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Select Committee Speaking Notes:1

International treaty examination of the Trans-

Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

27 April 2016 Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn

BACKGROUND

1. Kia ora koutou.

1.1. My name is Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn, and I belong to the Ngti Kuri and Te Rarawa Mori peoples of the Far North.

1.2. I have a Masters in Law; I am a 2005 Indigenous Fellow of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and I was an iwi Negotiator for the Ngti Kuri Historical Land Claims Treaty Settlement.

1.3. Also, as a mother, Im compelled to do all I can to secure a fair, safe and prosperous future for my son, and the society in which he lives.

THANK YOUS

2. I want to thank this Government for provoking citizens to engage more actively in politics. Of course, we wish our activism was based more on trust and confidence in our democratic institutions and elected representatives rather than an alarming scepticism and contempt for these very proceedings.

INTRODUCTIONS

3. Numerous technical concerns have already been raised about the TPP, and I wont repeat them here, except to say that I share those concerns.

3.1. Instead, Ill offer my thoughts on a few more obscure issues, whose ability to hide in plain sight makes these considerations just as significant, if not more so, in the TPP debate.

3.2. I invite citizens to pay close attention and grasp the big picture. Any reasonably-minded person who does should be impelled to act, and act forcefully, to protect their fundamental rights and freedoms which are now clearly under attack.

3.3. Indeed, failing to act accordingly may cost you your democracy.

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GENERAL POSITION ON THE TPP

4. Briefly, I support the Waitangi Tribunal Wai 262 claim findings and recommendations regarding The Making of International Instruments,2 and the more recent TPP-specific claims.

4.1. I believe the National Governments flagrant fast-tracking of the TPPs ratification, while the Tribunal is still to produce its latest findings and recommendations, is an arrogant lack of good faith towards its Mori Tiriti partner.

PARALLELS WITH ANTI-NUCLEAR AND ANTI-APARTHEID CAMPAIGNS

5. Many reflect that our country hasnt been in so much of an uproar over Government policy since citizens calls for a nuclear-free Aotearoa, and the anti-apartheid protests of the 80s.

5.1. We still get a lump in our throat, and a sense of incredible pride, about our little nation who successfully punches above its weight on the RIGHT side of social justice and moral issues.

5.2. And we must be sure that history records New Zealand as having made the right, ethical decisions concerning the TPP. Because the parallels with the anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid campaigns are very stark indeed.

Ill-fated Foreign Policy - USA Geo-political Domination Agendas

6. You may recall that one of the lesser-known reasons we resisted nuclear energy was our opposition to Americas unnecessarily aggressive stance against the Soviet Union.3

6.1. And now, America is up to its old tricks again. New Zealand may have instigated the TPP back in 2006,4 but America soon hijacked the negotiations for their own selfish ends.

6.2. We all know that America is a failed economy (to the tune of trillions of dollars5 bankrupt by anyones standards). This failure was escalated by successive US trade deficits - 14 of which were the largest ever recorded in world history. These deficits began racking up after 1992 when the USA started entering into so-called free trade agreements like NAFTA.

6.3. Suspiciously too, much of the gold Americas held on trust for other countries has mysteriously disappeared,6 and the only thing propping America up is their artificially-inflated US petro dollar.7 Facing the inevitability of a collapsing fossil fuel industry, this leaves US dollars and therefore, their economy - in a terrifyingly precarious position.

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6.4. So the USA knows it must fight to protect its very existence as it approaches its final death throes as the top geo-political power in the world. And who are Americas main competitors? China, Russia and other countries also known as the rebel BRICS nations8 who have created an alternate global reserve currency that threatens the US dollars dominance.

6.5. It is no coincidence these BRICS nations are all excluded from the TPP9 and the other affiliated so-called free trade agreements the TISA10 and the TTIP?11 Its a deliberate USA move. We knew this at least as early as Obamas 2011 speech on making sure America stayed ahead of China.12

6.6. America is the biggest bully (and, arguably, also the biggest terrorist) on the Planet surpassed only by transnational corporations who may have started out loyal to their nation States...

a. but, since technology has enabled the transfer of capital to virtually anywhere on Earth, corporations are loyal only to where they can produce at the lowest cost (in other words, countries where they can most easily violate human rights and the environment). Screw loyalty to their originating country and its citizens! Corporations are now totally out of control, the proverbial tail wagging the dog (which explains why a cabal of 500+ corporate lobbyists got front-row seats at what SHOULD have been Treaty negotiations between sovereign nation States only).

