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What We've Learnt about the TiSA Leaks So Far
Jun 05, 2015
Across the world there is outrage at what is being decided in secret on our behalves. A huge leak of documents, marked with the opinions and edits of negotiators from many different countries, from the TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement) has appeared on Wikileaks.
The first lesson here is the obvious secrecy that our governments have attempted to hoist upon these negotiations. TiSA is an essential part of the latest round of 'trade agreements', a huge stage of the neo-liberal project that seeks to deregulate, marketise and decrease state influence in every sector of commerce.
Incredibly, the texts leaked yesterday were intended to remain secret until five years after the implementation of TiSA, such is the agreed need amongst our governments to keep the populations of participating countries in the dark over TiSA negotiations. The obvious question here is why? Any previous reason proffered in the defence of such secrecy has been the effect public knowledge of negotiations would have been upon the negotiations themselves. There is no reason for such a long embargo, other than the public outcry this could cause. As Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said:
"These leaks reinforce the concerns of campaigners about the threat that TISA poses to vital public services. There is no mandate for such a far-reaching programme of liberalisation in services. It's a dark day for democracy when we are dependent on leaks like this for the general public to be informed of the radical restructuring of regulatory frameworks that our governments are proposing."
The focus of opposition and activism in the US and Pacific region has primarily been on the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), and in Europe on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These agreements have, thanks to the efforts of campaigners, been dragged into a more public arena - although not nearly enough, we have a fair enough assessment of the contents. TiSA has been different in that the secrecy surrounding it has been comparatively impenetrable - until now.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
TiSA is a geographically wide-ranging agreement between the US, EU and twenty-two other countries. As with TPP and TTIP, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) are not included.
We've not had the time to fully assess the 17 documents that have been leaked but initial inspection from organisations who've focused on specific areas tells us we have every reason to be concerned with the deal:
- The International Transport Workers' Federation sound the alarm over safety in air transport services. TiSA rules, being written by trade negotiators are set to take precedence over rules upheld by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations agency which has incomparable expertise and a proven track record in this quarter.
- The New Zealand Public Services Association have issued a call for their government to stop this move to abandon public control of services including public health, childcare, water, broadcasting and the postal service.
- The Our World Is Not For Sale network have given the texts a quick reading and point out that the domestic regulation texts aim to "remove domestic policies, laws and regulations that make it harder for trans national corporations to sell their services in other countries".
The protection of data has been a big concern in TTIP, and these concerns are magnified in TiSA. Professor Jane Kelsey, trade expert from the university of Auckland said:
"[TiSA] could limit or even prevent governments from requiring firms to hold data locally, and allow them to choose to store it offshore in countries with minimal privacy protection and intrusive spying laws."
When considered with the provisions of TTIP, these rules will effectively give such enormous powers to corporations, that the boardrooms of big business could have more direct power over our lives than the local council chamber or even the supposed corridors of 'power' in Westminster.
These leaks serve to remind us of the severity of the threat posed in the latest round of trade deals, they should act as a wake up call to all who value public services, regulations that protect safety and workers' right and data privacy.
The future could possibly be a chilling one unless we organize a vibrant resistance. Now.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Guy Taylor
Guy Taylor is campaigner for Global Justice Now where he focuses on international trade, including opposition to the TTIP and similar deals. He previously worked for the Joint Council for the Welfare of immigrants and before that for anti-capitalist group Globalise Resistance.
Across the world there is outrage at what is being decided in secret on our behalves. A huge leak of documents, marked with the opinions and edits of negotiators from many different countries, from the TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement) has appeared on Wikileaks.
The first lesson here is the obvious secrecy that our governments have attempted to hoist upon these negotiations. TiSA is an essential part of the latest round of 'trade agreements', a huge stage of the neo-liberal project that seeks to deregulate, marketise and decrease state influence in every sector of commerce.
Incredibly, the texts leaked yesterday were intended to remain secret until five years after the implementation of TiSA, such is the agreed need amongst our governments to keep the populations of participating countries in the dark over TiSA negotiations. The obvious question here is why? Any previous reason proffered in the defence of such secrecy has been the effect public knowledge of negotiations would have been upon the negotiations themselves. There is no reason for such a long embargo, other than the public outcry this could cause. As Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said:
"These leaks reinforce the concerns of campaigners about the threat that TISA poses to vital public services. There is no mandate for such a far-reaching programme of liberalisation in services. It's a dark day for democracy when we are dependent on leaks like this for the general public to be informed of the radical restructuring of regulatory frameworks that our governments are proposing."
The focus of opposition and activism in the US and Pacific region has primarily been on the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), and in Europe on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These agreements have, thanks to the efforts of campaigners, been dragged into a more public arena - although not nearly enough, we have a fair enough assessment of the contents. TiSA has been different in that the secrecy surrounding it has been comparatively impenetrable - until now.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
TiSA is a geographically wide-ranging agreement between the US, EU and twenty-two other countries. As with TPP and TTIP, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) are not included.
