Protestors Give USTR 'Corporate Power Tool Award'; Replace Toilet Paper In Hotel With TPP-TP

from the wow dept

Ron Kirk may believe that he's getting away with something in negotiating the TPP agreement without the public knowing what he's doing, but sooner or later he has to realize that the public isn't going to take it. With the recent TPP negotiations in Dallas, there was (of course) a corporate-sponsored "welcome gala." However, it appears that some protestors infiltrated the event and were able to announce that the USTR Ron Kirk and the other US negotiators had won the 2012 Corporate Power Tool Award. A protestor by the name of David Goodwin commandeered the microphone at the event and announced that he was Git Haversall, of the "Texas Corporate Power Partnership", and was giving the award to Ron Kirk because "The TPP agreement is shaping up to be a fantastic way for us to maximize profits, regardless of what the public of this nation—or any other nation—thinks is right."
The protestors actually came very close to giving the plaque to Kirk himself, but security got in the way at the last second. Somewhere around that point, a bunch of protestors apparently started dancing around and chanting "TPP! TPP! TPP!" You can see much of this in the video below:


Apparently the protestors also successfully replaced much of the toilet paper in the public bathrooms in the hotel with special TP-TPP:


I'm generally of mixed opinions on these kinds of protests. However, seeing as we're dealing with Ron Kirk, who seems to go out of his way to avoid the public concerning TPP and only listen to corporate interests, any method of making it clear to him that the public is unhappy seems worthwhile.

Filed Under: dallas, david goodwin, protest, ron kirk, tpp, ustr