Thanks to my regular listening to progressive American podcasts (he said, as if there were progressive Irish ones with which to compare) I knew about the TPP about two years before I ever heard of the TTIP which actually affects the place where I live.  The media silence here has been deafening.

It was good to hear the latest episode of Best of the Left which featured segments on the TTP but also included mentions of the #StopTTIP movement in Europe, like the one above from Occupy.com.

In the coming months, those Europeans who have campaigned against TTIP should surely reach out to their American counterparts – even if TTIP is defeated, we still live in a world in which major corporations often have greater power than nation states.  

Only organised movements that cross borders can have any hope of challenging this unaccountable dominance.  From tax justice to climate change, the “protest never achieves anything” brigade have been proved wrong.  Here’s a potential victory to relish and build on.

Next up here from the Irish #StopTTIP movement is a march on September 17.  Unfortunately there is also a #Right2Water march in Dublin the same day…I’d love to know how or why that came about they really do seem like causes that much of the same people would support and thus should have protests on different days.

Anyway…we’ll deal with the water issue in other posts…here’s some info on the #StopTTIP and their Autumn of Action…

STOP CETA! Join us for a day of action on the 17th of September at 2pm at Christ Church.

This will be a solidarity march with Germany and other parts of Europe on the same day ..we hope to meet as a CETA/TTIP block group and join the RIGHT TO WATER march that will be meeting at Heuston Station AND Connolly Station also at 2pm.Bring your STOP CETA/TTIP BANNERS/POSTER or RED BALLOONS WRITE ON THEM STOP CETA.KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MORE STOP CETA EVENTS OVER THE COMING WEEKS.

We are civil society, grassroots organizations, labour movements, farmer, environmental and social groups from all across Europe, Canada and the U.S. We want to put an end to secretive trade deals like CETA and TTIP, and any that follow; and we want to create an alternative trade policy, one that puts people and planet first and ends corporate impunity.

We are calling, not for a single day of protest, but for an Autumn of Action – because together, our actions will speak louder to those who need to hear us.
Right now – social movements and civil society are fighting against CETA: TTIP through the backdoor.

The process around CETA was EVEN MORE secretive than TTIP. No MEP or politician saw the texts until they were already finalised. CETA is ready to sign and the European Commission and many governments are pushing hard to get it through.

CETA means less democracy in favour of extensive investor rights, it endangers our public services, our small and medium businesses, our workers rights, our environmental and food standards and our planet. The biggest threat is that CETA is a blueprint for TTIP and allows already US corporations to use the ISDS system to sue us for democratic decisions. If CETA is passed it will be hard to oppose TTIP, we need to stand now together to ensure that we do not let our rights get sold off to multinational corporations.

Over the past few years a powerful movement against unfair trade policies has emerged in Europe and beyond. Farmers, judges, local business, trade unions, municipalities and many more stand up against CETA and TTIP.

We protest the way current trade policies profit the few, while the planet and the people suffer.

We reject a trade policy that undermines our hard won labor rights, that forces privatisation of public services and that is dependent on the exploitation of our natural resources and creating the destructive climate change that people across the globe are fighting

We won’t accept a trade system that perpetuates poverty in the global south and produces extreme wealth among the few.

It’s time to face our planetary limits and to share the wealth we can produce between everyone, this is simply impossible with trade agreements giving the opportunity to the most wealthy to win even more.

We therefore stand in solidarity with social movements and civil society in the global south that is fighting for a more just trade system also against our governments and corporations. Just like in Europe people in the Americas, Asia and Africa are going to take action against free trade agreements like TPP (Transpacific Partnership).

Now is the time to act!

This autumn of action will see a massive wave of actions, protest and disobedience in Europe and beyond. This autumn we will show the millions of voices that demand the suspenssion of CETA and TTIP. We are determined to defeat CETA and to win. Stoping CETA opens the space for alternatives. We call on organisations, individuals and alliances to participate by organising autonomous, decentralised actions across Europe. We welcome a diversity of tactics and solidarity actions from across the world that will help inform, engage and mobilise people locally. We will win against CETA because future and current generations deserve it.

Autunm of Action – September to November 2016
#stopCETA and #TTIP

There is also CETA/TTIP. Public Meeting. 
Hosted by Cllr Ray McHugh. With .
MEP Lynn Boylan.and TD Aengus OSnodaigh.
Wednesday 7th September 7/30 pm
Transport Club Clogher Rd.
All Welcome.