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Help make Manchester a TTIP Free Zone

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Grassroots activists in Manchester are calling on Manchester City Council to declare itself a TTIP free zone.


TTIP Free Manchester

Stop TTIP MCR is asking everyone who lives, works or studies in Manchester to sign their online petition to make Manchester City Council commit to taking action to show our city’s rejection of TTIP. They need 4,000 signatures to force the local council to debate this motion.

Secretive trade deals such as TTIP will give big business unprecedented new powers. Most controversially, they aim to set up special courts in which companies can sue governments over decisions they believe might harm their profits. You can find out more information here.

Laura Williams of Global Justice Manchester said:

“It’s vital that cities like Manchester stand up for democracy and transparency. TTIP is a secretive trade treaty that threatens the UK’s ability to implement important policies for the public good – such as tax justice, health and environmental legislation. Other cities in the UK – from Glasgow to Newcastle to Oxford – have already spoken up. Now is the time for Manchester to take a stand and defend the rights of both people and planet.”

There are plenty of things that you can do to support the campaign:

1) Sign the petition

To get the council to debate the motion at least 4,000 people who live, work or study in the Manchester City Council area need to sign the petition. You can sign the online petition, encourage others to sign by posting it on Facebook and Twitter, or change your profile pictures to our campaign logo.

We’ll be organising some group street petitioning days soon. Please email laura.williams@globaljustice.org.uk if you are interested in helping out.

2) Organise an event

Putting on a TTIP themed event in your local area is a great way to get the word out and collect signatures. You could organise anything from a debate on TTIP to a film showing.

Stop TTIP MCR are happy to support and advertise any events being organised so please contact laura.williams@globaljustice.org.uk to find out how we can help you.

3) Write to Manchester Evening News

We want our TTIP Free Zones Campaign to get into the newspapers. Use the guides to TTIP available here to put together a short letter and post it here.

4) Lobby your local councillor

To make sure that our councillors vote the right way, now is the time to get our there and tell them how we feel about these rotten trade deals.

To get your voice heard all that you need to do is:

  1. Have one hour spare to go and visit your local councillor during their surgery time. You can see a list of times and councillors names here. Councillors hold their surgeries across Manchester so there will be one within a short distance from wherever you live.
  2. Have a read over our lobbying pack to help to prepare yourself for your meeting with your local councillor as well as the Global Justice Now’s blog pieces to make sure that you are up-to-date with developments in the campaign.
  3. Attend the surgery:
    • Find out what is their view on this TTIP Free Zone motion (available here) and which way would the vote on it?
    • Talk them through the key arguments against TTIP as outlined in this document and this one.
    • If they say that they wouldn’t vote on it, find out what would encourage them to do so.
    • Mention that we will be raising a local government petition to get this debated if no councillor is willing to put forward the motion for debate. Is there anything that they can do to support this?
  4. Let us know what responses you receive from your local councillor by filling in this short form. This is super important so that we can track who’s saying what and know where to apply a little more pressure.

Cities across the world have already declared themselves a TTIP Free Zone. Let’s make Manchester the next one.

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