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Miller writes: "Since that time the gaze of the national media has turned elsewhere and, as negotiations have encountered difficulties, the administration has sunk to new lows in its zeal to finish the deal on the TPP."

Protesters demand transparency for the Trans-Pacific Partnership at office of the U.S. Trade Representative. (photo: Bill Hughes)
Protesters demand transparency for the Trans-Pacific Partnership at office of the U.S. Trade Representative. (photo: Bill Hughes)


Disposable People: Obama, the TPP, and the Betrayal of Human Rights

By Jim Miller, San Diego Free Press

03 September 15

 

uring the lead-up to the vote on the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) that the President narrowly won, Obama and his surrogates consistently suggested that those in labor and other allied groups opposing the deal were �fighting the last war� and were against �the most progressive trade agreement the world has ever seen.� Indeed, he even went so far as to accuse critics like Senator Elizabeth Warren of �making stuff up�.

As we know, Obama defeated labor and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and, in concert with Republicans and just enough New Democrats like San Diego�s own Scott Peters and Susan Davis, he succeeded in forwarding the multinational corporate agenda.

Since that time the gaze of the national media has turned elsewhere and, as negotiations have encountered difficulties, the administration has sunk to new lows in its zeal to finish the deal on the TPP.

Indeed, after scolding critics and pooh-poohing concerns about human rights, it appears that the proponents of �the most progressive trade deal in history� aren�t so politically correct that they would stand in the way of slavery in the name of ideological purity if it might sink the TPP.

As Reuters reported in a piece that will surely make Project Censored�s list of the most under-reported stories of 2015:

[An] examination, based on interviews with more than a dozen sources in Washington and foreign capitals, shows that the government office set up to independently grade global efforts to fight human trafficking was repeatedly overruled by senior American diplomats and pressured into inflating assessments of 14 strategically important countries in this year�s Trafficking in Persons report.

In all, analysts in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons � or J/TIP, as it�s known within the U.S. government � disagreed with U.S. diplomatic bureaus on ratings for 17 countries, the sources said.

The analysts, who are specialists in assessing efforts to combat modern slavery � such as the illegal trade in humans for forced labor or prostitution � won only three of those disputes, the worst ratio in the 15-year history of the unit, according to the sources.

As a result, not only Malaysia, Cuba and China, but countries such as India, Uzbekistan and Mexico, wound up with better grades than the State Department�s human-rights experts wanted to give them, the sources said.

Why does this matter? As The Fiscal Times notes, it has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with the politics of the TPP:

Last year, the State Department listed Malaysia among the world�s worst human trafficking nations because of �limited efforts to improve its flawed victim protection regime.� The report described a horrendous life for Malaysia�s foreign workers, threatened by large smuggling debts and confiscated passports that put them at the mercy of recruiting companies. Women in particular, recruited for hotel or beauty salon work, are routinely coerced into the commercial sex trade.

The conviction rate for smugglers has actually fallen in Malaysia since last year�s report, suggesting no improvement on fighting human trafficking. One house of Malaysia�s parliament did pass legislation giving more protections to slavery victims, but it further criminalizes something that�s already illegal. The problem has always been sustained enforcement. The U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, Joseph Yun, criticized the lack of will to defend trafficking victims as recently as this April. Yet an unnamed administration official told Reuters that the U.S. had been working closely with Malaysian leaders to remedy the problem.

The political implications of reclassifying Malaysia suggest another rationale for the upgrade. During the markup of trade promotion authority (aka �fast track�), signed into law by the president last month, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) passed a provision denying access to fast-track procedures for any trade partner in Tier 3 on the human trafficking report.

As Zach Carter�s reporting in �Obama Shrugs Off Global Slavery to Protect Trade Deal� in the Huffington Post suggests, this move was about as craven as you can get:

The Obama administration outraged human rights advocates on Monday by removing Malaysia from its list of the world�s worst human trafficking offenders � a move that the activists said damages U.S. credibility � simply to boost the president�s trade agenda.

�The Administration has turned its back on the victims of trafficking,� Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in a written statement. �They have elevated politics over the most basic principles of human rights.�

Hundreds of Democrats and a handful of Republicans had previously urged the State Department to maintain Malaysia�s ranking as a �Tier 3� human trafficking violator. For years, the Malaysian government has largely turned a blind eye to sex slavery involving men, women and children. Forced labor is rampant in several sectors of the country�s economy, particularly the electronics industry. In April, mass graves holding more than 130 human trafficking victims were discovered near the country�s northern border with Thailand. That same month, the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia said the government needed to take human trafficking prosecution more seriously. Nevertheless, the State Department officially upgraded Malaysia�s status to Tier 2.

