TTIP meet with 38Degrees — Saturday 30 August in Hampstead and Kilburn

By 38Degrees

Mark, Jill, Nadia and other 38 Degrees members who also live in Hampstead and Kilburn are meeting next Saturday, the 30th August, to spread the word about the sinister EU-US trade deal TTIP [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]. Are you free? Joining in on the day is easy. As soon as you sign up using the link below, you'll be able to see the plans in Hampstead and Kilburn and chat to the rest of your group. So will you join in with Mark, Jill and Nadia and give an hour or two on Saturday 30th August? Please sign up now to make sure the office team has time to send you a pack of flyers: YES - I'll join Mark, Jill and Nadia NO - But I'll donate to fund the materials Here's a map of your area and the volunteers who have signed up so far: The plan is simple. The link takes you to a page on the 38 Degrees website where you can connect with Mark, Jill and Nadia near you. Once you’ve clicked the link you’ll need to pop in a few details, and then you can start making plans with the other 38 Degrees members in your area. The 38 Degrees office team will send you a pack. It’ll include a badge, a poster, bumper stickers, and leaflets for you to hand out. The leaflets explain the dangers of the trade deal in plain English and lets people know how they can take action too. Already, over 120,000 38 Degrees members have signed a petition against TTIP. There are lots of parts of the deal to worry about. It’ll make privatisation of our services like the NHS and National Rail irreversible. It’ll also allow big corporations to sue our government if they make changes to the law that affect the businesses profits - like raising the minimum wage. [1] The government is not going to have a sudden change of heart on TTIP unless they’re bombarded with questions and opposition. The only way we can do this is through people power - making sure as many of us as possible know about it. Whatever you can do to raise awareness of TTIP where you live will help. So can you spare an hour or two and join thousands of 38 Degrees members to campaign against TTIP? https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/ttip-leaflet-action Thanks for being involved, Megan, Nat, James, Barney, Blanche and the 38 Degrees team NOTES: [1] The Independent: British sovereignty ‘at risk’ from EU-US trade deal: UK in danger of surrendering judicial independence to multinational corporations, warn activists: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-sovereignty-at-risk-from-euus-trade-deal-uk-in-danger-of-surrendering-judicial-independence-to-multinational-corporations-warn-activists-9057318.html Touchstone: Special courts for foreign investors have no place in trade deals: http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/11/special-courts-for-foreign-investors-have-no-place-in-trade-deals/

Mega bucks business not good for NHS

From Megan Bentall of petitioning website 38 Degrees

Here’s a scary prospect:

The NHS being carved up by more and more private companies. Coke or other mega corporations taking our government to the cleaners because they don’t like how strict our laws are.

Sound far-fetched? A huge new trade deal is being negotiated right now between the US and the EU, that could make that scary prospect a reality. [1] The deal’s called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - its a fancy name for a sinister trade deal.

Under the deal, US healthcare companies trying to provide NHS services could sue our government for passing a law to put a stop to privatisation. Or big businesses could sue the government for raising the minimum wage - if it hurts their profits. [2]

Business Minister Vince Cable’s department is in charge of TTIP in the UK. He’ll decide what we sign up to - he could make or break the deal. If he hears how important TTIP is to the public, he might do the right thing and fix or scrap TTIP.

A huge petition is the first step in showing Vince that we’re watching him closely. Can you take two minutes to add your name to a petition telling him to fix or scrap TTIP now? Click here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/petition-ttip

It’d be easy to fix this deal. Vince could take a stand against businesses being able to sue the government, like Germany has done recently. [3] Or he could call for the NHS and public services to be completely removed from the deal, like the French government did when they got some areas excluded. [4]

So let’s push TTIP into the spotlight and force Vince’s hand. Already thousands of us have chipped in and raised £100,000 for an ad campaign launching in the Autumn. [5] But we need to keep the pressure mounting. We need to tell Vince Cable to fix or scrap this deal.

Click here to add your name to the petition:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/petition-ttip


Thanks for being involved,

Megan, Susannah, Blanche & the 38 Degrees team


NOTES:
[1] The Independent: British sovereignty ‘at risk’ from EU-US trade deal: UK in danger of surrendering judicial independence to multinational corporations, warn activists:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-sovereignty-at-risk-from-euus-trade-deal-uk-in-danger-of-surrendering-judicial-independence-to-multinational-corporations-warn-activists-9057318.html
Open Democracy: On TTIP and the NHS, they are trying to bamboozle us:
https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/john-hilary/on-ttip-and-nhs-they-are-trying-to-bamboozle-us
[2] Touchstone: Special courts for foreign investors have no place in trade deals:
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/11/special-courts-for-foreign-investors-have-no-place-in-trade-deals/
[3] ipolitics: Germany throws down gauntlet in CETA investor state negotiations:
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/07/27/germany-throws-down-gauntlet-in-ceta-investor-state-negotiations/
[4] Screen Daily: EU-US free trade talks under fire from filmmakers:
http://www.screendaily.com/news/eu-us-free-trade-talks-under-fire/5072471.article
[5] 38 Degrees blog: TTIP fundraiser:
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2014/06/17/ttip-fundraiser/