The only real information we have about the shady corporate giveaway known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), is via three chapters released by Wikileaks. Now, the whistleblower organization is raising $100,000 as a reward for additional leaked draft chapters. From Wikileaks.org:

America’s most wanted secret. The TPP is a multi-trillion dollar international treaty that is being negotiated in secret by the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico and others. This massive agreement has 29 chapters, of which 26 are still secret. It covers 40% of global GDP and is the largest agreement of its kind in history. The treaty aims to create a new international legal regime that will allow transnational corporations to bypass domestic courts, evade environmental protections, police the internet on behalf of the content industry, limit the availability of affordable generic medicines, and drastically curtail each country’s legislative sovereignty. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has said “[They] can’t make this deal public because if the American people saw what was in it, they would be opposed to it.” Over the last two years WikiLeaks has published three chapters of this super-secret global deal, despite unprecedented efforts by negotiating governments to keep it under wraps. The remaining 26 chapters of the deal are closely held by negotiators and the big corporations that have been given privileged access. The TPP is also noteworthy as the icebreaker agreement for the proposed ‘T-treaty triad’ of TPP-TISA-TTIP which would see TPP style rules placed on 53 nations, 1.6 billion people and 2/3rds of the global economy.

$24,000 has already been raised, which is pretty impressive considering I only heard about the campaign this morning.

Here’s the powerful video accompanying the pledge drive:

Meanwhile, this is what’s going on in Julian Assange’s home country, Australia.

From the Guardian:

Australian politicians have been told they can view the current confidential negotiating text for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, but only if they agree not to divulge anything they see for four years, despite expectations the deal could be finalized within months. As 10 years of highly secret negotiations over the 12-nation trade and investment pact draw to a close and the US Congress debates whether to grant president Barack Obama fast-track authority, MPs and senators were briefed on the deal Monday night by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade assistant secretary Elizabeth Ward and other officials. The MPs were told that, despite the negotiations being “in the final stages” and “at the end game”, key provisions had not been agreed – including intellectual property clauses of deep concern to the Australian government and controversial legal avenues for corporations to take action against governments – so-called investor state dispute settlements (ISDS). They were also told the ISDS process itself was still being negotiated, including provisions on transparency. The four-year confidentiality provision mirrors the secrecy provisions printed on the investment chapter of the TPP, which was published by Wikileaks in March. That document said it could be declassified “four years from entry into force of the TPP agreement or, if no agreement enters into force, four years from the close of the negotiations” and said it “must be protected from unauthorized disclosure … and must be stored in a locked or secured building, room, or container”.

They take better care of this document than live anthrax strains.

Xenophon said he was also concerned about ISDS, saying “40 years ago Gough Whitlam abolished appeals to the [British] privy council in what was a watershed moment for Australian sovereignty. We now seem to be going back to the colonial era where court cases, not just appeals, will be determined overseas”. Butler said she also “remained concerned about the ISDS provisions … I will need a lot more information to be satisfied this is in the national interest, compared with the status quo, which is the bilateral trade agreements we already have with most of these countries”.

You really can’t make this up. The TPP: An agreement so good, it has to be kept secret from the plebs for half a decade. Just more state sanctioned corporate theft.

For related articles, see:

Julian Assange on the TPP – “Deal Isn’t About Trade, It’s About Corporate Control”

How Obama’s Top Trade Representative, Michael Froman, Received Millions from Citigroup During the Financial Crisis

Trade Expert and TPP Whistleblower – “We Should Be Very Concerned about What’s Hidden in This Trade Deal”

As the Senate Prepares to Vote on “Fast Track,” Here’s a Quick Primer on the Dangers of the TPP

In Liberty,

Michael Krieger



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