We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, October 5, 2013

A Brave New Transatlantic Partnership: the social & environmental consequences of the proposed EU-US trade deal

Click here to access article from Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).

This piece is an introduction to a downloadable 28 page dissection of the proposed "EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and its socio-economic & environmental consequences" now being negotiated in closed door hearings by corporate sponsored government representatives. In a nutshell the European-American capitalist class are proposing to establish private tribunals that would supersede national regulations and courts while promoting corporate interests in the United States and European Union.
As the second round of negotiations on the EU-US trade agreement kick off in Brussels next week, a new report published by members of the Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B), including CEO, reveals the true human and environmental costs of the proposed deal. The report shows that the promises of job creation and growth are illusions; and that the real impetus behind a deal comes from major EU and US corporations that have joined forces to remove as many labour, health and environmental standards as possible in a devastating race to the bottom.