When the Peacemaking Task Force met on Aug.30, Ruling Elder Ellen Fisher of First Presbyterian, Cedar Rapids, brought us time critical information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and shared these links:
- The Court That Rules the World, Chris Hamby, Aug 28, 2916 8:00 a.m.
This 18-pg article describes the immense power and reach of the trade tribunals that decide the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) cases filed by corporations under the provisions of trade treaties. The author won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. If you read only one of these sources, please read this one. It includes the quote from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrishamby/super-court?utm_term=.jtBDJL4Kvw#.frev60EOZ3 - July 28, 2016 Six Things to Know About the TPP
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2016/07/six-things-to-know-about-the-tpp.html - June 07, 2016 guest post by Representative Louise Slaughter (NY-25)
http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2016/06/slaughter-the-flawed-tpp-agreement-would-shift-the-balance-of-power-toward-foreign-corporations.html - The Sierra Club’s fact sheet on the TPP
http://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/uploads-wysiwig/TPP%20fact%20sheet.pdf - Letter to Congress from Doctors Without Borders (and 50+ other organizations) about the TPP’s negative impact on access to affordable medicine
http://www.msfaccess.org/content/letter-msf-and-over-50-groups-urge-us-congress-reject-tpp - Presbyterian Hunger Program. PHP Post. A Hunger Justice Journal
TPP: Concentration of Power for Investors and Inequality for Citizens
http://www.presbyterianmission.org/resource/php-post-newsletters-spring-2016-race-class-power/
(Lisa has over 20 hardcopies of this issue for your use. Contact her by email.) - Later addition: “Eli Lilly Claim Targets Canada’s Policy on Drug Patents”
This is about a $500 million ISDS claim under NAFTA. If Eli Lilly succeeds, it would invalidate a ruling by the Canadian Supreme Court – short article, important issues. Hearing was 5/30/16 to 06/09/16; no decision yet.