By ignoring modern day slavery to advance the TPP, Obama has given the lie to the rhetoric of TPP advocates with all their bluster about how this trade deal was somehow about a more progressive world order with regard to labor and human rights. As the Citizens Trade Campaign noted in their statement on the matter, �The administration�s alleged willingness to turn a blind eye to trafficking abuses in Malaysia in order to get the TPP done also does not bode well for the hope of any enforcement of labor and environmental provisions were the TPP actually enacted.  If the administration were serious about using the TPP to enforce basic rights, they would make such enforcement a prerequisite to joining.�

In many ways, the Obama administration�s complicity with global slavery in the name of furthering the neoliberal economic agenda is not surprising. As Kevin Bales documents in his seminal work, Disposable People: The New Slavery in the Global Economy, today�s bondage is no longer about race but rather economics.

More specifically, modernization and rapid economic globalization in concert with an exploding population has created a situation where labor markets have been flooded with desperately poor people, 27 million of whom have ended up in some form of slavery. According to Bales, �Modern slaveholders are predators keenly aware of weakness; they are rapidly adapting an ancient practice to the new global economy.�

And counter to the propaganda put forth by hegemonists such as Thomas Friedman, the neoliberal regime that the TPP perpetuates has not made the world flatter for slaves, it has only made the elites richer and the poor more disposable. And along the way, it has allowed many multinational corporations to extract profit from slave labor that is hidden by multiple layers of middlemen who provide plausible deniability for our faceless masters.

But slavery is not the problem of the lords of the global village; it is merely an externality�a cost that somebody else has to pay.

Thus despite all the stories we like to tell ourselves about human dignity, at present we live in a world where the market is the final measure of all things and anything that stands in the way of profit is ultimately disposable.

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+63 # mwd870 2011-10-21 15:48
Please, please, please let this be Eric Cantor's last term in office.
 
 
+44 # MainStreetMentor 2011-10-21 15:52
 
 
+37 # Capn Canard 2011-10-21 16:17
This can't look good for Cantor, but given the past year is there anything that could make him look reputable? Pulling stuff like this makes him look like a two face snake. Is there any need of more evidence? Canceling a speech because he is afraid of college students? Pathetic
 
 
+30 # bubbiesue 2011-10-21 16:21
Poor, poor Eric. The ladder of which he speaks is broken and he doesn't know it yet. I wonder who will have the temerity to tell him--if anybody does.
 
 
+32 # Kayjay 2011-10-21 16:30
If I lived in Virginia, I would be very pissed at Cantor. I mean why is he running around the northeast addressing Ivy league elites on economic opportunities. Shouldn't he be back in Virginia, pow wowing with constituents on how to better their lives? i agree with mwd870. Yes, Virginia.... should us there really is a Santa Claus and give this rat the BOOT!
 
 
+37 # mainescorpio 2011-10-21 17:35
He's the snarkiest of all the pols I've ever seen...and an ignorant idealogue to boot. How in the world did he win over a majority of Virginia's voters?
 
 
-29 # Gungadin 2011-10-21 21:54
Let me get this straight.... Shutting down free speech is something to be proud of? Yet we want the OWS people to be given their right to speak....sort of hypocritical, isn't it?
 
 
+2 # RLF 2011-10-22 17:13
Free speech isn't freedom to tell lies while muffling desent. Give a real liberal equal time and we won't shut him down.
 
 
+4 # reiverpacific 2011-10-22 19:59
Quoting Gungadin:
Let me get this straight.... Shutting down free speech is something to be proud of? Yet we want the OWS people to be given their right to speak....sort of hypocritical, isn't it?


