Star Of The Show: Professor Jane Kelsey takes her role as an academic and public intellectual seriously. For her, the universities’ statutory obligation to be the “critic and conscience” of New Zealand society is keenly felt and courageously expressed. For much of her adult life she has criss-crossed the globe, from one set of trade negotiations to the next, making contacts, developing information networks, and struggling ceaselessly to bring the dark and dirty secrets of global capitalism - like the TPPA - kicking and screaming into the sunlight of public scrutiny.
CONGRATULATIONS ARE DUE to the organisers of last night’s (11/8/15)
“Table Talk” at Laila Harré’s Ika Seafood Bar & Grill. The fifth such event,
“TPPA or Not TPPA?”, was emceed by the irrepressible Wallace Chapman, and featured
a panel which, for the first time, was evenly split between protagonists and
antagonists.
And, it was a wee ripper!
In support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership were Dr Wayne
Mapp (former Cabinet Minister under John Key and currently a member of the Law
Commission) and Michael Barnett (CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce).
Opposing the TPPA were Professor Jane Kelsey (Professor of Law at the
University of Auckland and author of the just published deconstruction of neoliberalism
in New Zealand, The Fire Economy) and
Dr Joshua Freeman (Clinical Microbiologist at Auckland City Hospital and an
honorary academic at the University of Auckland School of Molecular Medicine
and Pathology).
The huge benefit of having Wayne and Michael debating with
Jane and Josh was that the audience (which, let’s be fair here, was
overwhelmingly anti-TPPA) got the chance to compare and contrast, weigh and
evaluate, the arguments of both sides of the issue. This is not always possible
in those panel discussions where every participant pretty much agrees with
every other. These might make people feel better (having one’s preconceptions
confirmed is always gratifying) but it does not test them. To do that a genuine
debate is required.
There’s no disputing that, over the course of an hour or so
of lively discussion, the arguments, both for and against the TPPA, were
tested. Equally indisputable, in my opinion, was the identity of the winners.
Neither Wayne nor Michael were even close to being a match for Jane and Josh.
Indeed, beyond a meagre collection of conventional “free trade” tropes, the
TPPA protagonists had virtually nothing to offer.
In this they were, ironically, the victims of their own
side’s obsession with secrecy. Operating almost exclusively on the tiny amount
of information the Key Government has seen fit to release to the public, and
utterly reliant on the solemn undertakings and promises enunciated by Messrs
Key and Groser, Wayne and Michael could do little but point to the “success” of
the NZ-China Free Trade Agreement and raise fears about what would happen to
“poor little New Zealand” if it allowed itself to be “locked out” of an
agreement as important as the TPPA.
Jane and Josh demolished these stock “free trade” arguments
without breaking a sweat. Though I wouldn’t have said so before the debate, by
the time it was over, it was painfully clear that the protagonists were out of
their depth. As a clinical microbiologist, and the TPP spokesman for Ora Taiao, the New Zealand Climate and
Health Council, Josh was absolutely on top of the likely consequences for
Pharmac, and by extension, the future health of New Zealanders, should the
transnational pharmaceutical corporations succeed in having the life of their
patents extended. On more than one occasion during the hour, the facts and
figures at Josh’s fingertips left Wayne and Michael floundering helplessly in
their own ignorance.
But it was Professor Jane Kelsey who truly stole the show.
Astonished by her encyclopaedic knowledge of just about every item of leaked
information concerning the TPPA (as well as the details of all the other FTAs
New Zealand has signed) Wallace could not restrain himself from demanding to
know “How do you manage to read all this stuff?!” It was an entirely forgivable
outburst.
The answer, of course, is that Jane takes her role as an
academic and public intellectual seriously. For her, the universities’ statutory
obligation to be the “critic and conscience” of New Zealand society is keenly
felt and courageously expressed. For much of her adult life she has
criss-crossed the globe, from one set of trade negotiations to the next, making
contacts, developing information networks, and struggling ceaselessly to bring
the dark and dirty secrets of global capitalism kicking and screaming into the
sunlight of public scrutiny. It is easy for the Right to dismiss her arguments
when she isn’t there to defend them, but put her on the same stage as people
like Wayne and Michael, or pit her against Mike Hosking, live, on Seven Sharp, and her critics’ arguments
are swept away like so much summer gossamer.
By the end of the hour, it was clear to everyone that the
TPPA – like War in the old 60s poster – “is harmful to flowers, children and
other living things”, and that only a truly mendacious government would commit its
citizens to what is, in effect, an empowering charter for transnational
capital.
In conclusion, the answer to the question: “TPPA, or Not
TPPA?” is “Not TPPA!”
Be sure to join the Anti-TPPA protest march in your town on
Saturday, 15 August.
This review was
originally posted on The Daily Blog
of Wednesday, 12 August 2015.
