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Water Cannons Used Against Peaceful Anti-TTIP Protestors: the Next ACTA Revolt?

Posted by Unknown on from the one-of-them-looked-at-me-weird dept.

Glyn Moody (946055) writes "The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), potentially the world's biggest trade agreement, has been negotiated behind closed doors for nearly a year now. Apart from what we learn from a few official releases — and an increasing number of leaks — we still don't really know what is being agreed in the name of 800 million people in the U.S. and EU. When a peaceful anti-TTIP protest was held outside yet another closed-doors meeting in Belgium, the local police sent in the water cannons and arrested nearly 300 people in what seems an extreme over-reaction. Will TTIP turn into the next ACTA revolt?"

8 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Silly Peasants by smittyoneeach · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Expecting government to be accountable to you, and stuff.

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    1. Re:Silly Peasants by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The whole point of these trade agreements is to gain broad economic advantages instead of narrow special interests, protectionism, and subsidies. Opening up the negotiating process would allow all those vested interests and rent seekers to apply pressure to preserve their privileges, and end up sabotaging the process.

      You are hopelessly naive.

      In practice, these "trade agreements" (like SOPA, for a good example) have been notoriously wide open to special interests, but closed to the public. In fact, public interest groups (like EFF and others) ended up finding out about any of them because of leaks by industry, not the government.

      Whatever "the point" is, it most definitely has not been done that way.

    2. Re:Silly Peasants by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think the term you are looking for is "representative democracy", which may be either a republic or a monarchy.

      yeah...a "representative democracy" the way choosing Coke or Pepsi counts as selecting your favorite beverage.

      with the two-party stranglehold its neither a democracy nor representative.

      --
      never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
    3. Re:Silly Peasants by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From your link:
      A republic is a form of government in which power resides in the people, and the government is ruled by elected leaders run according to law, rather than inherited or appointed

      Kim Jong Un replaced his father. Castro is expected to be succeeded by a family member without vote as well. Yet you listed both of those as "republics". I think "not monarchy" is too narrow. The power comes from the people (democracy), not divine (monarchies) or guns (dictatorships). Your definition would have violent dictatorships listed as "power by the people", which doesn't sound quite right. And Canada is tuled by elected leaders and run according to law. So again, your take disagrees with the statements within your cite.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    4. Re:Silly Peasants by ausrob · · Score: 5, Informative

      OK, how about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)? Or the current Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? There are more examples, but hopefully you get the point. Even proposed US laws like PIPA/SOPA and current laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) can make their way into other countries by way of other seemingly unrelated economic trade agreements. For example, Australia has adopted DMCA like provisions as part of the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA - incidentally modeled on NAFTA) between 2004-2006.

    5. Re:Silly Peasants by king+neckbeard · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you want to have broad economic advantages, you have a free trade agreement. A free trade agreement is simple. We let the people trade and we don't interfere. These agreements are to dangle the economic importance of free trade on a string to extort.
      Sure is a nice economy you have there. It would be a shame is suddenly everyone were to stop allowing your goods into our country. Why don't we have a nice talk over here about some changes you're going to love.

      --
      This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  2. The Secrecy Sucks by ebno-10db · · Score: 5, Insightful

    has been negotiated behind closed doors for nearly a year now

    There is no excuse for the closed door policy. This is an agreement that could affect hundreds of millions of people, but they're not allowed to know what's going on? It'll be dumped in a "take it or leave it" form. Congress and parliaments openly debate bills, why the secrecy here? Because they're afraid that people will object to certain provisions? Good. It's the right of people to know how agreements that will affect them are being negotiated. Would that make the agreemnet impossible to agree on? Tough, that'll be because it's an agreement people don't want. Try again. Sorry if the democracy stuff makes your lives harder.

  3. Re:Protests were Illegal (and last Thursday) by WoOS · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, if you look at the first video on http://www.ttip2014.eu/blog-de... around 0:20 you will see in the background a protestor holding out his hand to get it tight. Looks to me extremely civilized from both side. I don't see any overreaction. And if - possibly - the protest was unauthorized, participants might be offered a trip to the next police station for IDing. Civil disobidience has its price.

    And now before the US side claims that there is no freedom in Europe if protests need to be authorized: If authorization is denied, you can sue against it on a quick track. That's the reason why even the extreme right, which most people would like to deny protesting rights, can do it again and again.

    So TTIP might be bad and all but exagerating things just to prolong the attention (Protest was already last Thursday) is not the way to go.