Strength in anti-TPP protest

"...I commend Featherston - and Wairarapa - for stepping up..."

I WAS probably quite rude about the prospects about a decent turnout for a protest march against the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Featherston (and I'm told there is no "A" for "Agreement" on the end, it's just the TPP).

I honestly thought there would probably have been three or four people walking up Fitzherbert St. I should have had more faith.

Featherston was the only show in Wairarapa to voice a protest against the 12-country closed door trade deal and, as a consequence, it garnered a 50-strong rally, in a variety of ages, impressive enough to draw retailers out from their shops and mechanics from Adamsons Service Station, wondering what was happening.

A protest march in Wairarapa is a novel experience. After five years reporting in Wellington, protest marches, placard waving and speeches at Parliament are familiar experiences, and often quite heady ones as well when the crowd gets worked up. I can understand the pull of the capital for those who decided it would be more meaningful to travel over the hill and hit Lambton Quay with plenty of noise.

Our sister paper in Rotorua commented in their newslist over the weekend: No TPP march here, so I commend Featherston - and Wairarapa - for stepping up, especially considering it was at very short notice. There were clearly people who wanted an outlet to protest the TPP and activist Claire Bleakley provided it.

I will need to study the TPP a great deal more before considering myself qualified to comment but, of course, the main agitation is what we don't know. Leaked documents, courtesy of Wikileaks, have stirred up all sorts of ideas. I certainly think the TPP is prone to being hijacked by alarmists and conspiracy theorists. I tend to have faith that, through basic human tolerance over time, the feared excesses of the TPP are extremely unlikely, even impossible. I also tend to think that countries that work together economically are generally better off. The problem is, we are not all one country, and we are certainly not equal countries in terms of culture and economics. Can countries be sensible with their economics, or will greed dominate? If the recession is any judge, greed has become "not good" - but it's never far from the surface.