Info on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Jessica Desvarieux of The Real News talks to Lori Wallach of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch about why the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about traditional trade regulations such as tariffs, but all about expanding corporate rights and privileges. Learn about the few sections of the TPP that have been leaked to the public, why negotiations and content of the agreement are being kept secret, and what a signed agreement would mean for food safety, internet freedom, drug costs, and other basic components of public health and economic justice.

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Corporate personhood: don't regulate, eliminate!

Bonnie Preston, one of the Alliance's vice co-chairs, was one of the resource speakers at a recent teach-in at the University of Maine-Orono. Bonnie has been an active organizer for local food and self-governance ordinances in her part of Maine. She spoke alongside BJ McAllister, of Maine Clean Elections. Maine's governor is no fan of the state's clean election system, and has attempted to defund it. 

Here's what Bonnie said to the group:

Good afternoon! My name is Bonnie Preston, and I am a member of the Alliance for Democracy, which believes that the overarching task of our time is to get our democratic republic out of the hands of the mega-corporations and back into the hands of We the People.

Money in politics is not just about elections and how they are financed. More insidiously, it is about the two arms of the revolving door--lobbying and corporate capture of the agencies of government. It’s hard to pin down the number of lobbyists in Washington DC right now, but it is certainly dozens for each of our elected representatives in Congress. Many of these are former elected officials. For example, Billy Tauzin led the fight to pass a Medicare prescription drug plan that forbade negotiating prices with the drug manufacturers. After that signature achievement, he went to work for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing of America (PhRMA), the lobbying arm of the drug industry, where he became the highest paid health-law lobbyist in the country.

The flip side of people leaving government for lobbying is leaving the private sector to work for a government agency, temporarily of course. Exhibit A is Michael Taylor, who has moved back and forth from Monsanto to either the FDA or USDA for decades. He is now in charge of writing the regulations that will support the Food Safety Modernization Act, now in final draft form. If implemented, these rules could put an end to small farms in the US.

These two forces are driving the complete take-over of government by the private sector, and no campaign finance reform will touch this.

So what can we do to get the government back in our hands? The Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court galvanized people so dramatically that it has opened a door to a possibility that many of us who have worked for years on this issue have seen as a distant hope, if not a pipe dream. Since 1886, the Supreme Court has granted corporations more and more specific constitutional rights; corporations have used these to increase their political power.

The founders kept corporations under control. Corporate charters, required to show how the corporation would serve the public interest, had to be approved by state legislatures. They were limited in time and scope, had to be extended if desired by the legislatures, and could be revoked if the corporation failed to serve the public. A corporation could not buy another corporation, so they must stay small and competitive.

Today, monopolistic corporations, which include the too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks, are preventing progress on everything we need to do if we are going to continue to live on this planet. The rights we have given them are even being enshrined in international law through the World Trade Organization and the NAFTA-style trade agreements. This trade regime is culminating in the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with all the powers of NAFTA, but with a significant difference. Once in place, countries will not have to negotiate a trade deal; they will simply sign on to the TPP. The multi-national corporations, with the enforcement powers of the trade organizations backed by the military might of supposedly democratic governments, are growing into a force that will totally destroy our ability to govern ourselves in a humane and environmentally sound way.

We must directly confront corporations and the concept of corporate personhood. A Constitutional amendment that ends corporate personhood as well as the concept that money is not speech is necessary. Abraham Lincoln did not try to regulate slavery, or end it in steps, or disclose its evils. He backed the 13th amendment, which freed the slaves. We are still cleaning up the mess created by slavery, and we will have a lot of work to do to clean up the messes that corporations have made as well, but a Constitution that says that corporations are not persons with constitutional rights will provide the solid ground we can stand on as we do that work. AfD, a founding partner of the Move to Amend coalition, is committed to this type of systemic change.

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Worth reading: How the TransPacific Partnership undermines democracy

Here's a very comprehensive rundown on what we know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a monster trade deal that involves nearly a dozen nations on both sides of the Pacific. Authors Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese note that from NAFTA on, international trade deals have led to job loss and economic disruption, and warn readers to beware any talk of Congressional "Trade Promotion Authority," the euphemism that the Obama Administration, which is pushing this deal, has seized on to avoid the now toxic term "Fast Track."

