We at Tikkun’s Network of Spiritual Progressives are part of the Citizens Trade Campaign coalition of forces that have challenged the Clinton Administration and now the Obama Administration in their proclivity to create trade policies that are destructive to the environment and to the well being of working people here and around the world. The latest such is the Trans-Pacific Partnership which, while having some positive aspects, would restrict countries from passing important environmental and health care related legislation that might interfere with corporate profits. This latest effort to give multinational corporations powers that supersede the powers of national governments is one more reason we need the ESRA–Environmental and Social Responsibility Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ESRA would, among many other important measures, overturn any such international agreement that has been approved by the U.S. government or will be approved in the future–please help us get it endorsed after you read it at www.tikkun.org/esra.
Rabbi Michael Lerner issued the following response about the newly released full version of the TPP: The TPP agreement violates a basic command of the Bible: that human beings must protect and act as stewards for the earth. Instead, it provides a path for corporations to overturn the most moderate environmental restraints on corporate avarice, much less the far more stringent actions that environmentalists tell us are needed to even begin to reverse climate change and preserve the earth for future generations. This is selfishness and materialism taken to a new height, and every religious communityu should stand up against it. –Rabbi Michael Lerner Editor, Tikkun Magazine (winner of the mainstream media Religion Newswriters Association “Best Magazine of the Year” Award in 2014 and again in 2015) Here’s the message we received from the Citizens Trade Campaign which is coordinating this effort: Text for the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was finally released in the wee hours of this morning, and after years of waiting, we now know why negotiators insisted on keeping it a secret for so long. This pact is a disaster for the economy, the environment and public health. TAKE ACTION NOW: Please urge your Congress members to vote NO on the TPP. Here’s just some of what the just-released text confirms about the TPP:
Unfortunately, this is the all-too-predictable result of negotiating a trade deal in secret with notorious human rights abusers like Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei through a rigged process in which hundreds of corporate lobbyists had privileged access to the texts, while the American people were forbidden from even reviewing what negotiators were proposing in our names. web: www.spiritualprogressives.org |
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I am exceedingly impressed by the quality and comprehensiveness of this proposed legislation. I also recognize the care and expertise that went into its preparation. I am unclear, however, about how the ESRA panel(s) will be chosen, at what level(s)
of government, with what, or any, qualifications recommended or required; and how/who will judge
the composition of the panel(s) and its/their decisions.
I also wonder if the magnitude of this proposed legislation may be too great to, specifically, deal with the now pending
TPP., which is the immediate danger.
Nevertheless, I warmly congratulate the NSP for this path breaking initiative..