What the Borg are up to! Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting. Sierra Club Alert.

Sierra Club sent this out to its members this evening.  I figured that the rest of us deserve to know, too:

"Dear Sierra Club members,

The largest free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will happen right here in San Diego  June 30 to July 8.  This secret trade agreement between 11 Pacific Rim nations, with the help of over 600 corporate representatives, has almost zero public oversight!

Powerful corporate interests have official access and have been pushing for the TPP to:
·  Offshore good-paying jobs to low-wage nations and undercut working conditions globally
·  Create new tools for attacking environmental and consumer safety standards
·  Expand the deregulation of banks, hedge funds and insurance companies
·  Further concentrate control of global food supplies, displacing family farmers and peasants and subjecting consumers to wild price fluctuations and un-labeled genetically-modified food
·  Undermine public health policies that reduce tobacco consumption and increase access to medicine
·  Give multinational corporations and private investors the right to sue nations in private tribunals.  These tribunals have the power to overturn environmental,  labor, or any other laws that limit profit, and award the corporations taxpayer-funded damages.
·  Encourage privatization of lands and natural resources in areas where indigenous people live

The agreement will impact just about every issue we care about: jobs, environmental protection, public health and safety, financial regulation, access to medicines, Internet neutrality, and most importantly, our democratic sovereignty. Please join us next week to say Stop TPP!

There will be two rallies, a major march with pots and pans, an educational conference, and more. Please join us for these three events:

·        Monday, July 2nd on your lunch hour: Noon - Press conference and kick-off rally, at the Hilton Bayfront and Convention Center (where the negotiation conference is taking place).  The event will include a featured speaker from the Sierra Club and sponsored by the San Diego/Imperial County Labor Council of the AFL-CIO.

·        Saturday, July 7th:  March and rally. Gather at 10:30 at the Civic Center (aka Freedom Plaza at the corner of B and 3rd Street downtown); March leaves at 11:00 and heads to the Hilton Bayfront for a rally at noon (coinciding with trade negotiators' lunch hour).

·        July 2,  3,  5,  6,  7 -- "People's Conference: A Better World is Possible" Evening discussions with international,  national and local grassroots organizers and experts.

For more information and details go to http://www.stoptpp.org/.

To get involved - contact us!

Thank You"