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Join Alliance for Democracy in 2013

As we build for 2013, we welcome your member support! Check out our 2012 report, and then please consider supporting the upcoming year's organizing by joining Alliance for Democracy. Members receive a subscription to our newsletter, Justice Rising, and the satisfaction of helping end corporate rule from the grassroots up.

If you can make a larger contribution, we'll thank you by sending you a dvd of one of the following Populist Dialogues programs. Select one dvd for a donation of $50, two for $100 or all three for $150. When you give online you'll be able to select the show you'd like. If you have questions, or want to learn more about sharing the show on your local community cable station, please contact us in the office--email or call 781-894-1179.

12-46: Escaping the Great Recession with Public Banking
Guest Ellen Hodgson Brown, author of The Web of Debt and founder of the Public Banking Institute,  discusses the advantages of public banking in the United States and around the world. She reviews how money is created, how the Federal Reserve was created, various types of public banks and how their are structured, why some nations have escaped the Great Recession, how America could save its postal service, and how public banking institution could be used as a land bank to address the under-water property and foreclosure problems. First broadcast 11-11-12

12-44: Capitalism of the Olympic Games
Jules Boykoff, associate professor of political science at Pacific University, discusses the recent London Summer Olympics in terms of what he calls Celebration Capitalism. He also talks about the origins of the International Olympic Committee, costs for host cities (both economic and political), who sponsors and benefits from the games, the opposition which develops, media response to that opposition, and the militarization of public spaces including the concept of “Total Policing.” First broadcast 10-28-12

12-41: TransPacific Partnership and "Free Trade"
Guest Elizabeth Swager is Asst Director of Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. She talks about her role in the enactment of Portland Oregon's sweat-free procurement ordinance, designed to protect foreign factory workers. She goes on to review past "free-trade agreements" (NAFTA, Panama, Columbia and South Korea) and their effects on American jobs losses, tax havens and challenges to laws and regulations as a result of investor protection clauses. The TransPacific Partnership is then discussed as a "NAFTA on steroids." This agreement is being negotiated in super secrecy, except for a leaked chapter, which give us a look at how corporate-driven the TPP is. The show includes a petition calling for transparency in the TPP negotiations. First broadcast date:  Oct. 7, 2012      

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Blockade and balloons protest secretive TPP negotiations in Virginia

From Op-Ed News:
Two people were detained this morning after a tense stand off with police while blockading international trade negotiators from entering the Lansdowne Resort, site of the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations takingplace this week. Other activists greeted the arriving international negotiators with a 75-foot high banner suspended by weather balloons shaped like giant buttocks that read "Free Trade My Ass: Flush the TPP."

A rapidly growing movement is organizing to oppose the unprecedented lack of transparency surrounding the Obama Administrations handling of the TPP discussions. While 600 corporate lobbyists have been allowed access to and input on the draft texts from the beginning of negotiations three years ago, the public and even members of US Congress have not been allowed to see what is being proposed on their behalf.

"People need to know that the Trans Pacific Partnership is being negotiated in secret to hide the content. The TPP will redefine the terms of trade in ways that give corporations power over nations, makes them unaccountable and threatens the health of people and the future of the planet," said Baltimore native Dr. Margaret Flowers, co-director of ItsOurEconomy.us, as she dangled by a climbing harness 20 feet above the pavement and dozens of agitated police officers and sheriff's deputes. Flowers is a medical doctor and said she was moved to take action in particular because she is concerned about the likelihood that the TPP would increase drug prices by expanding corporate patent rights.

Police responded aggressively at first to the blockade, threatening to taze the metal poles suspending Flowers and to pepper spray the mother of three into compliance. Confused trade negotiators abandoned cars and attempted to walktowards the hotel complex. Stymied by how to safely remove her and open the roadway, police representatives eventually agreed to release Flowers if she lowered herself on her own accord.

Laurel Sutherlin of Rainforest Action Network, one of the organizations supporting this week's demonstrations, said "The TPP is called a 'trade agreement,' but in actuality it is a long-dreamed-of template for implementing a binding system of global corporate governance. It is outrageous that civil disobedience like this is necessary to ensure the public's voice is included in these discussions. The stakes are just too high for the world's environment as well as for farmers, workers and internet freedom for these decisions to be made behind closed doors."

