TTIP protests on the Day of Cultural Diversity
On May 21, the German Cultural Council's day against TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), Europe's planned free trade agreement with the USA, will take place on the International Day of Cultural Diversity. There will be campaigns, discussions and demonstrations in many German and Austrian cities.
Musicians and singers from ten nations will raise their voices against TTIP in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The German Publishers and Booksellers Association has also launched the nationwide campaign "Book trade instead of free trade". A handbook (TTIP, CETA & CO: On the effects of free trade agreements on culture and the media, 270 pages, ISBN 978-3-934868-34-2) on the effects of free trade agreements on culture and the media will also be published to coincide with the day of action. 34 authors shed light on the planned agreements and their effects on the cultural sector.
TTIP is intended to improve trade in goods and services between the USA and the European Union by removing existing trade barriers. Such trade barriers for potential US companies in Germany include fixed book prices, European copyright law, public cultural funding and the financing of public broadcasting through the household levy.
German politicians such as the President of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, see TTIP not only as an opportunity for the EU to "set the highest possible global standards together with the USA and to ensure that our Western standards, for example in the areas of environmental, consumer and employee protection and public institutions, are applied worldwide".
More info: www.tag-gegen-ttip.de
