"Free Trade" is Not Free – Why We All Need to Oppose the TPP

From Common Dreams: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/12-6

by John Kinsman

Published on Monday, March 12, 2012 by Common Dreams

There are always winners and losers in free trade. The winners are the 1% - the wealthy at the top. The losers are the 99% - that means the rest of us.

The latest free trade deal which is now being rushed by President Obama through Congress is known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Thirty years ago, the first free trade deals were enacted under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Australia/US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA), and many more. During this time, the global economic crisis accelerated at an alarming rate with only the 1% reaping the profits. This ongoing crisis will not end until these destructive free trade agreements are repealed and fair trade becomes the norm.

Most recently, the Korea/US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) was signed, over the objections of many labor, farm, and consumer groups in both countries. According to the Feb. 8. 2012 edition of the Korea Times, the leader of the Democratic United Party (DUP) vowed to nullify this deal with the United States once in power. Current predictions show the DUP winning this year’s general election. In an open letter to Obama, vice president Biden, and House Speaker Boehner, the DUP called upon the US “to reconsider the KORUS FTA in order to truly strengthen the long term relationship between our countries. If our cordial and earnest request is overlooked by your administration, we will have to take all measures possible to freeze the implementation of the KORUS FTA.”

Why would anyone expect anything but another race to the bottom in terms of farm prices, worker wages, environmental standards and human rights with passage of the TPP? We need only look at what happened in the years following NAFTA where over two million Mexican farmers were driven off their land by subsidized US corn being dumped into the market. Risking their lives, the farmers migrated across the border in search of work – families torn apart as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters disappear. Some died in the desert, others were murdered by traffickers (coyotes) and rightwing vigilantes. So devalued as human beings, their lives were not even worth counting. Similarly, in the US and Canada thousands of family farmers and small business owners have seen their livelihoods sacrificed on the altar of greater corporate profit.

Continue reading at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/12-6