Today's actions follow a colorful rally on Sunday at the same location that was  endorsed by dozens of regional and national environmental, labor and social justice organizations . Members of this diverse coalition, upset by the TPP's complete lack of transparency, have orchestrated a series of demonstrations throughout the week of negotiations.

In 2008, candidate Obama promised that as president he would renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico with new terms favorable to the United States. Now his administration is negotiating one of the largest corporate trade agreements in history, that would outsource jobs, lower wages and undermine environmental, consumer and labor laws.

Many predict the Trans-Pacific Partnership would do even more harm to U.S. employment than NAFTA. The TPP is being negotiated in secret by the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. It contains an  unusual provision, a docking agreement, which allows  other countries to join. This October, Canada and Mexico are expected join the TPP. Later, Japan and China will likely join but it will almost certainly not stop there. The TPP could set the standard for worldwide trade--a major reshuffling of our social contract with almost no public participation.

photo courtesy Rainforest Action Network

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Busy summer for Monterey County AfD

Monterey County Alliance for Democracy didn't take much time off this summer. At the end of June, they organized a CommUnity Rally, which brought more than seventy people out to meet with organizations in the area that challenge corporate power in various ways. The event featured speakers, a vigil featuring a corporate Frankenstein which got a lot of attention from passers-by, and a potluck. It was a good opportunity for like minded people to network and find out what others were doing, said chapter organizer Susan Hubbard.

The chapter also joined with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to march in the Monterey 4th July parade. The theme of their entry was "exercise your freedom" so marchers wore exercise clothes and had signs about our freedoms, adding, of course, that those freedoms should be for people, and not for corporations.

Two chapter members also attending the Move to Amend regional convergence in Oakland at the end of July--these convergences are happening all over the country, so check here to see if there's one scheduled near you.

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Populist Dialogues focuses on energy and environment, plus more resources for the September 22 Global Frackdown

Alliance for Democracy's Portland chapter produces the interview show "Populist Dialogues," hosted by AfD co-chair David Delk, and featuring activists, writers, and educators on an incredible variety of policy topics.

Here are a few of the shows they've done in the past year on energy and environment. If you're thinking of actions that can continue past the Global Frackdown, why not share these with your city through your community cable television station? They're available for rebroadcast free through PEGMedia, or you can request dvds to share at meetings by contacting the Alliance for Democracy office.

There are more video and print resources on fracking at the end of this post, so keep scrolling down!

Solutions to Jobs/Climate Crisis
David Delk interviews Dave King, Portland Jobs with Justice, and Ted Gleichman with Oregon Sierra Club LNG subcommittee on the dual problems of the jobs crisis and the climate crisis. Looks at how the solution to one should be the solution to the other and what some of those solutions are. First broadcast June 3, 2012




There's a coal train comin'! 
David interviews Laura Stevens of the Sierra Clubs campaign to stop using coal and opposing the building of coal export terminals in Oregon and Washington. First broadcast May 13, 2012


Community Based, Rights Based Organizing
Paul Cienfuegos, founder of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County in California, says that we need to cease being stuck in single issue campaigns and look at how we challenge corporate power. Democratically-instituted rights-based ordinances have challenged the corporate "right" to pollute or extract resources in Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. Here's how they work. First broadcast 1-1-12

 


How do Feed-In Tariff work to rapidly jump start production of renewable energy and produce good paying jobs?


David talks with Judy Barnes, co-founder of Oregonian for Renewable Energy Policy, on the use of Feed-In Tariffs to address the global climate crisis by quickly jump starting the production of renewable energy sources and good paying green jobs at the same time. First broadcast on 5-22-11




And from other groups, elsewhere online: 
In this “Viewpoint” web exclusive, Josh Fox, environmental activist and director of “Gasland,” talks about fracking and his new “emergency film,” The Sky is Pink about the impact of fracking on NY state, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering allowing fracking in just a few counties.

 “Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources: Separating the Frack from the Fiction” by the Pacific Institute, Oakland, CA, is an excellent source for detailed information, charts and maps on the threat of natural gas fracking to our fresh water resources and health.

