Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Evangeline Lilly from Lost, and a host of other artists are uniting for a concert to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proposed trade deal supported by President Obama.
Rock Against the TPP will kick off on July 23 in Denver, Col., before heading on a nationwide tour. In addition to musician Morello and actress Lilly, acts including the Denver-based group Flobots, punk band Anti-Flag and bilingual dance group Downtown Boys will also be part of the performance.
Opposition to the TPP has been growing from both sides of the aisle. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton came out against the trade agreement despite having worked on the deal when she was Secretary of State. Her Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump have both criticized the deal, lumping it in with the North American Free Trade Agreement as examples of trade deals that hurt American workers.
“Working people everywhere have had enough,” Morello stated in a release. “The TPP is nothing short of a corporate takeover of our democracy. That’s why people are rising up to stop it. Corporate lobbyists want to sneak the TPP through Congress quietly; that means it’s time for us to get loud.”
The White House claims that the TPP will create broad rules that allow US companies to compete in a global marketplace.
But clearly to a number of musicians the deal is not rockin’.