A Requiem For Democracy.

     Corporatism just took a very large step forward in its battle to control national governments. TPP secret discussions, locked well away from public scrutiny, have finally been signed on the dotted line. In Auckland New Zealand out-of-touch Trade Ministers and corporate bureaucrats just put their thumbs to their noses and ignored millions of Internet users, plus millions of others, and signed the TPP agreement. At the same time, New Zealand police, the corporate world's government sponsored minders, were intimidatingly knocking on the doors of “known activists” demanding to know about any plans they may have to protest this extreme censorship plan.

        TPP is seen as an integral part of TTIP, and all part of the corporate czars plans to rule the world, over-riding any sham of democracy that we may think we have. These so called "trade agreements" put the corporate world in the driving seat, placing them in a position to challenge any legislation made by governments, that they consider might hinder their drive for profits. Health and safety regulations, minimum wage guarantees, and so on, can be challenged if the corporate greed machine deems them to be a drag on their drive for gold.

     The ratifying of these power-monger agreements can be seen as a requiem for democracy, another step in the march of power away from the people to the upper echelons of the faceless bureaucrats of the corporate world, its natural direction in capitalism. We have always argued that parliamentary party elections were an illusion, a smoke and mirrors trick to make you believe you have democracy, now it has become even less, it is no more than chewing gum and candy-floss TV entertainment. 

       How can we solve the problems in our world, when the control lies in the hands of those who wish to plunder the earth and exploit all its population? We have to shift the power away from the faceless accountants and corporate bureaucrats and into the hands of the people. We can't do this unless we smash the existing system of capitalism. 

More information:

https://www.facebook.com/openmediaorg

https://twitter.com/OpenMediaOrg

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Urgent Call-out, For Net Neutrality.

      Despite the recent victory to keep net-neutrality on the Internet, the big corporations, as usual, don't accept defeat easily, and are trying to get their way, and control the Internet, by other means.

This from FFTF:

     If we don’t stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) it will do more damage to the Internet than any other deal in history.

That’s why today we’re working with hundreds of websites to flood Congress with calls demanding they oppose putting this secret deal on a Fast Track to approval.

Take action to stop the TPP right now

For Team Internet,

Fight for the Future

P.S. Looking for more information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Check out this overview.

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Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Corporations, Rulers Of The World!!!

      More and more, large corporations dictate what happens in countries across the globe, governments bend to the pressure of big money, and the people suffer. At present there are two pieces of legislation being fashioned that will immensely boost the control the large corporations have over our lives, TPP and the big telecom companies attempt to control the internet. However,  these are not the only two battles for control, it goes on daily as the corporate world rides roughshod over the people and their rights. 

        Drinking water is a necessity, but to corporations profit is more important, as the people of El Salvador are finding out. 

This from the Sum Of Us:

     A major mining company is suing El Salvador for millions -- just for saying no to a dirty mine that would have destroyed its remaining water supply. A mining corporation shouldn't get to decide what laws a country can and can't pass. With just one week remaining before the hearing begins, we need to get OceanaGold to back down now.

Sign the petition asking OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit and respect El Salvador’s decision.

        90% of EL Salvador’s water is already polluted, putting families and communities in danger of waterborne illness, food shortages and the added expense of buying bottled water. If OceanaGold gets its way, it could destroy the last remaining river with drinkable water in this Central American country.

       Already, the mining industry has devastated El Salvador. The community of San Sebastian is being forced to buy bottled water after a mining company contaminated its water supply. Community activists have risked their lives opposing mining companies, including Dora Alicia Recinos Soto, who was shot dead in front of her house while 8 months pregnant and carrying her 2-year-old baby.

        The hearing for the case is in less than a week away, so we have to act now to make sure OceanaGold drops this frivolous lawsuit.

Sign the petition asking OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit against El Salvador for trying to save its water.

      The government of El Salvador has already denied OceanaGold a mining license for its El Dorado mine, because it failed to comply with national regulations protecting human rights and the environment. But instead of conceding to this democratic decision, OceanaGold is now relying on dangerous “Investor State Arbitration" -- rules created under international trade treaties that allow foreign corporations to sue national governments for billions just to get their way. OceanaGold has repeatedly proven it cares only about profits -- not the people of El Salvador. Now, it's time the company listened.

Add your voice to ask OceanaGold to drop the lawsuit against El Salvador for trying to save its water.

       We know we can win this fight, because public pressure has worked before. After thousands of us spoke out about Rio Tinto's involvement in a destructive Alaska mine and helped get Indigenous activists to their annual shareholder meeting, Rio Tinto pulled out. And when we focused public pressure on Infinito Gold over a $1 billion lawsuit against Costa Rica, the company dropped its claim to $94 million -- not enough, but some reprieve for the community fighting this mining giant. This is another fight for people over profits, and together we can force OceanaGold to back down before it’s too late.