“Scientists Tell Senate Panel: Climate Change Is Here and Disaster Costs Will Be Huge”

 “Common Sense: Banning Fracking at the Local Level” Go to the Fracking Action Center for:  “How Much Do You Know About Fracking?,” “Why Ban Fracking?,” “Hazards to Drinking Water Aren’t the Only Reasons,” “Ready to Ban Fracking?,” “Your Efforts to Grow the Movement are WORKING,” and much more.

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David Cobb of Move to Amend on tour in New England this fall

Update: August 29, 2012

The dates and venues on the tour have been changed! New info coming soon!

Move to Amend spokesperson David Cobb will be traveling through New England next month to build connections, inspire activism, and reveal the origins of corporate power in America.



David will be barnstorming through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont if Move to Amend can find folks on the ground who are willing to help out. Here's how the tour looks now—no link means that volunteers are needed to organize in that area. Volunteers are welcome to get involved with turning out a good crowd for the three talks already scheduled in Massachusetts, too! Follow those links for contact info and get involved!



• September 21 - North Shore Community College
• September 22 - Cape Cod WILPF conference
• September 23 - Boston, Massachusetts 

• September 24 - Portland, Maine 

• September 25 - Manchester, New Hampshire

• September 26 - Burlington, Vermont 

• September 27 - Rutland, Vermont 

• September 28 to 30 - Northeast Grassroots Democracy Convergence! (mark your calendar! You will want to go to this!) 



Can you volunteer? Move to Amend has media resources and other support materials to help you get started! Click here for details about how to be a Move to Amend Community Event Organizer. If you are interested please contact Alanna Stewart at barnstorming@movetoamend.org or (707) 269-0984.

David Cobb's presentations are part history lesson and part heart-felt call-to-action. "Challenging Corporate Rule & Creating Democracy" aims to help local folks understand how they can work to abolish corporate personhood and establish a government of, by, and for the people.

 If you can't pitch in beforehand, please forward this email to friends, fellow activists, or organizations that might be able to help out.



Help bring Move to Amend and the constitutional amendment campaign to your community to grow the movement in your state! PS... For a preview of what you'll hear, check out David Delk's interview with David Cobb on the AfD Portland show Populist Dialogues. (You can show this interview on your local community access cable station. Email us afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org for more information!)

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Justice Rising: Corporate Power or the Common Good?

Due out in October, the final issue of Justice Rising's series on "Money in Politics" will look at who runs US government. Is it the American people looking out for our common good or a corporate elite exerting control over public policy to benefit their private ends? Taking historic research by Gustavus Meyers, Thortstein Veblen and C. Wright Mills, this issue of Justice Rising will apply their analysis of "money power" to the twenty-first century. It will lay bare the disaster of a public policy driven by corporate allies in a time when the externalities of their market-driven rationales are causing extreme climate change as well as species and resource depletion-threatening life as we know it.

This important issue of Justice Rising will expose how the revolving door between corporate America and our government's top decision makers facilitates the monied elite's domination over Supreme Court decisions, our imperial foreign policy, and the daily workings of the regulatory system. It will also illuminate how our legislatures have been turned into training camps for corporate lobbyists.

In the tradition of Justice Rising, this issue will also promote the growing drive of the American people to exert democratic control over corporate power. From ending corporate personhood to creating a public service corps solidly loyal to the common good of the people, citizens are uniting to guarantee a future of liberty and justice for all.

A subscription to Justice Rising is free with Alliance for Democracy membership. For a free copy of this issue, email us in the Alliance office. Back issues of Justice Rising are available online, both as complete issues and individual articles.

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Mendocino petition drive meets signature goal, Massachusetts not far behind

Alliance members and supporters in Mendocino County, California, and eastern Massachusetts have reached signature goals to get voter referenda against corporate personhood before the voters.



In Mendocino, the Citizens Advisory measure is on the ballot, after 5661 signatures were turned in, 74% more than the 3240 needed! 



Next, the county Board of Supervisors will put the measure on the ballot. The initiative is on their July 24th agenda; supporters are urged to turn out and show support. 



