it doesn’t have the resources. It would be more accurate to say they can't comment because they're not allowed to see the draft!
….no surprises there, then. You can almost taste the desperation of John Key to get this one in the can with the minimum of disruption.
There is a petition opposing the agreement
To sign the petition GO HERE
“The negotiators themselves say this is not an ordinary free trade agreement."
“ why are they scared to release the draft text and open it to scrutiny?” (Prof. Jane Kelsey, Auckland University)
Absolutely this is not even a free trade agreement or even a treaty in the normal sense as has been understood since the middle ages. The TPPA promoting itself as a free trade agreement whilst shrouding itself in secrecy is essentially like a pirate ship of old flying a false flag in order to engage its intended victim by deception, that is to say to secure a binding agreement behind the backs of the citizens of sovereign nations.
It would not even be true to say this is about the Americans trying to pull a fast one on smaller nations. Essentially the agreement is designed to make international capital the sovereign power within nations with precedence over the elected assemblies that are presently considered to be sovereign. The incumbent leadership of the nations involved are attempting to tie the hands of future generations of elected representatives who may choose to make decisions based on their "national interest" rather than the interest of the worlds elite.
Arguably, the financial elite see the writing on the wall for the future of their ability to dominate the worlds economic activity. As the global financial bubble deflates, as it is doing right now and will continue to do so at an accellerating pace over the next few years, future governments and communities will need to pursue initiatives of relocalisation that will severely reduce the elites ability to make profit through trade, commerce and industry. The elites plan for the future is to use their present wealth (before it deflates to nothing in the financial meltdown) to capture resources (such as land, water, minerals) and enforce intellectual property rights so as to maintain their wealth and position through "rent-seeking"
The TPPA agreement is a "traitors gambit " and should be exposed as such at every possible occasion.
To sign the petition GO HERE
