The two free trade agreements, which in different parts of the world want common standards for the production of goods and services and the possibility for companies to sue states in private courts in case of threats of reduced profit prospects for foreign investors, have faced serious opposition in the EU and the US.
In the EU, the European Parliament voted to postpone a decision on TTIP indefinitely. In the US, the Democrats did not give Obama the right to fast track the TPP, which was considered important to get that agreement through.
But the threats are not over. The left-wing historian Hobsbawm recalled in his history books that although the Soviet Union was terrible, it pressured the United States and Europe to transform their societies into welfare democracies. Hobsbawm correctly predicted that the fall of the Soviet Union would lead to attempts to abolish welfare democracies when there was no longer a political welfare alternative.
So we have also seen Greece and Italy governed by non-democratically elected officials to ensure the EU's financial elite get value for their money. There have been several agreements similar to TTIP and TPP in recent years. Those who want to sell bee-killing pesticides fight tooth and nail to be allowed to do so. Fracking has begun to be practiced in both Denmark and Holland. It is a despicable way to obtain fossil fuel by blasting out shale gas deep below the earth's surface. In the process, large amounts of groundwater are poisoned.
Yet we could replace all fossil vehicle fuels today with hydrogen. This could have been produced with solar, wind and water energy.
There are good organizations where people can protest against the power's waves of proposals hostile to democracy, the environment and welfare. An international one is http://www.avaaz.org and a Swedish equivalent http://skiftet.org
http://sumofus.org is also very good.
Even those in power do not believe that their policies will create more welfare for the masses. In the EU, they are creating military forces and resources to put down the civil protests they think will come against the alarmingly increasing poverty in Europe.
Sandro Scocco shows in the latest issue of Arena that the savings that politicians have decided on since the financial crisis in 2008 have made the authorities aware that the austerity would drastically worsen the crisis and worsen the economic recovery.