Tom Wodetzki, AfD member and co-chair of the Mendocino County Move to Amend effort, writes: "Ours could be the first county in California to pass such a citizens initiative, and thereby join the growing number of counties, cities and states nationwide expressing a strong desire to restore real democracy. 


"Our federal and state representatives are not acting to end this outrageous corruption of our elections," he said, "since they benefit from the status quo. So only an ever-growing demand from the grassroots will get the legal change we need, which has to be in the form of a Constitutional amendment." 



“Bravo!" writes Nancy Price, AfD Co-chair and member of the Move to Amend National Organizing Team. "Significantly, the Mendocino initiative supports an amendment to abolish ALL [corporate] constitutional rights, including the First Amendment, and reversal of the doctrine that money is speech. We will only get one chance at a Constitutional amendment and it has to be one that will really set the country on the path to end corporate rule and restore real democracy.”



In Massachusetts, North Bridge Alliance Chapter members petitioned with  Common Cause, Greater Boston Move to Amend, and other groups to get a non-binding referendum question on the ballot in three eastern Massachusetts state senate districts and one representative district. Other groups worked on collecting signatures on Cape Cod and in western Massachusetts. Organizers will know in August whether a sufficient number of signatures are certified, but in most districts the number collected was well over the required number to get the measure before voters.
 


In both Massachusetts and California, resolutions in favor of an amendment to overturn Citizens United only were introduced in state legislatures. California recently passed theirs, becoming the sixth state in the country to do so.

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Anti-corporate crafting: a strong message on a cool medium!

Here's what the back of the shirt looks like!

Admit it. You've always wanted one of those t-shirts that say:

Slavery is the Legal Fiction that a Person is Property

__

Corporate Personhood is the Legal Fiction that Property is a Person

Well, now it can be yours, with a little work, a plain light-colored shirt (or tote bag or banner), and a couple of those iron-on transfer sheets that you can run through your printer at home. Just print out these two pdf files, t-shirt front, and t-shirt back for an Alliance for Democracy shirt. In order to transfer "right-side-to" onto a t-shirt, you'll have to print these two mirror-image files of the final artwork and slogan.

You can find the transfers online, or at local craft or office supply stores. Use an ink-jet printer to print, and a regular iron to transfer to your fabric. The transfer sheets also come with good instructions.

To get a better idea of the artwork or to print out "right-side-to" files for a poster, use these files: the famous quote by Bill Meyers, in the public domain, and the famous cartoon by Matt Wuerker, which was drawn and given by the artist to the original Women's International League for Peace and Freedom campaign to "Challenge Corporate Power--Assert the People's Rights" in 2001.  Thanks to Jan Edwards for updating this classic for the current campaign against corporate personhood, and thanks to you in advance for using a fair-trade or union-made shirt as you stay cool this summer and show your support for human persons. 

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Self-governance and rights-based organizing will be the focus of a talk in Burlington, WA

AfD water activist Sanda Spargo forwarded this notice of an upcoming event in Washington state:

If you're tired of the constant battle for a voice in governance, come hear a new and unified approach. On May 4, Kai Huschke of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund will speak at the Burlington, WA public library, 820 E. Washington Avenue. Kai will be discussing Democracy School and a Community Bill of Rights. Democracy School teaches the right to local, self-government that enables communities to reject unsustainable economic and environmental policies set by government and enables legal framework that charters sustainable energy production, sustainable land development and sustainable water, among others. A Community Bill of Rights tailors rights-based local laws according to a community's needs.

For more information, call 360-293-8128 or see CELDF's website.

Locally, volunteers Naomi Bunis, an artist, and Stoney Bird, an environmental attorney, are members of Living Democracy/Bellingham, and are helping Skagit County and Anacortes to form Living Democracy groups with an eye to establishing a chain of these groups along Highway 5 and the railway corridor. Naomi and Stoney are collaborating with CELDF, whose legal work is free to the public.

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Timeline of Corporate Personhood

Here are three different sizes of a "Timeline of Personhood Rights and Powers," as well as an article by Molly Morgan and Jan Edwards titled "Abolish Corporate Personhood" which helps explain the thinking behind the timeline and the movement to end corporate access to the rights of human persons as guaranteed by the Constitution.

