Nov. 6, 2015 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
02:40
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| So you may have heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, otherwise known as the TPP, but the chances are you haven't, or at least you don't really know anything about it. | |
| Well, that's because nobody really knew anything about it. | |
| It is an international trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors by 12 countries, and the public has not been allowed to see what's in it. | |
| The only information we have about the TPP is that which has been leaked to WikiLeaks, and it's very sparse and frankly very worrying. | |
| There have been several American politicians who have come forward and said, you guys are not going to like this. | |
| Looking at this from a historical perspective, I find this to be a terrifying precedent. | |
| I do not think private corporations should be able to negotiate secret trade agreements and then propose them to a dozen different governments. | |
| Especially as it really appears from what we've had leaked that these trade agreements are going to supersede national rights. | |
| Now, I don't know how true this is or not, because no one had been able to actually read the text of this agreement. | |
| Obama has notified Congress that he intends to sign the trade agreement, despite the fact that it was negotiated entirely behind the public's back by private corporations. | |
| But the thing is, he has to wait 90 days before he can do that. | |
| And lucky for us, the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership has now been released, so we actually have a window of 90 days to read this before it becomes signed into law and theoretically protest against it and possibly get something changed or get it prevented altogether. | |
| I haven't had time to read this yet, and I'm probably going to need help with it, because I am no expert on treaties and international law. | |
| So I've left a link in the description. | |
| If anyone is interested in discussing this, please post in the comments below anything that you've found in the partnership that seems relevant, that seems important for people to know. | |
| And when we've gone through it, hopefully together, I will post a big update video, or at least some kind of informative package that you can show to people. | |
| You can say, hey, look, this is what the governments of 12 countries are doing, probably yours included. | |
| You should be protesting this. | |
| Now, I just want to point out that I could be wrong. | |
| It could be that the TPP is completely benign. | |
| I haven't read it yet. | |
| I will be reading it along, hopefully with you guys. | |
| But I really don't think that anything so benign would need such secrecy in order to make it come into existence. |
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