Green Party Releases International Joint Statement Criticizing the TPP

Dangerous_Minds writes "The New Zealand, Australian, and Canadian Green Parties have released a joint statement on the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). Among the concerns are the secretive nature of the talks and 'could hinder access to safe, affordable medicines, weaken local content rules for media, stifle high-tech innovation, and even restrict the ability of future governments to legislate for the good of public health and the environment.' ZeroPaid also notes that the statement is starting to appear in New Zealand and Australian media."

Re:Honestly

[LordLucless]

I had the same reaction when I read the first few lines of the headline, but no, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad thing. It's the latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws.

Re:Honestly

[garett_spencley]

Reasons to hate the TPP:

"latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws."

Reasons to love the TPP:

Stick it to neo-religious enviro-nazi "green" hippy fanatics.

World spinning. Can't ... decide ... where .. to ... stand... gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Stick it to neo-religious enviro-nazi "green" hippy fanatics.

That's more a matter of poor advertising on the green parties' parts. Have you actually seriously read the platform of your particular Green Party, or is it just word association of green=enviro-hippy=Greenpeace, etc?

In Canada, the Green Party is probably the most traditionally conservative party you can vote for. The Conservatives are busy selling the country off to trans-nationals and centralizing government power.

Re:

[Ghaoth]

In Australia they are so radically to the left, they're falling off the cliff. Their aim is to have global governance under the auspices of the UN. I'll leave that to your imagination. "http://greens.org.au/policies/human-rights-democracy/global-governance"

Re:

[drsmithy]

I had the same reaction when I read the first few lines of the headline, but no, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad thing. It's the latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws.

Hence why the only major parties with policy platforms supporting their country's interests, rather than America's, are complaining about it.

Re:

[LordLucless]

The Greens aren't really a major party (at least in Australia). They're probably the strongest of the minorities, but they're nowhere near being able to hold government in their own right - and if they ever do get to that point, expect them to change their tune.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The Greens (at least in Australia) are not so easily dismissed. They can't hold Government in their own right, but thanks to holding the balance of power they can and do set the agenda on issues that they happen to feel like.

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

For the same reason the religious parties hold influence beyond their numbers. As I understand it, the major parties are in some sort of perpetual stalemate - almost perfectly balanced in power. That means that when the big parties differ, the otherwise-insignificent ones can easily be the deciding factor.

Re:

[Earache65]

The Greens in Canada have essentially no power but they do get media coverage. The best we could hope is that the NDP and Liberals will back this if it grows legs just to oppose the current Conservative majority. Tying health care and the environment to the IP issue won`t hurt either.

Re:Honestly

[c0lo]

info [wikipedia.org] - essentially, it is only a bit worse than ACTA (including the secrecy of negotiation), with some elements of SOPA thrown in.

Do you have the same reaction to EFF [eff.org]?

Speaking for myself... if the internet freedom comes only in green colours (i.e. no other parties would support them), I'm fully green then (possibly with the black-sail of the local pirate party)

Re:

[jamstar7]

Why is any of this surprising to anybody?

The Internet was designed to survive being broken up in parts and the parts mostly inaccessible to each other. The thinking was, in old Cold Warrior terms, 'Assume a nuclear war. How do we design a computer network that still functions in the aftermath?' The result? ARPANet, the parent of the modern internet. Being decentralised by nature it's resilient, and local networks can still function even in the face of 'great firewalls' through proxies.

The media compa

Re:

[c0lo]

Why is any of this surprising to anybody?

Who said this one came as a surprise? I understand why it happens, I even understand why (some/many of the) politicians do very little about it. What I don't understand is the reaction of the OP AC that cheers for TPP because the only parties that oppose the process are the Greens and s/he doesn't like them.

Re:Honestly

[thoughtfulbloke]

Actual-green parties (which is to say ones with a representation in parliament), rather than straw-man imagined green parties, are normally on the same side as the non-corporate libertarians when it comes to matters of government transparency.
I think most of the hate comes from people with no actual experience of living anywhere with greens in government, so not knowing they have actually been quite effective at pushing pro-open government, anti-corporate influence issues in a direction that suits most libertarians.

Re:Honestly

[ByronHope]

You're being too generous. The people who bucket the Greens come in three flavours. Those who genuinely understand and know what the Greens are about and disagree, they can be identified by having reasoned arguments and use evidence to push their point, this type is rare in public discourse. The second type don't like the Greens because they are threatened by them, but can't use evidence or reasoned arguments because they know if the facts are laid bare, the public will not agree. This second type is identified by their use of emotive language, deception and fanatical hostility. Fox News (or any Murdoch run media) and large corporations are prime examples. The third and most common are identified by their emotive parroting of the position of the second type, they also lack the resources of the second type. The third type are media consumers, you can see them on this page. So even if you do have a Greens in government, there will be corporate interests gunning for them, and there will always be plenty of ignorant consumers who will parrot the corporate line.

