Ireland: 'EU, shame on you!' - Anti-TTIP farmers picket EC offices

[Donkees]

Published on May 4, 2016
Dozens of farmers staged a protest in front of the European Commission’s offices in Dublin, Wednesday, denouncing the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade deal. The protest was organised by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA).

ICSA President Patrick Kent handed over a letter of protest to the European Commission representatives in Dublin, as the protesters picketed Europe House with anti-TTIP signs. Kent stated that Ireland does “not need low grade product being brought in from other countries to undermine the product here. Our farmers do not deserve it.”

[EdwardBernays]

1. Hopefully

We'll see a lot more of this here soon.

[Divernan]

2. The French & Irish are protecting us from corporate exploiters.

No thanks to Obama or Clinton. Hillary knows full well there are lots of profits/donations to the Clinton Family Foundation and her campaign to be earned from corporate bloodsuckers by endorsing every trade agreement possible.

And now Hillary is speechifying about having Bill in charge of trade negotiations if she gets elected!

As is to be expected, citizens in Europe are much better informed about political consequences, and ready to take to the streets to protest.

[EdwardBernays]

4. Spot on!

It's amazing how much more politically savvy the average European is.

[Moliere]

5. Too true and..,

It's amazing how much more educated the average European is.

[Divernan]

10. Education is the key. Americans have been dumbed down for decades.

U.S. public education has always failed to present topics at an international level - explaining the very nationalistic and chauvinistic view Americans have of their country vis a vis the rest of the world. Chauvinism is an exaggerated patriotism and a belligerent belief in national superiority and glory.

While a tiny minority of Americans have ever heard of or could define the concept of "American Exceptionalism", they continue to devoutly believe in it. If they had to apply the phrase "manifest destiny", it would be to spout that the U.S. is destined to lead/rule the rest of the world - bring on the drones. . . don't bother, they're here.

They have ZERO knowledge of how abysmally low the United States rates among industrialized nations in all areas which reflect the quality of life.

Our students are taught to memorize the capitols of every state, but most could not accurately locate all those states on a map, let alone guess even the right continent for many countries.

The only area in which the idiotic "We're Number One!" chant is accurate is in the area of manufacture and export of weapons of death and destruction, i.e., the Military Industrial Complex Rules!

We are 17th in global education, and that is the statistical average, skewed by the best school districts/universities. When I was a staff attorney in the Pennsylvania legislature, I witnessed the state's share of the cost of public education cut year after year to allow the legislators to balance the budget. This shifted the cost to the +500 local school districts, to the increasing detriment of the poorer communities which could not raise property taxes to cover the loss of state funding. http://www.ibtimes.com/us-17th-global-education-ranking-finland-south-korea-claim-top-spots-901538

http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/quality-of-life-full-list

[Betty Karlson]

7. Obama and Clinton can't wait to cram polluted fowl down every throat in the world.

Bill in charge of more NAFTAs? I feel the Bern as never before.

[gregcrawford]

3. The corporatists have overplayed their hand...

... and revealed just what unspeakably evil monsters they really are. If BOTH the transoceanic corporate coup d'etats aren't killed in their cribs, like NOW, it will be impossible to undo the untold destruction they will inflict. To say that these cynically misnamed "trade deals" constitute the greatest threat that the civilized world has ever faced is NOT hyperbole, it is a statement of irrefutable fact. Proponents soft-pedal these agreements as "good for the economy," but the economy is not just multinational corporations that justify their depredations with "our first obligation is to our stockholders." It is "Little People" like you and me; small businesses who are regularly preyed upon by corporatist lawyers to steal our money and our intellectual property, as well as the very property we stand on.

My fingertips would bleed long before I could finish typing a list of just the crimes I've read about or witnessed. Stopping the TPP and the TTIP is the most important thing we will ever do in our lives. It eclipses even World War II in importance because if we don't stop them, the damage that will ensue if we fail will be greater, by many, many orders of magnitude, than all the horrors of that war.

Finally, it saddens me more than words can express that all the good things Obama accomplished will be forever suffocated by his support of these indefensible usurpations of our national sovereignty. He should never be forgiven for that.

[Betty Karlson]

8. well that and his fence fetish when it came to gay rights.

"Fierce advocate" - my ass. Even the Human Rights Campaign's advocacy was fiecer than his. (Recently, they endorsed Mark Kirk - rating 70% - over Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth - rating 100%.)

[ananda]

9. QFT

"... and revealed just what unspeakably evil monsters they really are. If BOTH the transoceanic corporate coup d'etats aren't killed in their cribs, like NOW, it will be impossible to undo the untold destruction they will inflict. To say that these cynically misnamed "trade deals" constitute the greatest threat that the civilized world has ever faced is NOT hyperbole, it is a statement of irrefutable fact. Proponents soft-pedal these agreements as "good for the economy," but the economy is not just multinational corporations that justify their depredations with "our first obligation is to our stockholders." It is "Little People" like you and me; small businesses who are regularly preyed upon by corporatist lawyers to steal our money and our intellectual property, as well as the very property we stand on. "

[Donkees]

6. Paul Murphy speaking on TTIP in Irish Parlaiment (focus on Greenpeace leaks)

[appalachiablue]

11. Bravo to the Irish and Europeans protesting this global trade abomination.