Rage Against the Machine guitarist and political activist Tom Morello will headline a nationwide concert tour to protest the Obama administration’s controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) international trade deal.
Dubbed the “Rock Against the TPP” roadshow, the concerts are designed to “raise awareness of the dangers of the TPP and build opposition to the toxic deal that was negotiated in secret with hundreds of corporate advisors,” according to a press release.
“Working people everywhere have had enough,” Morello, who now performs with rap-rock supergroup Prophets of Rage, said in a statement. “The TPP is nothing short of a corporate takeover of our democracy.”
Morello will kick off the the roadshow with a July 23 performance at the Summit Music Hall in Denver, Colorado. Other artists expected to perform at the event include Anti-Flag, Downtown Boys, Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit of Flobots and actress Evangeline Lilly.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade agreement among twelve Pacific Rim countries, a major political initiative President Obama has called his “legacy trade deal.”
Criticism of the TPP has been wide-ranging, with the president’s own International Trade Commission concluding in its Congressionally-mandated study that the trade agreement will ultimately fail to grow the U.S. jobs market or expand America’s economy, and could damage the country’s manufacturing sector.
“That’s why people are rising up to stop it,” Morello said. “Corporate lobbyists want to sneak TPP through Congress quietly; that means it’s time for us to get loud.”
“This fight against the TPP is not about right and left, it’s about right and wrong,” Lilly, star of television drama Lost, said in a statement. “The more people learn about the TPP, the less they like it.”
“Whatever you’re passionate about, whether it’s human rights, Internet freedom, climate change or food safety, the TPP is a bad deal for humanity, and a threat to the future of democracy,” Lilly continued. “It’s our responsibility to sound the alarm, before it’s too late.”
Despite waning public support and consistent criticism, President Obama has vowed his support for, and the ultimate passage of, the TPP.
During a trip to Vietnam in May, Obama maintained that the trade deal would ultimately be “good for America.”
“I remain confident we’re going to get it done,” Obama said. “It’s good for the country. It’s good for America. It’s good for the region. It’s good for the world.”
Morello’s Prophets of Rage recently announced a nationwide “Make America Rage Again” tour. The group has promised to “cause a ruckus” at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland later this summer.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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