Re:

[ByronHope]

I should add that the second type of anti-Green includes religious organisations, religious people tend to dislike the Greens, mainly because of money, ie the Greens generally are not in favour of giving tax concessions or funds to organisations who want to use that money to promote belief in sky fairies. Religious types also resent that fact the green parties tend to be hostile to religious rules being forced on society.

Re:

[green1]

Now I'll admit that I'm not an expert on green party policy, but you describe the greens as some form of libertarian leaning group. In Canada that couldn't be further from the truth. Our political spectrum at the federal level has the conservative party at one end, the liberals in the middle, the NDP at the other end... and then about 1000 miles further on is the green party. They make our most liberal, most nanny-state party, look like libertarians. Their platform in the last election was extremely sociali

Re:

[green1]

And we libertarians aren't going to shoot them.
I didn't say that socialism was bad, only that I wouldn't vote for it.

Re:

[green1]

Fiscally conservative???? where on earth did you get that garbage from? their platform involved higher taxes on anything that could in some way be related to the environment (any fuel, electricity, etc), higher taxes on any food deemed not to be good for you, and higher spending on every single department of the government (with the possible exception of the military). They had no provision to reduce spending on anything, no provision to reduce deficit or debt and many many many places where they wanted to

Re:Honestly

[c0lo]

BTW guys, the page that I linked on the EFF site has a take action [eff.org] link down the page... (looks like it's a page for US citizens - asks for a simple ZIP code).

Now, in case you don't live in US (or don't like Greens but you may like some others)...
OpenMedia.ca and a good bunch of many others run an international site [stopthetrap.net] which sends the message to some of the ministers in govts of all the countries involved in the TPP negotiations (I've done it and received some auto-confirmation emails from the .gov type of domains)

Com'on guys, doesn't ask for that much of an effort, don't wait for a "Wikipedia blackout day" to take a minimal action.

When will this explode?

[NewtonsLaw]

How long before "the great unwashed" finally wake up to the fact that their governments are selling out their rights to the big corporations of the world?

Who keeps an eye on the post-political careers of these "negotiators" and reports on how many of them get "honorary directorships" of the companies they are selling the public's rights in favor of?

Surely, sooner or later, even the half of the population who are below the median IQ will have to wake up to the fact that governments and corporations are working in concert to strip them of their rights and their money.

Or have we devolved to the point where we no longer care -- so long as their is food on the table and a roof (however shabby) over our heads?

Re:

[Samantha Wright]

Are you sure? Sidney Gottlieb once destroyed a large number of classified CIA papers. At any rate, I think that's a bit of a fallacy—to invoke Godwin, the Nuremberg Trials did little for those who were already dead.

Re:When will this explode?

[robot5x]

not even that - so long as people have their widescreen tv and brawndo they basically don't care. the frustrating part is this perpetuates the very problem: the evil corporations lurking behind abominable acts such as the TPP are wholly vulnerable to something as simple as people not buying their products... The real modern problem is people having disposable income and choosing to spend it on shit which makes evil corporations rich and powerful and keen to strip our rights away to make more money. If people could simply refrain from not going to the cinema, not buying a dvd, not buying a new TV, not paying for a sports game - even just for a SHORT while - the balance of power will change. The power still remains with individual people, if we can just better understand the consequences of our behaviour.

Re:

[VortexCortex]

Or have we devolved to the point where we no longer care -- so long as their is food on the table and a roof (however shabby) over our heads?

Yes. This, for the most part. The other common folk have just done away with following any law that seems unjust, as their governments do. You're seeing the intersection of the Meta laws that are made to Meta rule the Meta citizens who are all above the lower laws. Welcome to the Next Level.

Re:

[SuricouRaven]

It's an old problem. The old 'bread and circuses' term originated with some people back in the roman republic complaining that people didn't care to get involved in civics or do anything to aid their fellows so long as they had food on the table and some entertainment to watch.

Re:

[durin]

"Surely, sooner or later, even the half of the population"

This hasn't happened yet, though the governent/corporate abuse has been going on for quite a while, so don't hold your breath.

Re:

[jonwil]

The sheeple will never wake up to it because they believe what the "talking head" on the TV news above anyone else and those same "talking heads" report what the big corporations (who own those same news networks) want them to say (i.e. anything that makes them look good)

Big Corporations and Big Government have a propaganda machine that makes even the Nazi's look weak by comparison.

How about NO!

