You and I may never get to see the growing extent of corporate influence again if corporations get their way -- and we’ve only got until tomorrow to speak out.
Right now, corporate lobbyists are pushing through a law called the “Trade Secrets Protection Directive”. It’ll give corporations alarming new superpowers to prosecute and criminalise whistleblowers, journalists and news organisations that publish leaked internal company documents.
That means we may never have another “Panama Papers” again -- the huge leak of corporate information that showed just how far the super-rich will go to avoid paying for vital public services like the rest of us.
Who knows what else we’re missing out on? If this dangerous directive gets through European parliament, we may never find out. We only have until Thursday -- can you take action now?
We’re partnering with some of the top corporate campaigners in Europe to make sure we can win the battle and the argument. Our friends at Corporate Europe Observatory, WeMove and Xnet have been leading the way in fighting this dangerous Directive.
Corporations say the law is about protecting their trade secrets. But the law defines “trade secrets” so broadly that it covers almost any information inside a company.
It is not about industrial espionage; it is about silencing citizens and putting corporations beyond the reach of justice and democracy.
These giant corporations think they can stitch up the rules in our democratic societies exclusively for their own benefit.
They can only keep getting away with it if we remain silent.
There’s only one thing that politicians fear more than huge corporations, and that’s us -- ordinary citizens taking a stand. We’ve already proven what we can do when we come together in our thousands on TTIP, on Monsanto and others, now we need to mobilise again to make sure this corporate sponsored law is voted down by our MEPs.
Let’s tell MEPs to say no to the new trade secrets laws!
More information
The Panama Papers
ICIJ.
6 April 2016.