6.7. Although once a great nation, the US has since decimated their Constitutional protections with such mechanisms as the now infamous Citizens United case which affords corporations the same rights as human beings, thereby enabling corporate money to dominate and corrupt Government decision-making to the point that Americas democracy is now unrecognizable.

6.8. Their egoic foreign policy of demonizing China (and others) is, quite frankly, economic apartheid - pure and simple. Didnt New Zealand ferociously oppose apartheid back in the 80s? So why do we accept it now?

6.9. Similarly, with Americas perverse loyalty to two fatally flawed constructs:

a. First, a neo-liberal, capitalist economic operating system which is clearly a deliberate delivery apparatus for recessions, depressions and other spectacles that mercilessly transfer the wealth of the poor and middle classes to the obscenely rich elites, making farcical

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notions like the free market and trickle-down. On the contrary, we should call it what it is: corporate socialism and corporate welfare.

b. The second flawed construct is debt-based fiat currency - every one of which in recorded history, BAR NONE, eventually collapsed.

and fraudulent free trade agreements are just another mechanism driving Americans citizens deeper into slavery. So I ask you: why in the world be like the USA? Why does New Zealand continue so desperately to cling to Americas petticoats? Why let their patently perverted agendas (and those of over-reaching corporations) wield so much influence including pressure just this week for even more concessions over Pharmac and kiwis access to medicines?13 Is it this Governments intent to enslave New Zealanders too with sub-standard employment conditions, to flood our supermarkets with Genetically Modified Organisms, force us to be geoengineering guinea pigs, and roll-out mass surveilling smart meters in every home and every workplace? What: you think no-ones paying attention?

6.10. With war-mongering America running its economy into the ground, following USAs lead is clearly suicidal.

NATIONAL SECURITY UNDER THREAT

7. Finally a cautionary note on the TPP and domestic security A.K.A. the increasing threat of civil disobedience.

7.1. A Governments legitimacy comes from the informed consent of We, The People. And the way to ensure were informed is through legislative, executive and judicial checks and balances. Citizens shouldnt have to be the canary in the coal mine, constantly on high alert, wondering if our Government is going to pull another fast one on us: thats why we pay our taxes - for public servants to be the bureaucratic network that keeps watch from the inside on our behalf.

7.2. In a time of an unprecedented number of converging system failures and risks14 (most notably economic volatility, peaking of natural resources, and the most pressing peril of our time - climate15 crisis), there is only so much more pressure civil society and the Earths Life support systems can handle. Our elected representatives and public servants (especially those who have taken oaths of office to uphold law16) fail to heed the warning signs at their peril, as their appalling lack of true leadership and inaction (which, some say, borders on treason) fuels civil unrest.

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7.3. If the TPP has told us anything, its that New Zealand is on a slippery slope of democratic atrophy paving the way for increased vulnerability of our human rights and basic freedoms via a transnational corporate coup d'etat.

7.4. Perhaps our Prime Minister and certain other members of parliament dont care about human rights and basic freedoms after all, Rights are not really intended [or] designed, for use by the elites leading our debates because these are the people who are least threatenedRights are almost always neededby those who are vulnerable, by those who are not protected by the system.17

7.5. So maybe these elected representatives feel theyre in a different class than the rest of us, and dont have to worry about their rights being violated in the wake of a transition to a New Zealand corporatocracy. But, to quote the words of NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden, to say fundamentally that you dont care about a rightis probably the most anti-social thing I can imagine.18

CONCLUSION

8. Therefore, I end with words of warning to this, and any New Zealand Government, from journalist and activist author Chris Hedges: Our oppressors determine the parameters of revolt.19

Thank you for your attention.

Catherine Murupaenga-Ikenn

(N Ngti Kuri, Te Rarawa) United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Indigenous Fellow, 2005 1 For original written intervention, see https://www.scribd.com/doc/302546454/Statement-to-Parliamentary-