We've not had the time to fully assess the 17 documents that have been leaked but initial inspection from organisations who've focused on specific areas tells us we have every reason to be concerned with the deal:
- The International Transport Workers' Federation sound the alarm over safety in air transport services. TiSA rules, being written by trade negotiators are set to take precedence over rules upheld by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations agency which has incomparable expertise and a proven track record in this quarter.
- The New Zealand Public Services Association have issued a call for their government to stop this move to abandon public control of services including public health, childcare, water, broadcasting and the postal service.
- The Our World Is Not For Sale network have given the texts a quick reading and point out that the domestic regulation texts aim to "remove domestic policies, laws and regulations that make it harder for trans national corporations to sell their services in other countries".
The protection of data has been a big concern in TTIP, and these concerns are magnified in TiSA. Professor Jane Kelsey, trade expert from the university of Auckland said:
"[TiSA] could limit or even prevent governments from requiring firms to hold data locally, and allow them to choose to store it offshore in countries with minimal privacy protection and intrusive spying laws."
When considered with the provisions of TTIP, these rules will effectively give such enormous powers to corporations, that the boardrooms of big business could have more direct power over our lives than the local council chamber or even the supposed corridors of 'power' in Westminster.
These leaks serve to remind us of the severity of the threat posed in the latest round of trade deals, they should act as a wake up call to all who value public services, regulations that protect safety and workers' right and data privacy.
The future could possibly be a chilling one unless we organize a vibrant resistance. Now.
Guy Taylor
Guy Taylor is campaigner for Global Justice Now where he focuses on international trade, including opposition to the TTIP and similar deals. He previously worked for the Joint Council for the Welfare of immigrants and before that for anti-capitalist group Globalise Resistance.
Across the world there is outrage at what is being decided in secret on our behalves. A huge leak of documents, marked with the opinions and edits of negotiators from many different countries, from the TiSA (Trade in Services Agreement) has appeared on Wikileaks.
The first lesson here is the obvious secrecy that our governments have attempted to hoist upon these negotiations. TiSA is an essential part of the latest round of 'trade agreements', a huge stage of the neo-liberal project that seeks to deregulate, marketise and decrease state influence in every sector of commerce.
Incredibly, the texts leaked yesterday were intended to remain secret until five years after the implementation of TiSA, such is the agreed need amongst our governments to keep the populations of participating countries in the dark over TiSA negotiations. The obvious question here is why? Any previous reason proffered in the defence of such secrecy has been the effect public knowledge of negotiations would have been upon the negotiations themselves. There is no reason for such a long embargo, other than the public outcry this could cause. As Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said:
"These leaks reinforce the concerns of campaigners about the threat that TISA poses to vital public services. There is no mandate for such a far-reaching programme of liberalisation in services. It's a dark day for democracy when we are dependent on leaks like this for the general public to be informed of the radical restructuring of regulatory frameworks that our governments are proposing."
The focus of opposition and activism in the US and Pacific region has primarily been on the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), and in Europe on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These agreements have, thanks to the efforts of campaigners, been dragged into a more public arena - although not nearly enough, we have a fair enough assessment of the contents. TiSA has been different in that the secrecy surrounding it has been comparatively impenetrable - until now.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
TiSA is a geographically wide-ranging agreement between the US, EU and twenty-two other countries. As with TPP and TTIP, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) are not included.
We've not had the time to fully assess the 17 documents that have been leaked but initial inspection from organisations who've focused on specific areas tells us we have every reason to be concerned with the deal:
- The International Transport Workers' Federation sound the alarm over safety in air transport services. TiSA rules, being written by trade negotiators are set to take precedence over rules upheld by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations agency which has incomparable expertise and a proven track record in this quarter.
- The New Zealand Public Services Association have issued a call for their government to stop this move to abandon public control of services including public health, childcare, water, broadcasting and the postal service.
- The Our World Is Not For Sale network have given the texts a quick reading and point out that the domestic regulation texts aim to "remove domestic policies, laws and regulations that make it harder for trans national corporations to sell their services in other countries".
The protection of data has been a big concern in TTIP, and these concerns are magnified in TiSA. Professor Jane Kelsey, trade expert from the university of Auckland said:
"[TiSA] could limit or even prevent governments from requiring firms to hold data locally, and allow them to choose to store it offshore in countries with minimal privacy protection and intrusive spying laws."
When considered with the provisions of TTIP, these rules will effectively give such enormous powers to corporations, that the boardrooms of big business could have more direct power over our lives than the local council chamber or even the supposed corridors of 'power' in Westminster.
These leaks serve to remind us of the severity of the threat posed in the latest round of trade deals, they should act as a wake up call to all who value public services, regulations that protect safety and workers' right and data privacy.
The future could possibly be a chilling one unless we organize a vibrant resistance. Now.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.