[Anonymous Coward]

"The Intellectual Property Rights chapter of the TPPA was leaked in draft form in February 2011. We anticipate that unless a more moderate and balanced version is adopted, NZ, Canada and Australia's shoppers, schools and libraries would end up paying more for their books and DVD's because it would let copyright holders veto parallel importing. Small and medium-sized software and IT businesses would have their innovative visions stifled by constraining patent laws. Finally, large pharmaceutical companies could use the legislation to deny state drug-buying agencies like those in Australia and NZ access to reliable, low cost medicines."

What's the big deal?

[Black Parrot]

It will help the rich get richer. Isn't that what governments are for?

Re:

[VortexCortex]

Fuck this planet. "Mostly Harmless" my ass! Beautiful world, but too much politics for ANYONE. ::sigh:: The humans are so primitive, they're still politicking over things like freedom of speech and expression -- Duplicating ideas! Can you believe it!? Copying IS LIFE! Hahaha... Oh well. You can't really blame the stupid sods, I guess; Everyone does this: OOh! Fire! Let's burn EVERYTHING. Oooh! Tools! Let's Tool EVERYTHING! Oooh! Machines! Let's industrialise EVERYTHING! Ooooh Politics! Let'

Re:Green Party to the rescue!

[formfeed]

This will totally make a difference.

Ignoring the sarcasm.. yes, it will.

There are countries outside the US. They have more than two parties. The Green party actually makes it into parliament. These countries are called "democracies".

Re:Green Party to the rescue!

[mwvdlee]

Except those are the same countries that will or won't ratify the TPP.
As far as "mattering" goes, they couldn't matter more in this case.

Re:

[TapeCutter]

The greens currently hold the balance of power in the Australian senate and they have for a long time, politically they cannot be ignored on any issue unless it has bypartisan support from both major parties..

Re:

[drsmithy]

The greens currently hold the balance of power in the Australian senate and they have for a long time, politically they cannot be ignored on any issue unless it has bypartisan support from both major parties..

Sadly it's pretty much guaranteed TPP will, given both major parties live by the philosophy "if it's good for America, it's good for Australia".

Re:

[Evil Pete]

I dunno. I am so on the borderline. I am extremely disillusioned with the Australian Labor Party selling out their principles (if they can remember what those are) while the Liberal Party are almost to the point of learning the goose step. At this point the Green Party is looking pretty good. Considering all the crazy shit that the traditional parties do in spite of promising not to do during the elections only the Greens seem to have any principles or sanity left.

Excellent!

[Anonymous Coward]

We (the Internet community) have been rallying against

SOPA
PIPA

And the "IPR Chapters" in

ACTA
CETA
TPP

So it's nice to see some political parties to get involved, rather than the more easy "let's just not talk about it" approach.

Re:Register now

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone that considers a Green party "far left" has no idea what "far left" actually is.

Re:

[ANonyMouser]

Reading Marx for the first time this year was a real eye opener. The rhetoric maybe toned down but the ideology is certainly there. Rod Donald and many other Green leaders are/were members of the old Communist party and Values party. The Greens are as far left as Act is far right. I support neither of them.

GO AC!!!!

Re:

[Kjella]

Well, the Greens are typically in favor of regulations on emissions, taxes on polluting or otherwise environmentally harmful products and restrictions on destroying nature. That's usually enough to qualify as "far left" in American politics where ~50% is Republicans and Libertarians and oppose anything that remotely smells like government interference, it's more that if you go far enough right everything else looks like the far left.

Re:

[green1]

I expected the greens to be in favour of lots of regulation on environmental issues, however I discovered in their last election platform that they were also in favour of lots of regulation on EVERY aspect of life. Canada as a whole is far more "left" than the most liberal of the american parties, but the Green party makes even our most liberal political party look libertarian.

Re:

[green1]

Did I say the other parties were saints?? I hate all of them, that doesnt' make the green's policy palatable.
I'm libertarian leaning, unfortunately all our parties are socialist, but the greens far more so than any of the others.

Re:

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

From TFA, here are their three examples of laws that are threatened:

1. Giant warning or generic packaging on cigarettes.
2. Requirements of labeling on genetically-modified food.
3. Laws requiring things like Canada's supply management system which "preserves farmer's livelihood."

The first, should it even come to pass, would just be reversing even more pointless government mandate. If cigarettes are that bad, make them illegal.

The second is rolling back unscientific scare tactics that certain political parti

"Green Party Releases International Joint"

[larry bagina]

Gentlemen, start your bongs!

Re:

[DeathElk]

Thank you! The first sensible comment under this forsaken article.

Re:

[HeadBanger606]

I read right to the end of the comments, HOPING that someone would say something like this. As DeathElk said, thank you.