Flobots Rage Against TPP

‘It’s Time To Get Loud’

Column and photos by Dave Felice

  Starting in Denver with a national tour to raise awareness about a multi-national trade agreement is what legendary guitarist Tom Morello calls telling the truth as he sees it.

“Working people everywhere have had enough,” Morello says. “The TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) is nothing short of a corporate takeover of our democracy. That’s why people are rising up to stop it. Corporate lobbyists want to sneak the TPP through Congress quietly; that means it’s time for us to get loud.”

Morello, the former leader of Rage Against the Machine and Prophets of Rage, has taken strong stands on numerous social justice and political fairness issues, including police brutality and immigrant rights.

Denver’s internationally known rock and hip-hop group the Flobots joined Morello and several other groups at Summit Music Hall in Denver on July 23 for the start of the campaign tour known as “Rock Against the TPP.” Notable actress and author Evangeline Lilly hosted the concert and conducted training programs the next day.

“As a musician … I know the most powerful force is not the person on stage, but the people in the audience, the crowd,” says Jonny 5 of the Flobots, writing recently online for Denver’s Westword. “In a democracy, the crowd is the electorate. An uninformed electorate can be duped. A disengaged electorate can be ignored. But an engaged, informed electorate can determine the path that its leaders must take.”

Jonny 5 perhaps draws inspiration from the recent national referendum in the United Kingdom, in which citizens approved the plan to leave the European Union.

Jonny 5 calls the populist movement in the United States to stop the TPP “the perfect illustration of the ability of ordinary people to wield and exert political power.” He points out that many elected officials – including all members of Colorado’s congressional delegation – have not yet taken a public position on what he calls “a global deal with massive implications.”

Who sets the rules?

In simple terms, opponents of the trade agreement describe it as a deal negotiated in secret by 12 governments and hundreds of lobbyists to give corporations even more power to damage the climate, censor the internet, destroy good jobs in the U.S., increase the cost of medicine, and control the democratic process.

TPP supporters dispute these claims, saying that if the U.S. doesn’t set the rules on international trade, China will do so.

Most social justice, environmental, and labor organizations oppose the TPP. Many religious and agricultural interests have joined the ranks of those calling for the deal to be turned down. Some conservative groups object because the TPP strengthens “the imperial presidency,” threatens U.S. sovereignty, and would create another massive administrative bureaucracy.

In Boulder, Colorado’s 2nd District Representative, Democrat Jared Polis, has been the target of some of the most intensive pressure to reject the TPP. For some, Polis’ pro-business stance overcomes his past record of progressive and socially responsible positions.

The two other Democrats in the Colorado delegation, Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, and Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Lakewood continue to say they have not made up their minds on the trade pact. The four Republican members of the Colorado delegation, while not taking a public stance, are said to be leaning in favor of the deal.

“The two wiggly votes (DeGette and Perlmutter) need to be nailed to the floor,” said Lori Wallach of Public Citizen/Global Trade Watch. “This (deal) is a corporate coup and we are in hand-to-hand combat.”

On July 23, Golden Globe nominated actress Evangeline Lilly took the stage in Denver, noting that the fight against the trade agreement “is not about right and left, it’s about right and wrong.”

“Whatever you’re passionate about, whether it’s human rights, internet freedom, climate change, or food safety, the TPP is a bad deal for humanity, and a threat to the future of democracy,” Lilly says. “The more people learn about the TPP, the less they like it. It’s our responsibility to sound the alarm, before it’s too late.”

The fine print

One of the most complex provisions of the TPP – the Investor State Dispute Settlement – expands the capability of governments and investors to sue other governments for interfering with a corporation’s ability to make a profit. There could be billions of dollars in penalties imposed by a secretive trade tribunal or the city, state, or national government to change a law.

For example, the United States recently lost a suit against Country of Origin Labeling for meat products and had to rescind the law in the budget bill. In another case, the U.S. won a claim against the government of India for requiring that solar energy production equipment used by the Indian government must be manufactured in India.

Critics of the TPP also worry about the impact on prescription drug prices in treaty nations. The deal sets up mechanisms to allow corporations to have greater control of drug patents and prices, or to withhold certain drugs from the markets. TPP opponents call this the “death sentence clause.”

Wind in the sails

Activist and musician Evan Greer organized the TPP opposition road show. Greer, of Boston, is also the campaign director of the group Fight for the Future, in cooperation with Firebrand Records. On its website, Fight for the Future “envisions a world where everyone can access the Internet affordably, free of interference or censorship, and with full privacy.”

Morello says he, the Flobots, and others are providing the soundtrack for a successful social movement.

“Joe Hill’s union anthems put wind in the sails of those fighting for an eight-hour workday in the early 20th century,” he says.

“[The song] We Shall Overcome steeled the resolve of Freedom Riders during the civil rights movement. Jimi Hendrix’s The Star Spangled Banner channeled the moral cacophony of the Vietnam War at Woodstock. And one or two Rage Against the Machine songs were heard in the streets during the Seattle anti-globalization uprising,” Morello noted in a recent LA Times guest opinion.

President Barack Obama, who supports TPP, had a partial victory earlier in the year when Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Polis voted to give the president the authority to approve the deal and send it to Congress with little discussion and no amendments possible. Rep. DeGette called this procedure, known as Fast Track, “an abrogation of Congressional responsibility.”

Obama appears to be working to get the deal ratified in the lame duck congressional session after the election in November. Some members of Congress will be free to ignore public concern, and the president-elect could shift position on the TPP.

Currently, both major party presidential candidates have declared their opposition to the trade agreement.

Dave Felice is an At-Large Board Member of Greater Park Hill Community Inc. He is a member of National Writers Union, Local 1981, and recipient of awards in 2015 and 2016 from the Society of Professional Journalists for news column writing. He can be contacted at gelato321@aol.com.