Panel
of Experts Exposes TPP at Upper East Side Teach-in, Leads to
Formation of TradeJustice Chapters
On May 24, 2013, TradeJustice in
cooperation with the Sierra Club NYC Group, All Souls Unitarian
Universalist Church and others organized a teach-in on the TPP and
Fast Track with the intent to inspire grassroots organizing in
Congressional districts throughout the city. The event was attended
by over 150 people, who later broke into groups by Congressional
district to plan organizing against TPP in their own communities.
The event helped to launch TradeJustice chapters throughout the city.
)
Here's a description of
the event:
The
Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (TPP)
The
Global Race to the Bottom is About to Get Much Worse What You Can
Do to Impact the Biggest Trade Deal Ever
TUESDAY,
MAY 28TH, 6:30 PM to 9 PM
ALL
SOULS UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
1157
Lexington Avenue between 79th and 80th Streets,
NYC
Sponsored
the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Peace & Justice Task
Force
and
Sierra Club's New York State and New York City TPP Task
Forces
The TPP, a trade agreement the U.S. is negotiating
with 11 other nations, will outsource more jobs, prohibit banking
regulation, and expand corporate intellectual property rights that
curtail Internet freedom and limit access to lifesaving generic
drugs. It will also grant foreign corporations the power to sue our
government when our laws block their environmentally destructive
projects and toxic products.
The TPP is shrouded in secrecy. The Administration
intends to complete negotiations by October 2013 with almost no media
attention or input from the public and Congress. President Obama has
said he’ll ask Congress to grant him Fast Track Authority,
which will force Congress to vote on the TPP without changing a
single word of it.
That’s where we come in….
RSVP at http://tradejustice.net/528
Doors will open at 6:30 PM for a reception with
light refreshments. You can sign in, pick up meeting materials, and
check out who your Congress Member is.
7 PM The Raging Grannies will be on hand to sing
“Bye Bye TPP.”
Panel begins at 7:05 PM with the following speakers:
Alisa Simmons, National Field Director at Public
Citizen’s Global Trade Watch
Kenneth Peres, Chief Economist at Communications
Workers of America
Ilana Solomon, Trade Rep at Sierra Club
Manuel Perez-Rocha, Associate Fellow at Institute
for Policy Studies
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
We’ll split into groups by congressional
district for information on how to call, write, and lobby our
Congress Members but there’s more than one way to lobby--we can
activate our communities via a church group, neighbor get-together,
local newspaper. Let’s plan some good ways to take action.
Our goals are to:
1) Express our concerns about TPP with our Senators
and Congress Members.
2) Ask your representatives to obtain a copy of the
agreed-on TPP texts to share with you.
3) Ask your representatives to publicly pledge to
vote against Fast Track.
4) Connect with our communities to help make those
things happen.
SPONSORED BY SIERRA CLUB AND THE PEACE & JUSTICE
TASK FORCE OF ALL SOULS UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
ADMISSION IS FREE - DONATIONS ARE WELCOME
http://nyc.sierraclub.org/global-race-to-the-bottom/
CO-SPONSORS:
Citizens Trade Campaign, Coalition Against the
Rockaway Pipeline, Communications Workers of America, Food and Water
Watch, Global Justice for Animals and the Environment, Institute for
Policy Studies, New York Climate Action Group, New York Whale and
Dolphin Action League, NYC Friends of Clearwater, NYH2O/Damascus
Citizens, Occupy the Pipeline, Occupy Wall Street Trade Justice, OWS
Environmental Sustainability Working Group, Sane Energy Project,
Trade Justice New York Metro, United for Action, WBAI Eco-logic, more
to come...
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