The first two versions print out on wide-format machines; these are usually found in copy or print shops that specialize in making blueprint copies for architects, but other copy shops sometimes have them as well.

Click on this link to download a version designed to be printed at a commercial large-format copy shop on 24-inch paper. The final timeline should be approximately 11 feet long (24 x 130 inches).

Click on this link to download a version that will print on 36-inch paper and be approximately 17 feet long (36 x 200 inches).

Click on this link to download a version that can be printed on a home printer on eight letter-size sheets of paper set on "landscape." Tape the individual pages together to make a small timeline 8 1/2 x 88 inches long, or about 7 1/2 feet.

This timeline was compiled by Jan Edwards with much help from Doug Hammerstrom, Bill Meyers, Molly Morgan, Mary Zepernick, Virginia Rasmussen, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Thomas Linzey, Jane Anne Morris, and the late Richard Grossman. Thanks to Carl Mayer for his article "Personalizing the Impersonal". Early supporters of this work include Alliance for Democracy, POCLAD, and WILPF.

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LA City Council approves resolution against corporate constitutional rights

Congratulations to Move to Amend Los Angeles. Organizing paid off as hundreds of supporters packed the City Council's chambers to speak in favor of a resolution barring corporations from accessing constitutional personhood rights, and allowing the re-regulation of political spending. LA now becomes the first major US city to rule that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

The council's unanimous vote came before a standing room only crowd. The resolution was sponsored by City Council President Eric Garcetti and seconded by Council Members Bill Rosendahl and Paul Krekorian with passionate support by Council Members Richard Alarcon and Paul Koretz.

Mary Beth Fielder, Move To Amend-LA founder, spearheaded the effort to bring the resolution to the LA City Council. “It’s a great day for Los Angeles and it’s a great day for the United States of America," Fielder said. "I hope this is the vote heard around the world and that it will inspire other who want to reclaim our democracy to begin organizing in their communities. Together we can build the grassroots support we need to actually amend our constitution.”

“Every struggle to amend the constitution began as just a group of regular Americans who wanted to end slavery, who thought women should vote, who believed that if you’re old enough to be drafted, you should be old enough to vote,” said Council President Eric Garcetti. “These are how American amendments move forward from the grassroots when Americans say enough is enough. We’re very proud to come together and send a message but more than that, this becomes the official position of the City of Los Angeles, we will officially lobby for this.

"I also chair a group which oversees all the Democratic mayors and council members in the country and we’re going to share this with all our 3,000 members and we hope to see this start here in the west and sweep the nation until one day we do have a constitutional amendment which will return the power to the people. ”

“What we saw in that chamber today was the beginning of a sea change in the way people think about politics in America and I hope that this will be the first day of a long and sustained movement that changes the way we represent ourselves and the way we demand the kind of government that we deserve,” said Council Member Paul Krekorian.

“I could not believe the coalition of energy that filled the council chambers today,” said Council Member Bill Rosendahl. “It made a huge difference. It was democracy at its best! ”

Here's the video:

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Boulder CO voters say no to corporate personhood, "money as speech"

Voters in Boulder overwhelmingly approved a non-binding resolution calling for an amendment to the Constitution ending corporate access to personhood rights and defending the right of municipalities to regulate campaign donations.

The ballot question, Question 2H, won by a near 3 to 1 margin, according to the final count, with 18,392 ayes to 6,556 votes against.

The measure asks:

"Shall the People of the City of Boulder adopt the following resolution: RESOLVED, the People of the City of Boulder, Colorado call for reclaiming democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate influence by amending the United States Constitution to establish that:

1. Only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights, and

2. Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech."

Congratulations to local voters and to the coalition Yes on 2H, which brought together organizations and individuals in support of the measure. Local media coverage here.

Update! We just got the following press release from Boulder Move to Amend, Boulder Yes on 2H and Move to Amend:

BOULDER, CO - Last night Boulder became the second city in the nation to pass a ballot measure calling for an amendment to the US Constitution that would state that corporations are not people and the legal status of money as free speech. At midnight, with 93% of the ballots counted, the measure was handily winning with 74% of voters in support.

