Andrew Fisher
Fourteen years ago I read the excellent Captive
State - The Corporate Takeover of Britain by George Monbiot.
I was entering my
final year of my undergraduate politics degree, and Monbiot's masterpiece
(still his best book to date IMHO) was massively influential both on me and on
many other young activists at the time.
Chapter
ten of that book was the story of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment
(MAI). It confirmed everything I instinctively knew.
This was the exposition of
a conspiracy to subjugate democratic rights to corporate greed - and the
politicians connived in it.
MAI
was defeated by movements around the world, and by an effective veto by the
French.
But attempts to resurrect the agenda piecemeal continued through the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the proposed Transatlantic Economic
Partnership.
Fast
forward fourteen years and that agenda is back with a vengeance, newly branded
as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The protagonists
are the same, a corporate-driven agenda to elevate the right to make corporate
profits above any democratic accountability, delivered by the US government and
the European Union - pushed most enthusiastically by the UK government.
For
Clinton substitute Obama, for Blair substitute Cameron - different puppets with
the same corporate paymasters.
Those
attempting to cast this as the evil EU negotiating away our democratic rights
have to concede that the greatest cheerleader for TTIP in the EU has been David
Cameron, who claimed the deal would "bring £99 billion a year to the EU,
giving an average family of four in the UK an extra £454 per year".
A
dubious claim presented without supporting evidence ( refuted by WDM).
If we look at the details of TTIP, they bear an uncanny resemblance to
Cameron's agenda in government.
The
proposals contained in TTIP would:
- Remove regulatory barriers to trade
- including environmental safeguards, labour standards (including trade
union rights and health & safety), and food safety standards
- Liberalise procurement in a whole
range of public services - effectively opening up the NHS and other areas
to unrestricted privatisation by global corporations
- Allow global corporations to sue
governments if they believed their profits would be harmed by government
decisions - with decisions made by a secret tribunal
This
time a brilliant book, The Poverty of Capitalism, has been written in advance - outlining the corporate trade
agreement agenda - and War on Want's John Hilary deserves huge credit ( see our review
here).
There is again a global coalition of
campaigning organisations, activist groups, and trade unions organised to
oppose the agreement, including War on Want, the World Development Movement,
Friends of the Earth, the People's Assembly and UK Uncut.
They also include the
unions that fund Labour: Unite, Unison and GMB all vocally opposed, as are the
influential non-affiliated campaigning unions NUT, PCS and UCU.
If Ed
Miliband really opposed predatory capitalism, he would be shouting from the
rooftops about the trampling of people's rights under the corporate jackboot
that is TTIP. Yet the Labour leader and the frontbench have been silent.
So
could the great redemption again come from France? If Hollande's repeated
capitulations since his election are anything to go by then shouldn't place our
oeufs in the French basket.
We are
reaching the tipping point in the battle between capitalism and democracy. So
...
Take action:
- Meet 12 noon on Sat 12 July outside
BIS, Victoria Street (join Facebook event)
- Join events around the UK on Sat 12 July
Further reading:
- John Hilary (War on Want) - The hidden threat of the TTIP deal
- Polly Jones (World Development
Movement) - TTIP: The real costs of free trade
- Joy Johnson (Class) - Labour rights to be TTIPed out
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