Select-Committee-s-international-treaty-examination-into-the-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Agreement-2016-6mar16. 2 See the Waitangi Tribunals Ko Aotearoa Tnei report "Factsheet 9 re Chapter 8, at

http://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/waitangi-tribunal/documents/generic-inquiries/flora-and-fauna/wai-262-the-making-of-international-instruments/view. 3 Following the victory of the New Zealand Labour Party in elections in 1984, Prime Minister David Lange

barred nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports or entering New Zealand waters. Reasons given were the dangers of nuclear weapons, continued nuclear testing in the South Pacific, and opposition to US President Ronald Reagan's policy of aggressively confronting the Soviet Union. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_nuclear-free_zone.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=coup%20d%27etat&t=ffabhttps://duckduckgo.com/?q=coup%20d%27etat&t=ffabhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalisthttps://www.scribd.com/doc/302546454/Statement-to-Parliamentary-Select-Committee-s-international-treaty-examination-into-the-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Agreement-2016-6mar16https://www.scribd.com/doc/302546454/Statement-to-Parliamentary-Select-Committee-s-international-treaty-examination-into-the-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Agreement-2016-6mar16https://www.scribd.com/doc/302546454/Statement-to-Parliamentary-Select-Committee-s-international-treaty-examination-into-the-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Agreement-2016-6mar16http://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/waitangi-tribunal/documents/generic-inquiries/flora-and-fauna/wai-262-the-making-of-international-instruments/viewhttp://www.justice.govt.nz/tribunals/waitangi-tribunal/documents/generic-inquiries/flora-and-fauna/wai-262-the-making-of-international-instruments/viewhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Langehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_powerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weaponhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reaganhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_nuclear-free_zone

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4 Ref the presentation by TPPA Chief Negotiator, David Walker, at 20 April 2016 roadshow meeting,

Whangarei. 5 USD$19.206 trillion (as at 26 April 2016) according to http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/.

6 For example, see documentary Where is all the Worlds Gold?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQD-

lolgoQ. 7 For decades, virtually all oil and natural gas around the world has been bought and sold for U.S. dollars (See

The Economic Collapse, De-Dollarization: Russia Is On The Verge Of Dealing A Massive Blow To The Petrodollar (13 May 2014), at http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/de-dollarization-russia-is-on-the-verge-of-dealing-a-massive-blow-to-the-petrodollar). The result has been a demand for US currency that has kept the value of the US dollar up. 8 Meaning Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

9 At the Governments TPPA public meeting, Auckland (7 March 2016), the question was asked (ref B Coates

email 8 March 2016) How is the TPPA in the national interest given it doesnt include our second biggest trading partner, China? Obama had been quoted as saying "if we dont write the rules, then China will write the rules in the region. And The Government officials answered The TPPA is not part of a pivot against China. The government wrote a National Interest Analysis. The government says it is not an anti-China agreement. Want China to join. However, its easy for a small fish in a big pond to declare what they want with full knowledge that they have insufficient influence to achieve their aims. 10

Trade In Services Agreement. 11

Trans-Atlantic Trade & Investment Partnership. 12

At around 4:29 minutes into the video, Robert Reich, Globaloney: The Dangerous Myths of Globalization (1 September 2011), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXc_SZz3Cx4. 13

King slams possibility of TPP renegotiation (26 April 2016), http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/king-slams-possibility-of-tpp-renegotiation/.Vx-4iDE3D9I.facebook. 14

See The World Economic Forum, Global Risks Report 2015, accessible at http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/. 15

See Appendix One, Far North Citizens Climate Declaration (2 November 2015). 16

For a useful reminder, see https://sites.google.com/site/universalsovereignnz/home/documents/public-servant-oaths). 17

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden speaking at 25 March 2016 panel discussion featuring Snowden, renowned linguist and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, and Intercept co-founding editor Glenn Greenwald. The discussion was hosted by the University of Arizona College of Behavioral Sciences: see around 36:10 minutes into video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVM. See also https://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/. 18

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden speaking at 25 March 2016 panel discussion featuring Snowden, renowned linguist and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, and Intercept co-founding editor Glenn Greenwald. The discussion was hosted by the University of Arizona College of Behavioral Sciences: see around 36:10 minutes into video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVM. See also https://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/. 19

John F Kennedy (35th

USA President) put it another way: those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQD-lolgoQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQD-lolgoQhttp://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/de-dollarization-russia-is-on-the-verge-of-dealing-a-massive-blow-to-the-petrodollarhttp://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/de-dollarization-russia-is-on-the-verge-of-dealing-a-massive-blow-to-the-petrodollarhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXc_SZz3Cx4http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/king-slams-possibility-of-tpp-renegotiation/.Vx-4iDE3D9I.facebookhttp://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/king-slams-possibility-of-tpp-renegotiation/.Vx-4iDE3D9I.facebookhttp://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/https://sites.google.com/site/universalsovereignnz/home/documents/public-servant-oathshttps://sites.google.com/site/universalsovereignnz/home/documents/public-servant-oathshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVMhttps://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/https://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOksJKfapVMhttps://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/https://theintercept.com/a-conversation-about-privacy/