Boulder's campaign is the latest grassroots effort by Move to Amend, a national coalition working to abolish corporate personhood. "From Occupy Wall Street to Boulder, Colorado and every town in between, Americans are fed up with corporate dominance of our political system," said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, a national spokesperson for Move to Amend. "Local resolution campaigns are an opportunity for citizens to speak up and let it be known that we won't accept the corporate takeover of our government lying down. We urge communities across the country to join the Move to Amend campaign and raise your voices."

Earlier this year voters in Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin overwhelmingly approved similar measures calling for an end to corporate personhood and the legal status of money as speech by 84% and 78% respectively. Next week voters in Missoula, Montana will have an opportunity to vote on a similar initiative in their community. Move to Amend volunteers in dozens of communities across the country are working to place similar measures on local ballots next year.

"Today's 'corporate personhood' referendum in Boulder, Colorado is the latest message from the American people to state and federal legislators on the need for a Constitutional Amendment," said Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-MD). "The Supreme Court's misguided Citizens' United ruling burst open the floodgates of corporate spending in our elections, but it also unleashed a wave of public outcry over the need to put individuals, not corporations, in control of our elections. The results from today are just one example that we must take action to protect our treasured democracy."

Edwards introduced a bill last month for a Constitutional amendment that would overturn the controversial Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case.

"Working on this campaign was electrifying," said Scott Silber, a local Move to Amend organizer in Boulder. "We had such an outpouring of enthusiasm from our community. Folks were so thrilled to finally have an opportunity to have their voices heard and resoundingly call for an end to corporate corruption of our democracy. From here we're taking the campaign to Denver, and then on to Washington, DC."

Move to Amend's strategy is to pass community resolutions across the nation through city councils and through direct vote by ballot initiative. "Our plan is build a movement that will drive this issue into Congress from the grassroots. The American people are behind us on this and our federal representatives will see that we mean business. Our very democracy is at stake," stated Sopoci-Belknap.

Here's a complete list of all resolutions passed to date.

Contact:
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, National Field Director, (707) 362-0626, Move to Amend
Scott Silber, Boulder Move to Amend, (510) 485-6586
Elena Nunez, Boulder Yes on 2 H Campaign, (720) 339-3272

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City of Marina California resolves to amend the Constitution to control corporate "free speech"

On Tuesday October 18, the Marina (CA) City Council became the first on the Monterey Peninsula to pass a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment in response to the Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission case. The resolution concludes:

Therefore, Be It Resolved that the Marina City Council calls for amending the U.S. Constitution to establish that:
1. Corporations should not be exempt from campaign finance restrictions on the basis of campaign contributions being the same as political speech protected by the First Amendment; and,
2. Corporations are not natural persons, and therefore are not entitled to the same First Amendment rights provided to individual persons.

You can read the full resolution here.

The Monterey County Alliance for Democracy chapter had been working on this since December of last year and are very happy that this finally came to a vote before the City Council and passed. Congratulations, Monterey County!

If you would like to learn more about passing a local resolution, check out resources on the Move to Amend site; and to build support in your town take a look at all the resources on our Tools for Organizing and street theater pages.

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Solidarity on the bridges!

Alliance for Democracy Downeast (ME) and Hancock County (ME) Towns in Transition co-sponsored two Occupy Wall Street solidarity rallies last weekend. Organizers write, "there was such an enthusiastic response to the two local democracy rallies last weekend that a group of us intend to do this every weekend. We had 50 attend the rally in Blue Hill and 52 in Ellsworth with very short notice. Our goal is to line both bridges and then extend into town. The weekly rallies are as follows:

• Blue Hill on the bridge- Every Saturday 12-1 PM
• Ellsworth on the bridge - Every Sunday 12-1 PM

"If you want to join us,  bring a sign and a smile and we’ll send a message to New York and DC that we are standing in solidarity with them. If you don't have a sign, come anyway. It's a fun way to connect with like minded individuals who believe we need to reclaim America.

"Tips for new sign makers and rally attenders: Make signs with big dark letters and not too many words--individuals are reading them while driving. Point the signs toward the drivers. Smile and wave to them."