SO.
How about the Tea Party violence and disruption of town-hall meetings prior to the last elections?
How about the Republican thugs who stormed and attacked the independent vote counters in Tallahassee, Florida during the stolen election of 2000 -flown there especially by Ken Ley's (Bush's buddy "Ken-Boy's") private plane.?
How about voter-suppressi on in Florida, Ohio and now in Wisconsin, and many others past and it seems, to come?
You want me to go on? There is much, much more!
It is people like the appalling Cantor who would take the opposition's right to dissent away and anyone else who doesn't march in lockstep with the reactionary extremes he represents, as would all of those -seemingly including you- who shout loudest about democratic freedoms.
There's a difference between suppressing free speech and showing up to speak truth peacefully and even loudly, to those who have held sway far too long over too many gullible voters.
If you can't get even this basic fact straight, then you're hardly "A better man than I am Gungadin"! -With apologies to Rudyard Kipling.
 
 
+1 # kelly 2011-10-23 11:56
They didn't WANT to shut him down. He shut himself down.He could have faced the crowd...just like all the other politicians do who have to come face to face with the people when they choose to make a stand on an issue. He is shutting down free speech when he disallows our right to be heard dissenting his opinion. If he does not hear a voice of opposition he does not remain a fair representative of ALL THE PEOPLE which is pretty much what you become when you're elected and not crowned. Not have you got it straight?
 
 
+22 # BLBreck 2011-10-21 22:26
He wasn't forced to cancel, he's what they would have called a lily-livered coward in the old west, by gum. Let's hope his constituents send him home with his tail between his legs in 2012.
 
 
+18 # BradFromSalem 2011-10-21 22:26
If Eric Cantor is so against the redistribution of wealth, then why isn't he out with the Occupiers? Wall Street took advantage of the US economy and have steadfastly been neck deep in wealth redistribution since 1980.

That was when the wealth of the Middle Class began to diminish. Their wealth didn't just disappear, it moved to Wall Street. We really saw this during the infamous Wall Street heist of 2008. The Middle Class had their already lowered wealth stolen from them.

We have redistribution of wealth in America, and we want it back. What could be more fair? Why do Republicans like Cantor believe that stealing our savings is OK, while when we ask the crooks to pay taxes on what was stolen, we are Commies?
 
 
+10 # giraffe 2011-10-21 23:03
Personal view: I think he is insane - mentally ill - screw loose - missing part of his brain -

If he gets re-elected, I'll personally send him a "get well" card.

VOTE DEM VOTE OBAMA -- if the GOP/TP get in we will be run by the evil Koch brothers et. al. And the Supremes will vote 6-3 when Gingsberg leaves.

I cannot stand another filibuster - on important matters while the house keeps passing the same bill on abortion.

Repugnuts have about 25% more registered now -- help the minorities / old etc registered in your area. Voting is free and if your state now requires IDs - for voting those IDs are also free. Phone, go door to door, email, fliers, drive them - anything - just get them registered and also ALL Dems should get mail-in ballots. Some Dem governors are also acting like GOP --

The Norquist Cult of GOP/TP will make us worse than slaves.

The GOP has this Cain up front for a reason. I think I know why! Cain is not even registered in most states (i.e. he won't be on the ballot). The racist GOP/TP are using this clown to hide their KKK reality beliefs.

VOTE DEM VOTE OBAMA - If we get a majority -- we will get Thomas/Scalia impeached. It's a coming.

2012 is the MOST important election of our time. GO OWS - awesome and OWS have changed the tenor of the country.
 
 
+11 # karlarove 2011-10-22 00:26
Clearly Eric is only worrying about the guys at the top of the ladder. How about those who want to get on the ladder? Oh, I just remembered....w e don't pay him enough moneyto represent us, the people of the United States. We need a elected offical, I mean a lobbyist who works for us.
 
 
+14 # Michael S. Cullen 2011-10-22 01:13
Pity Cantor couldn't speak. Now he'll run around spewing things like 'the mob won't let me exercise my freedom of speech'; and there'll be lots out there to cheer him on. Let Eric eat cake.
Michael S. Cullen, Berlin, Germany
 
 
+10 # jcdav 2011-10-22 03:53
So.. he is willing to speak to friendly, receptive audiences, but if there will be ANY questioning in the crowd he bails..What a sorry excuse for a man..if this is what passes for leadership.. and shows the political accountability we (don't) have it is indeed time for a change..COWARD
 
 
+3 # Diane 2011-10-22 17:58
The unwillingness to speak to a potentially unreceptive audience??? - does that remind you of someone else? A former president, I think. Let's see - his name, hmmmmm - "Shrub"? No, not quite. Ah, Geo. W. Bush, the one who always knew he would be speaking to adoring supporters because his pre-speech muscle cleaned the venue of dissenters.

