brief

On May 17, the Council of Canadians hosted a live broadcast from Lima where trade justice activists were attending a 17th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations that continue in the Peruvian capital this week. The online broadcast, viewable at the link below, was an opportunity for people around the world to tap into the frontline of resistance to the TPP — the latest and possibly largest corporate attack on democracy, workers, farmers, public services, the earth, and access to affordable medicines.

Speakers included:

– Emma Gomez of Cooperaccion, a Peruvian mining justice organization that co-organized a peoples’ conference and protest against the TPP last Friday.

– Mike Dolan of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who is a veteran political organizer, former labor lawyer and lead coordinator, in his role as Field Director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, of the 1999 Seattle WTO demonstrations.

– Melinda St. Louis, the International Campaigns Director with Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch where she works with international allies to roll-back WTO financial deregulation and to stop expansion of harmful trade agreements.

– Dr. Eduardo Bianco, a cardiologist from Uruguay and consultant for Action on Smoking and Health in Latin America who closely followed the Philip Morris case against Uruguay’s tobacco control measures under an investment treaty that is similar to the TPP’s investment chapter.

– Peter Maybarduk, who directs Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program, which helps developing countries overcome patent-based and other pharmaceutical monopolies in order to promote access to medicines for all.

– Ilana Solomon, lead trade representative for the Sierra Club, working to create public support for trade and investment rules that protect the environment, shed light on the environmental threats posed by the current global trading system, ensure that trade rules do not undermine governments’ ability to protect the climate, and build support for policies that address trade in illegally harvested wood.

– Yorgos Altintzis, a policy officer with the International Trade Union Confederation who focuses on issues of global trade and investment and their impact on social development and employment.

Special thanks to the TPPxBorder network, Public Citizen, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Citizens Trade Campaign, Washington Fair Trade Coalition and Sierra Club for making the live broadcast from Lima possible. The webinar was part of the May Days of Action on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, which includes assemblies, public events and other actions across five continents.