I am about to challenge the few brain cells left in your mind. You are apparently too thick for much of the media to bother telling you that Parliament is about to be subjugated utterly by corporations. Oh, you think it is already? Cameron telling us his mates Big Oil will frack under your homes while Virgin administers you clap medicine through the NHS? He ain’t finished yet. The TTIP is the biggie and we’re in for a right thrashing.
In this piece I will use certain abbreviations such as UK for United Kingdom, US for United States, and EU for European Union. Stretched enough yet? The BBC seems to think this is as far as your little minds will handle – it certainly isn’t talking of the biggest threat to democracy since Hitler had his parade in Paris.
TTIP
The Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a treaty being negotiated in Canada which is essentially a trade agreement facilitating free movement of goods across the Atlantic. A similar deal is being drawn up across the Pacific. Not unlike the basic premise of the EU that even UKIP voters like. Brain cells hot yet?
According to the EU website:
“[The TTIP] aims at removing trade barriers in a wide range of economic sectors to make it easier to buy and sell goods and services between the EU and the US.
On top of cutting tariffs across all sectors, the EU and the US want to tackle barriers behind the customs border – such as differences in technical regulations, standards and approval procedures.”
So, a car deemed safe in the UK will be safe in the US without having to spend millions on re-testing. That doesn’t sound too rough does it? Facilitating trade within the concept of globalisation will ensure a faster growth of wealth. (Many disagree with this but this is the world we live in. Do contact me if you have a few million friends who can overthrow the system. I’ll gladly join you.).
The scary bit
If a corporation in a country that is signed up to the TTIP finds that a law stands in its way preventing fair trade it can sue the country for compensation through a mechanism called an investor – state dispute settlement (ISDS).
People in Swanage are beside themselves at the prospect of a fracking rig coming to town to blight the skyline and pollute their water supply. If we had a government which defended people as opposed to corporate interests we would have banned this by now. Problem in doing that? Big Oil could sue the government for lost profits. Considering Cameron orgasms every time you talk about the profits to be had from fracking he would probably fall on his face in fear at the sort of money involved in an ISDS over fracking.
In theory the Booze Lobby could sue the government over fixing the price per unit of alcohol. Smokers like me would be happy as Big Tobacco can sue for unfair taxation meaning I can puff myself toward an early grave safe in the knowledge my government hasn’t a hope in regulating cigarettes.
You don’t believe me? Look at the history!
Previous ISDS Judgements
Let’s look at my only addiction, the one that will likely give me an early, slow death – cigarettes. Australia made the news with plans to only stock cigarettes in plain packets. Tobacco company Philip Morris had an office in Hong Kong which in turn had a trade agreement with Australia, mediated by an ISDS. PM sued the arse off Australia . The law which was introduced to the Australian Parliament in 2011 is still yet to be carried out.
In 2001 Argentina wanted to regulate home energy prices to slow down its economic meltdown. Eddy Milliband wants to do that now! What happened? The energy companies sued for over £100 million. This went all the way to the US Supreme Court last year who found that the ISDS had jurisdiction over the price freeze, not the government over the cost of energy to its impoverished population.
Parliament?
The Crown and elected parliamentarians are supposed to govern the UK. Admittedly with the EU it is limited somewhat. It is about to castrate itself. We will effectively have to ask permission from businesses to do anything from environmental regulation to medicine safety.
The move from democracy to corporate technocracy is complete. The government which has so long got in by votes from us, only to do as corporations wanted, is now going to be governed by organisations whose sole purpose is to make money.
Apologies for frying your brains. You’re probably asleep at your desk by now. Sleep well as we sleepwalk into a world of corporate tyranny, believing someone will make the world a better place…
Richard Shrubb
