We are at a critical moment in the fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a toxic trade deal negotiated in secret between the United States and 11 other Pacific nations, which would benefit multinational corporations at the expense of working people and our environment. Opposition to the TPP has reached an unpreceded high, with millions of Americans, thousands of civil society organizations, and both Presidential candidates opposing the pact. Here is some context to help put in perspective how we got to this place and what it means for our fight to #StopTPP.
People are angry and rightly so. For the past several decades, workers have been forced to work more for less pay, U.S. manufacturing has been gutted, inequality has increased, and the rich have become richer. There are many reasons for this: corporate-driven globalization, privatization of public services, cuts to social safety nets, and trade rules, too.
NAFTA, for example, has led to greater income inequality among workers and has become a prized instrument through which corporations protect their profits by challenging social and environmental protections. TransCanada’s recent NAFTA suit against the U.S. government for rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates how far companies will go to undermine our hard-fought wins. The TPP would expand this model of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) by granting thousands of new firms, including major polluters, the right to private tribunals designed to compensate them for policies that threaten their investments.
Sadly, false idols like Donald Trump hope to harness this anger for their own self-interest. But their answers, rooted in racism and xenophobia, will make things worse, not better. Instead, we must act from a place of hope and we need positive solutions aimed at the root causes.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can have an economy and a movement that fights for our climate and our communities, for immigrant justice and racial justice, for workers and young people. To do this, we must articulate what we believe in and what we do not. The trade debate taking place right now on the national stage offers us an opportunity to say no the status quo—no to the TPP—and yes to a new era of trade that works for all.
It is our utmost priority as organizers, thinkers, and builders to reject the bad, embrace our diverse communities and identities, and define a clear and shared vision for a better future. We need to advance solidarity and equity rather than the interests of fossil fuel companies and the competition of billionaires. To start, by stopping the TPP, we can usher in a new approach to trade that articulates our shared values.
A just trade model means promoting community-oriented and community-owned renewable energy solutions. It means eliminating the right of investors to challenge social and environmental justice through undemocratic tribunals. It means respecting indigenous rights to their ancestral lands and providing a living wage to all workers no matter where they come from or where they are born.
In order to take down the TPP and achieve a more just, equitable, and sustainable world, we will need the voices and the power of all those affected by pollution and prejudice. Let’s unleash our collective power and unite behind a bold vision for trade justice.