Question: What do environmentalists, labor unions, family farm
supporters, consumer groups, Internet freedom advocates, and Palestinian human
rights organizations have in common?
Answer: Opposition to Fast Track authority for the
Trans-Pacific Partnership
In an unprecedented show of unity, over two thousand
organizations, including the progressive Jewish Voice for Peace, have signed a
joint letter to the U.S. Congress urging opposition to Fast Track legislation
that has been making its way through the legislature this spring.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of
Teachers, offers the reasons why so many progressive groups are leery of fast
track authority for the TPP: “While we are not currently permitted to see the
terms of the new trade deal, what we do know is the Fast Track process enables
trade deals that hurt everyday Americans and stack the deck in favor of
corporations. It limits public and congressional oversight and does not allow
effective enforcement. We need trade
policy that strengthens our country — ensuring the rights of workers, and
protecting consumers and the environment. We need a democratic and transparent
trade process that offers a fair shake for American workers. Fast Track fails
these standards and should be rejected.”
But Fast Track authority for the TPP would not only threaten
the quality of life of ordinary Americans. Amendments have been tacked on –
amendments backed by AIPAC, the powerful right-wing “pro-Israel” lobby that
would discourage and penalize boycotts against Israel and erase the distinction
between Israel and the Palestinian territories it occupies.
As Jewish Voice for Peace federal policy organizer Rabbi
Joseph Berman explains: “JVP opposes ‘Fast-Track’ not only because it is
anti-democratic and bad for workers and the environment, but because it will
also legitimize support for illegal Israeli settlements and impede efforts to
apply non-violent pressure to hold Israel to the standards of international law
and human rights norms.” In fact, these amendments make discouraging the BDS campaign
“one of the principal U.S. trade negotiating objectives.”
These anti-BDS amendments suggest common interests
between those who would grant ever more authority to powerful corporations and
those who would privilege Israeli control at the expense of Palestinians. This
fact alone should provide us with food for thought.
Yet the attempt to
delegitimize BDS through binding international legislation also suggests that the
BDS movement has grown to become a powerful nonviolent threat to the Israeli
right. Public opinion is changing.
Says JVP: Across the U.S., millions of people inside and outside of the Jewish community are taking a long hard look at Israel's human rights abuses. Elected leaders who'd been too scared to speak out are raising their voices.
Academics and students are building power on campuses, where once it simply wouldn't have been possible.
Even Pope Francis has added the moral voice of the Vatican to the fray by signing a treaty that recognizes the "state of Palestine."
Our work is bearing fruit. The times they are a-changing.
Yet the attempt to
delegitimize BDS through binding international legislation also suggests that the
BDS movement has grown to become a powerful nonviolent threat to the Israeli
right. Public opinion is changing.Says JVP: Across the U.S., millions of people inside and outside of the Jewish community are taking a long hard look at Israel's human rights abuses. Elected leaders who'd been too scared to speak out are raising their voices.
Academics and students are building power on campuses, where once it simply wouldn't have been possible.
Even Pope Francis has added the moral voice of the Vatican to the fray by signing a treaty that recognizes the "state of Palestine."
Our work is bearing fruit. The times they are a-changing.