Thank you for all that you do,
Paul, Ledys, Emma and the rest of us

     For more information: Gold Mining Company Wages $301 Million Lawsuit Against El Salvador, Global Research, March 17 2014.
El Salvador groups accuse Pacific Rim of 'assault on democratic governance', The Guardian, April 10th 2014. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Corporatism, Fascism, There Is No Difference.

    Mussolini stated that it should not be called fascism, it should be called corporatism, as it is the coming together of the state and the corporate, in one body of control. Well it is now global corporatism, (fascism), and it is here, global corporatism or fascism, call it what you will, it is tying the world up in one simple package to suit its greed driven ends. All decisions concerning our society and our environment will be taken behind the closed doors of plush boardrooms, by faceless millionaires and billionaires working to maximise their power and wealth. Is this the tomorrow we want?

This from Watchdog.net:

   The Trans-Pacific Partnership is set to create a virtually permanent corporate rule over the people.

     This is the trade scam NAFTA globalized, a devil's deal that has nothing to do with trade and everything to do with corporate protectionism — of the 29 chapters in the TPP, only FIVE actually cover trade issues!

Lax food safety regulation, unregulated fracking, overseas job shifts, rocketing drug prices, Internet monopolies, slashes to public services to profit Wall Street robbers... these are just some of the effects the TPP's passing will have on our world.

     Don't let voting nations pass this corporate coup d'etat. Call on the US, Canada, Japan and other nations considering the trade deal to back out of the TPP now!

Sign the Petition!

Share on Facebook!

     PETITION TO TRADING NATIONS: Don't sacrifice our rights, liberties and economic independence to profit corporations and monopolize trade. Vote against joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership now.

Click here to sign -- it just takes a second.

Thanks,
-- The folks at Watchdog.net

P.S. If the other links aren't working for you, please go here to sign: http://act.watchdog.net/petitions/4012?n=44631808.kSNz85

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

SMILING FASCISTS IN EXPENSIVE SUITS.

     The corporate beast is working hard at cementing its grip over our lives, it already holds tremendous sway over most elected governments with its financial clout. But they want to go even further and create what would be one massive corporate fascist regime, they want to over rule any legislation they deem hinders their plunder and rape of the planet. Legislation might be for the benefit and welfare of the people, but if it gets in the way of their sacred profits, then it will be over-ridden. New fascism doesn't come marching down the streets in jackboots, it sits in plush offices dressed in expensive suits, but it is just as brutal and ruthless. We ignore it at our peril. 

This from AVAAZ: 

Dear friends,

We have four days to stop a top-secret global corporate power grab that attacks everything from a free Internet to environmental protections. This agreement is being negotiated right now by bureaucrats backed by corporate lobbyists. Click below to crash their secret meeting with our global call to kill the TPP deal:

    Details are leaking of a top-secret, global corporate power grab of breathtaking scope -- attacking everything from a free Internet to health and environmental regulations, and we have just 4 days to stop it. 
     Big business has a new plan to fatten their pockets: a giant global pact, with an international tribunal to enforce it, that is kept top secret for years (even from our lawmakers!) and then brought down like a Death Star on our democracies. Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Walmart and almost 600 other corporate lobbyists are all in on the draft -- including limits on smoking laws, affordable medicines and free speech on the Net.

    The latest round of negotiations ends in just 4 days -- but outcries in each of our countries could shake the confidence of negotiators and scuttle the talks forever. Let's get to a million against the global corporate takeover. Sign below and forward widely. Avaaz will project our petition counter on the walls of the conference so negotiators can see the opposition to their plan exploding in real time:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bwqhjab&v=17858

    The deal, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is written to protect investors from government regulation, even if that regulation is passed in the public interest. Leaked versions suggest the TPP would undermine protections for air and water safety and reintroduce measures from the US Internet freedom attack as well as steamrolling efforts to produce generic affordable medicines. Worse still, lawmakers who fail to conform to the TPP’s rules face sanctions in an international tribunal -- a place where corporations can sue us for deals previous governments signed in secret!   Negotiators say this is just a trade agreement, written to facilitate investment and profit for all. But the leaked draft imposes so many limits on citizen protections, it's clear this "trade" agreement is skewed to put corporate profit above people's needs -- that's not surprising since it's been drafted in secret with almost 600 corporate lobbyists.

   But there is hope: Australia is bucking against the international tribunal system, and New Zealand is objecting to the takeover of its medicine-pricing protections that keep drugs affordable. Massive public opposition, casting doubt over each country's ability to sell TPP at home, could derail the talks for good. Sign the petition now, and forward widely -- the delegates and lobbyists are watching the wave of opposition grow in real time:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_corporate_death_star/?bwqhjab&v=17858

    US Candidate for Senate, Elizabeth Warren in a recent speech said: “Corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters, because we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people." Let’s reach one million to stop the corporate takeover of our governments.

With hope,

Iain, Pedro, Laura, Ari, Emma, Lisa, Luca, Ricken and the whole Avaaz team

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