I guess they both needed to bail given that neither of them would have a sane answer to a sane question.
 
 
+12 # 666 2011-10-22 04:58
how dare they speak against "income redistribution" ! that's exactly what's at the heart of the GOP economic agenda: run up the debt - so that debt service takes up a bigger share of the taxes we pay (who benefits? the rich who own the debt [bonds]). ditto with wars and defense spending. ditto with the bailouts. Socialism for the rich! That's what the GOP (and Dems) preach and practice, because it's (real) socialism they fear the most. And just like in post-ww1 italy and germany, that fear was leveraged to seize control of government! Be afraid, be very afraid.
 
 
+9 # rofo47 2011-10-22 06:29
I live in Eric Cantor's district and the chances of him being defeated next November are about the same as the Phillies defeating the Yankees to become reigning world champions this year. We may be only 90 miles from Washington D.C. but we are in the DEEP South and at least 30 to 40 years removed from the 21st century.
 
 
+12 # J.Lindsley 2011-10-22 06:38
Corrupt people love weasels.
 
 
+8 # vadem 2011-10-22 06:56
I live in VA in Cantor's district. It has been Republican as long as I can remember. It is difficult to find a viable Democrat to oppose him. Believe me, many of us are as disgusted as the rest of thinking people but we can't get rid of him in a very conservative district! He is a leader due to the Republican takeover of the House in 2010.
 
 
+8 # in deo veritas 2011-10-22 07:49
Ship his sorry butt off somehwere like Afghanistan on a "fact-finding" mission and maybe he won't come back. He could join others working to destroy our country.
 
 
+14 # in deo veritas 2011-10-22 07:56
"on the staging of his presentation" is a very telling statement from the Wharton School at UPENN. Anything these fascist weasels do is staged just like the Nazi rallies in Nuremberg. If they can't have a hand-picked audience of supporters and fools they will use stormtrooper tactics like they did at the last Repug convention with their rent-a-cops.
 
 
+11 # in deo veritas 2011-10-22 07:58
When the day of reckoning comes, there will be nowhere in this country for Cantor and his criminal puppeteers to hide. What other countries would give them political asylum? What no takers?
 
 
+12 # angryspittle 2011-10-22 10:33
Nice to see the little twerp is heeding Truman's advice regarding heat and kitchens and such.
 
 
+4 # Kayjay 2011-10-22 14:57
Maybe we should regress in our dealings with Cantor and his TP ilk. Bring back tar and feathers.
 
 
+3 # DPM 2011-10-22 17:08
Kayjay. We need the tar for roads and feathers for..well for anything is more worthy than Cantor. The way to treat him is national distain. If he becomes a national embarrassment, like Palin, his big sponsors will abandon him. He may be reelected, in his district, but he will not have a national voice.
And, Gungadin. Were you this outspoken when Tea Partiers were interrupting and shouting down speakers at public meetings? Not allowing them to talk. Hmmm? Just curious.
 
 
+1 # Annalois 2011-10-23 09:16
Can you imagine what America will look like if The right wing GOP are re-elected to office? They want Obama to lose so much that they wont even pass the Jobs Bill knowing that the American people need work. Shame on these cold hearted men!
 
 
0 # amye 2011-10-23 12:35
Cantor, you are not very smart if you don't think the only way to level the playing field is to redistribute wealth! That IS the ONLY way to level the playing field!! We must redistribute the wealth! How do you think the rich got rich?? Uhh, because it was redistributed to them? YES! Now we need to redistribute it to the middle class and working poor!
 
 
+2 # 4yourinformation 2011-10-23 12:40
Screw Cantor's "it's all about upward mobility" schtick. It's precisely that we have too damned many wealth accumulating blood suckers vacuuming up massive profits, that result in the inequality in the first place. Meeting in the middle is exactly where we need to go. No more rich people and no more people. We CAN do it by creating a system that rewards WORK with REWARDING work and not tolerating drudgery at one end and massive opulence at the other.
 
 
0 # rose 2011-10-23 14:49
Calling Cantor a weasel is an insult to weasels! Not surprised he did not want to speak in front of people who might jeer him...after all, it's tough to speak spontaneously and in the moment when the only notes in front of you are the same "talking points" that you've been spouting ad nauseam for years!
 

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