Pax Christi USA has signed onto and endorsed the following letter being circulated by Pax Christi Indianapolis. We encourage other individuals and groups to sign on and send this letter in their name to the President.
Dear President Obama:
We, the members of Pax Christi Indianapolis, are gravely concerned regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty (TPP). We are alarmed that you, President Obama, hope the agreement will be given fast-track treatment on Capitol Hill, allowing you to sign this trade agreement before Congress votes on it. Congress’ post-facto vote would bypass normal congressional review by stifling debate and banning amendments and filibusters. If passed, the TPP will put profits and corporations over people, favoring large corporations like Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman Sachs, Halliburton, Phillip Morris and GM.
The claimed purpose of the TPP is to promote development and create jobs.
In actuality, if passed, the TPP will:
* Increase unemployment and migration and weaken working conditions by moving millions of good-paying jobs to low-wage nations.
* Threaten local economies by overturning government laws designed to keep taxpayers’ dollars in the local economy.
* Undercut food safety protections by restricting the ability of countries to adopt regulations, such as GMO labeling.
* Decrease access to affordable and life-saving medication by expanding pharmaceutical monopoly protections and instituting longer patents.
* Weaken foreign governments and strenghten corporate power by giving multinational corporations and private investors the right to sue nations in private tribunals if the laws, regulations, or court decisions of a member nation are deemed to adversely affect the corporation’s future profits.
* Threaten indigenous lands and rights by encouraging the privatization of lands and natural resources in indigenous lands. (Witness for Peace Southeast Region)
Several members of our organization have traveled to Latin America and have observed first-hand the negative impact of NAFTA-CAFTA upon the indigenous communities, the farmers and business owners. Since 1994 when NAFTA went into effect, thousands of persons have immigrated to our country from Latin America because they can no longer feed their families. This new treaty would also have disastrous effects on the people of the eleven countries involved. This treaty should not be negotiated in secret. It must be discussed and debated by Congress.