Ellsworth and Blue Hill are just two of the 1,300 occupations that have formed across the US in the last three weeks. Some are actual encampments, some are regular solidarity rallies. If there's not one near you, hit the streets! Downloadable posters, fliers, etc. are here, suggestions for street theater here!

You can see some pictures from Blue Hill on our Facebook page. AfD'ers are involved with occupations in Portland, Davis, Wall Street, Washington and Boston as well.

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Portland AfD at Occupy Portland, and an upcoming event on the city's liberal rep vs. realities for communities of color

Yesterday AfD'ers were out for the opening Occupy Portland march, collecting signatures for Move to Amend, and spreading the word about Move to Amend Portland and local anti-corporate rule organizing in a march from Waterfront Park to Pioneer Square to Lownsdale Square. Portland chapter president David Delk reports more than 10,000 people in the streets. "It was awesome," he writes. "And just the beginning. The people have started to stir, and in the populist direction we all want."

Here's a link to Shamus Cooke's story in the LA Progressive.

Next week, on Thursday October 13, the chapter will sponsor a talk on "Communities of Color in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile," presented by Julia Meier, Coordinator, Coalition of Communities of Color. Ms. Meier will explore Portland's progressive reputation, and the reality behind the widespread assumption that it is an accepting community dedicated to economic, racial and ethnic equity.

The Coalition of Communities of Color, in partnership with researchers at Portland State University, has spent the last two years documenting racial disparities. In May they released a comprehensive report on the status of racial disparities in Multnomah County across 27 different systems and institutions. Ms. Meier will present the findings and engage the Portland progressive community in dialogue.

The talk will take place at the First Unitarian Church, Eliot Chapel, SW 12th and Salmon, from 7 to 9 p.m. Donations of $5 to 20 will be gratefully accepted, but no one will turned away. All are welcome. The Economic Justice Action Group of the First Unitarian Church is a cosponsor, with the Alliance's Portland chapter.

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Video from Madison's Democracy Convention

You can click on the links below to see video of some of the panels and workshops that AfD co-chair Nancy Price organized at the Democracy Convention last week.

The video was shot by Justice Rising editor Jim Tarbell, who was also a participant in panel discussions on community radio and building community economics.

Eco-Climate Justice: A Revolution of Values for People and Nature, featuring Alberto Saldamando, Ashley Anderson, Carolyn Raffensperger, Rachel Smolker, and Ronnie Cummins; introduced by AfD co-chair Nancy Price. This was the opening plenary of the eco-justice/earth democracy conference, one of eight that made up the full convention program. Since this was the first event, Nancy runs through the full lineup of workshops and plenaries--there was a lot going on!

Climate/Earth Justice: Debunking Climate Markets and the Neoliberal Green Economy, with Ruth Caplan, AfD vice co-chair and director of our Defending Water for Life campaign, Daphne Wysham and Rachel Smolker.

Water: A Fundamental Right for People and Nature, with Alberto Saldamando, Nancy Price and Ruth Caplan

And part two of Teaching Earth Democracy, with Nancy Price, Riki Ott, and Bob Peterson. Nancy gives a demonstration of the Tapestry of the Commons interactive project.

We hope to have more video up here and on our Youtube channel soon.

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How can communities reclaim the right to say "no" to corporations?

Mari Margil, of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, recently posted this article on local rights-based ordinances, originally written for Yes! Magazine. She focuses on the recent circuit court overturn on Morgantown, West Virginia's local anti-fracking ordinance, and asks

"Why is it that cities and towns facing the direct impacts of these and a wide range of other harmful corporate activities do not have the authority to determine whether they should occur? How is it that corporate directors who live hundreds if not thousands of miles away--working hand-in-hand with the state and federal officials that residents often expect to protect them--are able to override local, democratic decision making like Morgantown's?"

Pittsburgh's anti-fracking ordinance, which declares the "fundamental and inalienable right" to water for both residents and ecosystems, also gives residents legal standing to sue on behalf of protection of the municipality's ecosystems. But passing these ordinances is nothing but show unless municipalities are also willing to enforce them.

In the meantime, as Wenonah Hauter points out, the energy industries still have too many tools at their disposal to influence public policy in the service of making money, regardless of the risk to health, environment, and local democracy.

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