"Water Cannons Turned On Peaceful TTIP Protestors In Brussels As Public Barred From Negotiations"

[KoKo]

Water Cannons Turned On Peaceful TTIP Protestors In Brussels As Public Barred From Negotiations
from the first-signs-of-panic dept

The TAFTA/TTIP negotiations remain almost totally lacking in real transparency, with little information about what exactly is happening behind closed doors being released to the public -- and most of that coming from the EU side. This has naturally forced those excluded from the inner circle to speculate about what might be going on -- and, inevitably, to fear the worst. According to the US Ambassador to the EU, Anthony Gardner, and the EU Commissioner responsible for TTIP, Karel De Gucht, that's unacceptable:

[i[The ambassador and commissioner agreed that NGOs and civil society organisations were spreading disinformation about TTIP through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. De Gucht said that a number of campaigners were "spreading rumours on false grounds."

Gardner added: "There's a void [in information]. The void is being filled more and more by social media."

That's interesting not just for the refusal to admit that it's lack of transparency that is creating this void, but also for the barely-concealed fear of social media, probably because it can't be controlled in the way that traditional media can.Business, politics -- but not civil society, which, as usual, was not invited to shape the future. So, instead, it was forced to stay outside the meeting, on the streets. Here's what happened while business and politics were busy inside:

This Thursday morning over a thousand people were in the streets of Brussels, attempting to peacefully protest against austerity and the proposed great transatlantic market (TTIP) which were being discussed in the absence of citizens at the European Business Summit.

In an unprovoked move 281 people were violently arrested, including Belgian and European parliamentarians and candidates, senior trade union officials, farmers and many elderly citizens.

. This extraordinarily disproportionate reaction would indicate an increasing nervousness on the part of the authorities that Europe is about to see a wave of mass demonstrations against TTIP just as happened with ACTA, leading to this brutal and ham-fisted attempt to nip it in the bud.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140516/06133827253/water-cannons-turned-peaceful-ttip-protestors-brussels-as-public-barred-negotiations.shtml

[merrily]

1. Thanks, Koko. Seems ALEC and his bigger international brother have done their work very well.

[msongs]

2. his bigger international brother's name is Barack nt

[merrily]

4. I get what you are saying, but there is an international counterpart of ALEC.

I just can never remember the name.

While I don't like many of the things that Barack has done, our country and the planet are run by the money men. (Not sure any rich women are calling the shots on that level yet.)

We focused on Bush, then were relieved when we finally managed to replace him with Barack. Now, we're focusing on Barack. In a few years, we'll be focusing on the next guy. But, the system is broken.

Harry Reid is putting the focus on the Koch brothers, which is good. But, they are far from the only ones involved. And that also deflects from Congress (both houses) and the Oval Office. There are two sides to every corrupt deed, the briber and the politicians who sell out their country and their respective constituents to the briber.

Keeping the focus on only two of the bribers, or on Obama, is good, to a degree. But, if it takes the focus off the big picture, it's not good. This is so much bigger than Obama and the Kochs combined.

[Ed Suspicious]

3. They should use fly-swatters because that would be symbolic of how they really feel.

[pa28]

5. K&R

[bvar22]

6. Are we "there" yet?

[font size=3]“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” [/font]
---Frank Zappa, prophet

I can see the "brick wall at the back of the theater".
Can you?


[font size=3]Hold on to your memories, SUCKERS,
'cause we're TAKING everything else!
Hahahahaha



You will know them by their WORKS.