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"We are fed up, we are educated, we are empowered..."
As 'Do-Or-Die' Talks End In Failure, Could TPP Be Derailed for Good?
by Sarah Lazare
Common Dreams
8/1/15
Global justice campaigners say disintegration of Maui negotiations 'good news for people and the planet'
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade ministers in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo: Audrey McAvoy/Associated Press)
....The TPP ministers claimed in a joint statement released Friday that they have "made significant progress and will continue work on resolving a limited number of remaining issues." But analysts say that the ministers' failure to close a deal strikes a significant blow against Obama's agenda. Under the timeline set in the controversial Fast Track legislation passed in the U.S. last month, a minimum of roughly four-and-a-half months is required between the conclusion of negotiations and a yes-or-no vote in Congress, according to the calculations (pdf) of watchdog group Public Citizen.
....SNIP....
Friends of the Earth said on Saturday that U.S. negotiators "are trying to divert attention from this failure by claiming that an agreement concluded in Maui on the TPP environment chapter is a major success. This is incorrect."
"Environmental chapters in recent U.S. free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Korea, and Panama are narrow in scope dealing mainly with conservation issues," the environmental organization continued. "Not a single one of these agreements has resulted in a U.S. suit to enforce obligations to curb trade in illegally-harvested timber or illegal trade in endangered species. Now, it appears that the TPP environment chapter may be even weaker than its predecessors, and that many of its provisions will be merely aspirational and not legally binding."
.....SNIP....good info....
....."Behind me stands my ancestors and my ‘ohana (family)," declared protester Lorilani Keohokalole-Torio on Wednesday. "We are not aligned with people coming in and restructuring how we live.
It hurts my na‘au, my gut. We are fed up, we are educated, we are empowered, and we are aligned to help this place, mother earth, regain the strength that she wants back."
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/08/01/do-or-die-talks-end-failure-could-tpp-be-derailed-good
by Sarah Lazare
Common Dreams
8/1/15
Global justice campaigners say disintegration of Maui negotiations 'good news for people and the planet'
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade ministers in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo: Audrey McAvoy/Associated Press)
....The TPP ministers claimed in a joint statement released Friday that they have "made significant progress and will continue work on resolving a limited number of remaining issues." But analysts say that the ministers' failure to close a deal strikes a significant blow against Obama's agenda. Under the timeline set in the controversial Fast Track legislation passed in the U.S. last month, a minimum of roughly four-and-a-half months is required between the conclusion of negotiations and a yes-or-no vote in Congress, according to the calculations (pdf) of watchdog group Public Citizen.
....SNIP....
Friends of the Earth said on Saturday that U.S. negotiators "are trying to divert attention from this failure by claiming that an agreement concluded in Maui on the TPP environment chapter is a major success. This is incorrect."
"Environmental chapters in recent U.S. free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Korea, and Panama are narrow in scope dealing mainly with conservation issues," the environmental organization continued. "Not a single one of these agreements has resulted in a U.S. suit to enforce obligations to curb trade in illegally-harvested timber or illegal trade in endangered species. Now, it appears that the TPP environment chapter may be even weaker than its predecessors, and that many of its provisions will be merely aspirational and not legally binding."
.....SNIP....good info....
....."Behind me stands my ancestors and my ‘ohana (family)," declared protester Lorilani Keohokalole-Torio on Wednesday. "We are not aligned with people coming in and restructuring how we live.
It hurts my na‘au, my gut. We are fed up, we are educated, we are empowered, and we are aligned to help this place, mother earth, regain the strength that she wants back."
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/08/01/do-or-die-talks-end-failure-could-tpp-be-derailed-good
