Saturday March 7th TPPA rally hopes for even more than 300 (plus 1 raft)
The rally at the jetty at the foot of Bow St from 10am on Saturday 7 March will be joining New Zealanders in 21 cities and towns in nationwide action against TPPA as negotiations draw to a conclusion.
TPPA is being negotiated among 12 Pacific Rim countries including Australia, Vietnam and the USA. It is called a ‘free-trade’ agreement, but leaks from the secret talks suggest it will benefit trans-national corporations at the cost of public health, general well-being and the environment.
The event will kick off at 10am with 15 minutes of music from local kids using their home-made instruments, followed by a welcome speech by Lisa Thomson. Lisa said, “My aim will be to emphasise the power people can have if only they use it. Negotiations are being held in secret because the politicians don’t want the people to know. If people show they do know and do care, we can tip the balance on these talks, which are already dragging on and in trouble on intellectual property, agricultural subsidies, tariff elimination, and financial services.”
Other speakers will include Joan Havemann, Mark Dobson and Te Pora and the public will also be invited to have a say, before live music at about 11.15 from Jo, Amelia and Nicky Keys.
All the while, raft making for a ‘sink the TPPA’ raft, will be going on – bring some stuff for the raft please and volunteer to crew it in the raft race on Sunday. Together we can win!