TradeJustice Activists Educate on Free Trade Agreements at September 2013 Occupy Town Square

In the leadup to Occupy Wall Street's 2nd anniversary, Occupy volunteers organized a day of teach-ins in Washington Square. TradeJustice volunteers organized two presentations:

“How NAFTA ruined my life” – testimonies from Mexican immigrants and why we should all fight TPP

Presented Malu Huacuja del Toro

Since the passage of NAFTA, NYC’s Mexican immigrant population has seen a fivefold increase. NAFTA devastated Mexico’s rural economy with heavily subsidized agribusiness exports in the process destroying communities as people lost the ability to support their families and were forced to migrate. Participans learned firsthand about the human cost of NAFTA and why we must now fight to stop the even worse Trans-Pacific Partnership. You can read more about Malu's presentation about the impacts of NAFTA on the people of Mexico here.

TPP: The End of Democracy?

Presented by Adam Weissman (OWS TradeJustice), and Pete Dolack (Systemic Disorder)

Negotiated in secret, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12 country NAFTA-style trade agreement threatens our health, environment, jobs, labor rights, banking rights, internet freedom, and food safety. As with past trade agreements, TPP threatens to exacerbate the destruction of indigenous communities, destroy the livelihoods of family farmer, and increase animal suffering by destroying wildlife habit and expanding factory farming. The Obama administration is pushing TPP at the behest of corporations like Halliburton, Cargill, Goldman Sachs, Chevron, and Wal-Mart, who will gain the right to sue our government in international tribunals outside the jurisdiction of our court system, where they can demand unlimited sums in compensation when our public interest laws stand in the way of their expected future profits. TPP is expected to go to a vote in Congress this fall – learn why we should be concerned and how we can stop it! Watch the video below: