Photos from the San Diego TPP Round

– July 4, 2012Posted in: Breaking Issues

Below are photos and updates from week of action surrounding the 13th Round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel in July 2012.

The Kick-Off Rally
(Monday, July 2, 2012)

On the opening day of the negotiations, hundreds of labor, environmental, free speech and Occupy activists gathered for a noontime press event and rally calling for Fair Trade, not free trade. The event was hosted by the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council.

Lorena Gonzalez, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, and Congressman Bob Filner, opened the Kick-Off Rally (photo by OccupyWomen San Diego)

Virginia Cobb, Director of Machinists District Lodge 725, speaks at the Kick-Off Rally

Crowd gathers outside of the site of the 13th Round of TPP negotiations

IBEW member urges the TPP negotiations to come into the light

Matthew McKinnon, political director for the International Association of Machinists

Viola Casares and Petra Mata of La Fuerza Unida

Carlos Heurta of Occupy San Diego and Maira Sutton of Electronic Frontier Foundation

ILWU member at the Kick-Off Rally

The Stakeholder Forum
(Monday, July 2, 2012)

Twenty fair trade advocates attended the official Stakeholder Forum wearing t-shirts with messages to TPP negotiators. The backs read: “Americans Oppose: Longer Drug Patents, Investor-State, Ag Dumping, Financial Deregulation and a Global Race to the Bottom on Labor and the Environment.” The front read: “TPP: No Back-Room Deals for the 1%.”

The stakeholder forum

Negotiator Reception
(Friday, July 6, 2012)

Negotiators attended a reception organized by Citizens Trade Campaign, the AFL-CIO, Machinists, Communications Workers of America, United Steelworkers, Teamsters, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen and Sierra Club. Fair trade concerns were shared in opening remarks by Lorena Gonzalez of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and Congressman Bob Filner, as well as in one-on-one conversations. Referencing the lack of transparency around the negotiations, Rep. Filner said, “As a Congressman who has to vote on this stuff, I’d love to be better informed of what’s going on.”

Congressman Bob Filner makes opening remarks

Negotiator reception

Pots & Pans March
(Saturday, July 7, 2012)

Occupy San Diego and others led a casserole march through downtown, with people banging pots and pans, culminating in a rally outside of the hotel where negotiators were meeting, right as they broke for lunch.