Germany – Thousands of people across the nation demonstrated on Saturday in opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the United States.
Many are afraid that the upcoming deal will erode sovereignty and endanger multiple industries, including food, medical, and technology. Supporters counter that the deal would bring $100 billion annually for both sides. However, Reuters reported that “a recent YouGov poll showed that 43 percent of Germans believe TTIP would be bad for the country, compared to 26 percent who see it as positive.”
Reports claim that the protests also reflect Germany’s anti-American sentiments due to the “revelations of U.S. spying and fears of digital domination by firms like Google,” as well as the wiretapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone.
In Berlin, 1,500 activists formed a human chain from the Potsdamer Platz square to the offices of the European Commission, passing through U.S. embassy and Brandenburg Gate in the process.
Anti-TTIP-demonstrators form a human chain in front of the US embassy to protest against the proposed US8EU free trade pact in Berlin on April 18, 2015 ©John MacDougall (AFP)
An estimated crowd of 15,000 marched in Munich, and hundreds more joined in across Germany and Europe. The protests are being billed as a “Global Day of Action”, and they came ahead of the new round of talks.
Obama claims that the deal will help grow both the U.S. and European Union economies, while supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs, increasing exports, and reducing trade and investment barriers.
“Now that Congress is considering important bipartisan legislation for trade promotion authority, TTIP negotiations need to make major progress this year,” he said in a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
U.S. lawmakers recently reached a deal, giving Obama “trade promotion authority” to sign off on the TTIP. Congress is only able to vote up or down on the agreements, and cannot make further changes. According to Common Dreams:
“The so-called Fast Track bill (The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, TPA-2015), which would make it easier for President Barack Obama’s administration to negotiate trade deals by preventing Congress from amending them, includes compromise provisions added in order to ‘win over’ Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.”
The TPP and TTIP are believed to be part of the planned New World Order- a plan long formented by the Corporate-State complex, and it has been stated that the TPP will “give corporate entities more power to evade accountability within the nations they do business.”
There are those who are now calling for the world to stand against the TPP and the TTIP.
The Anti-Media:
“The time nears for the awakened to take to the streets to educate our brothers and sisters about the danger that these trade deal represent. They do not represent the ideas of freedom and prosperity supported by most free people of the world. Rather, these agreements are simply the latest in a long line of wolves in sheep clothing sold to the ignorant (but waking masses).
“Let’s take inspiration from our friends in Germany. Let’s take the streets and let the powers that wish they were know that we are paying attention and we are no longer going to stand up quietly. RISE UP.”
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Sources:
Broze, Derrick. The Anti-Media. Apr 18, 2015. (http://theantimedia.org/ttip-thousands-activists-germany-protest-corporate-trade-deal/)
Fulton, Deirdre. Common Dreams. Apr 16, 2015. (http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/04/16/fast-track-hell-trade-bill-officially-introduced-congress)
Kasolowsky, Raissa. Reuters. Apr 18, 2015. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/18/us-trade-protests-germany-idUSKBN0N90LO20150418)
Voice of America News. Apr 18, 2015. (http://www.voanews.com/content/thousands-rally-in-germany-against-us-eu-trade-deal/2725194.html)
