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ACTA Signed By 22 EU Countries
First time accepted submitter azrael29a writes "22 EU members signed the controversial ACTA treaty today in Tokyo. However, the signatures of the EU member states and the EU itself will count for nothing unless the European Parliament gives its approval to ACTA in June."
The people say "no", but their masters seem pretty eager to say "yes".
A French MEP has quit the process of scrutinising ACTA for the European Parliament, calling the treaty's passage through the EU legislative system a masquerade.
In a statement on Thursday, Kader Arif denounced the signing of ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) by the EU and 21 member states earlier in the day. He said the European Parliament was being undermined and the process was a "charade" in which he would no longer participate.
(..)
"I want to denounce as the greatest of all the process that led to the signing of this agreement: no association of civil society, lack of transparency from the beginning of negotiations, successive postponements of the signing of the text without any explanation being given, setting aside the claims of the European Parliament [despite those views being] expressed in several resolutions of our Assembly," Arif said, according to an automated translation of his statement.
Arif said he had as rapporteur "faced unprecedented manoeuvres of the right of Parliament to impose an accelerated schedule to pass the agreement as soon as possible before the public is alerted, thereby depriving Parliament of its right of expression and the tools at its disposal to carry the legitimate demands of citizens".
(...)
"This agreement may [have a] major impact on the lives of our citizens, and yet everything is done [so that] the European Parliament has no say," Arif said. "I will not participate in this charade."
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/communication-breakdown-10000030/mep-quits-acta-charade-in-protest-at-eu-signing-10025297/
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https://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/How_to_act_against_ACTA
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According to this article (in french), the Member of the European Parliament in charge of the ratification process of ACTA, Mr Kader Arif, just resigned his position, saying that the whole process is just an anti-democratic farce.
In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
Since it's a treaty, like NAFTA, it's far easier to implement, far harder to challenge in court, and more powerful than an act of Congress. And it's global.
ACTA vs. SOPA: Five Reasons ACTA is Scarier Threat to Internet Freedom from the International Business Times:
The SOPA bill was derailed because it required both houses of the U.S. Congress to pass it, and for President Barack Obama to sign it. Once approved, it would have been subject to challenge and could have been changed by future congresses.
ACTA, on the other hand, was already signed by the United States on Oct. 11, 2011, and Obama was not required to get the approval of any outside authority to do so: not the Congress, not the Supreme Court, and not the American public.
Now that it has been signed, the legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government also have little ability to challenge or amend the treaty, and Americans would be subject to a whole new scheme of laws, restrictions and regulations that could have them facing fines or jail through a process that would likely exist entirely outside the scope of the American justice system.
I can see the fnords!
if you are situated on an eu member country, or, live/work in an eu member country, or, is employed by a company that is registered inside eu, you have the right to petition european parliament. you also have the right if you are citizen of a country that is an official candidate for eu.
Petition euparl from below link. tell them to fuck this shit :
https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/petition.html
this is no joke petition - its official petition form of euparl itself. just drop your real name, address while petitioning.
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