Next week the corporate party political conventions are here. Take action in Tampa, FL and Charlotte, NC or at home if you cannot make the conventions. The conventions are followed by secret negotiations for the TransPacific Partnership – the Global Corporate Coup – in Leesburg, VA. 
Stop the Corporate Coup!
If you care about the environment, the wealth divide, corporate power, democracy, worker’s rights, food, health care or so much more, the corporate power grab – the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) –needs to be at the top of your agenda.
Secret negotiations are being pushed forward aggressively that will set the terms for corporate power in the 21st Century. Trade negotiators and corporate lobbyists from the United States and throughout the Pacific Rim will be meeting at a fancy resort in Leesburg, Virginia outside of Washington, DC from September 6 to 15 to advance the secretive TPP — and we will be there to Occupy the TPP.
U.S. negotiators have granted approximately 600 corporate lobbyists access to the negotiating texts, but have flatly refused to tell the public or even Congress what they have been proposing in our names. In fact, they don’t intend to tell us what they’ve been working on until four years after the deal is signed and completed. And, they are planning a fast track vote in Congress – up or down, no committee hearings and no amendments.
So, now is the time to stop this agreement (aka NAFTA on steroids). Protests have held back negotiations around the World Trade Organization since the Battle of Seattle in the 1990s. The TPP will mean fewer jobs, lower wages and benefits, and a smaller tax base for public services. It will create trade tribunals where corporations can demand that governments pay for profits lost from laws and court decisions that protect the environment, workers and consumers. The 'judges' for these tribunals – corporate lawyers on leave from their corporate job! The Leesburg round of negotiations this September is crucial.
It is up to us to stop this global corporate coup!
Join the action training in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, September 8 and Sunday, September 9 with national trainers Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign and Kim Marks of Rising Tide North America and Earth First! We will travel to Leesburg, VA on the afternoon of September 9 for a rally outside the hotel and there will be actions on Monday and Tuesday in Leesburg. The training is free but we will be training for specific actions so we ask you to commit to a least one action. For more information, contact us at itsoureconomy.us@gmail.com.
Protest the Corporate Political Duopoly
Lots of actions are planned at Occupy the RNC and Occupy the DNC; and actions are being urged around the country as both conventions occur. The U.S. lives in a tweedle-dee/tweedle-dum corporate duopoly that shuts out non-corporate alternatives and creates a mirage democracy where people get to vote for two corporate approved and funded candidates. Occupiers around the country are heading to the conventions to protest and others will be joining protests in their home towns.
The RNC protests will be kicked off with a “March for Our Lives” from Romneyville in Tampa, FL. The march, being organized by the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, will include the poor, homeless, and unemployed. They have created a Poor People's Encampment called “Romneyville,” modeled after the “Hoovervilles” of the 1930s. It is located right in the heart of downtown in the “Event Zone.” Occupy Tampa has formed a Regional General Assembly to coordinate Occupy groups throughout the bay area, including: Occupy Lakeland, Occupy St. Petersburg, Occupy Bradenton, Occupy USF, Occupy Port Richey and Occupy Sarasota. Updates to RNC activities can be found by visiting the Occupy Tampa RNC page.
Occupy Tampa’s General Assembly has reached consensus on a national action, Shut Down Bain Capital. They urge people to peacefully protest Bain Capital on August 30th which is the day that Mitt Romney will give his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL to raise awareness about Bain’s unethical business practices. A list of Bain businesses can be found here. They are located all over the country so there can be protests everywhere.
Occupy Charlotte, NC is leading organizing efforts for Occupy the DNC. In their call to action, Occupy Charlotte call on people to hold President Obama accountable for his unfair economic policies, his health insurance giveaway that does not provide universal health care and his militarism, drone attacks and failure to prosecute torturers as well as the national effort to quash the Occupy Movement. They provide links to the various organizations planning actions around the DNC.
If you can’t make it to Charlotte people are urged to join nationwide protests at Obama campaign offices urging the release of Bradley Manning. The action is being called for by the Bradley Manning Support Network, Afghans for Peace and SF Bay Iraq Veterans Against the War to be held on September 6, 2012. This day of action builds on successful protests by occupiers, veterans and Manning supporters in Los Angeles, Oakland and Portland on August 16th.
There is a lot going on, and important events are coming up after these. Please share this email in your networks and urge people to sign up here to receive weekly updates of occupy-related activites.
The Backbone Campaign is in need of donations to continue their amazing work to train activists and create spectacle actions. To see what they do, visit BackboneCampaign.org and please make a donation if you are able.
In Solidarity,
October2011/OccupyWashingtonDC.org
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