CWDM members took to the streets on Saturday 11 October, in protest at the TTIP trade deal being negotiated between Europe and the US. The deal threatens democracy and public services including the NHS.
We had a literature stall as focus, but we gathered signatures in nearby streets and are giving out leaflets in streets around the city.
And it wasn’t just us. This particular action was pulled together online, using the 38degrees site, and other key players were Cambridge Green Party, Keep Our NHS Public, National Health Action Party, and Cambridge People’s Assembly. The Cambridge protest was one of hundreds of demonstrations across the UK, the rest of Europe and the US on 11 October against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership [TTIP].
David Cameron is pushing hard for the deal between the EU and the US, despite widespread concern over its effects. A recent YouGov poll in the UK found that 39 per cent of people thought the deal would be ‘bad for Britain’, while only 13 per cent thought it would be positive.
The TTIP deal could give big business, including giant US health companies, vast new powers over the NHS, and make it difficult for
future governments to reverse privatisation measures already introduced to the service.
The deal also contains a clause to allow multinational companies to sue governments – including the UK’s – over decisions they think might harm their profits. Under other trade deals, Slovakia has been sued for taking privatised health services back into public hands, Egypt has been sued for introducing a minimum wage and Australia is currently being sued for introducing plain cigarette packaging.
Cambridge World Development Movement co-secretary Aidan Baker said: “The threat of being sued would damage the ability of the British government to make decisions in the public interest – whichever party is in power after the next election. The TTIP deal would be a disaster for democracy and it would put services like the NHS at risk. But awareness of the deal has grown quickly over the last few months, and people are horrified by it. We believe that together we can win this campaign and stop TTIP.’
And campaigner Felicia Conner said:
“It is really crucial that we keep our NHS securely grounded on the principles of free at point of delivery and accessible to all irrespective of ability to pay. I want to say NO NO NO to the provisions of TTIP that open our public services and government to being sued without mercy by the Rand Corporation, GSK- Wellcome and so on.
“In America out of a population of 350 million, where there are more billionaires than anywhere else on the planet, about 50 million people have no access to any healthcare at all. This is an injustice of huge proportions and we need to stand up as a body and wholeheartedly oppose those interests and organisations that would bring about such changes here in Great Britain.”
For more information contact Aidan Baker on 07940 543019 or email baker.aidan5 at gmail.com . And have a look at http://bit.ly/1s6wztO for how the protests hit the Twittersphere.