The choice? Amendment or corporate rule!

While the mainstream media didn't pay a heck of a lot of attention to the US Social Forum, alternative media were there, writing, audio and videotaping. Kevin Gosztola of OpEd news did this interview with David Cobb, speaking on behalf of Move to Amend and the need to strip corporations of their illegitimate claims to be "persons" with constitutional rights continues to grow.

Did you sign the organizing petition? Did you forward it to family and friends? The corporate media is not going to cover us until we are so large and loud that they can't ignore us, so please help us make that happen.

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A little media on the Social Forum

by Barbara Clancy

Here's some good questions asked and answered about the seemingly "controlled chaos" of the US Social Forum, by Mark Engler in this article in Yes! Hat tip to Erin Polgreen of The Media Consortium.

Engler writes:

Whenever the social forum speaks of itself as the future of the U.S. Left, vexing issues arise: Can any coherent political program emerge from an amorphous, multi-issue assembly? Can we formulate a vision of the Left without more serious participation from key progressive constituencies such as organized labor? Can the collection of radicals and community-based organizations that are present here become a political force with mainstream reach, or are they too self-marginalizing? The answers are not easy to come by, and non-starry-eyed attendees can easily grow wary in contemplating such imposing matters.

Where the social forum thrives, in contrast, is in smaller moments, free of grand pretense. Walking the halls and seeing a seemingly endless stream of organizers, urban gardeners, filmmakers, human rights workers, energetic students, and community activists can be subtly uplifting. Occasionally, the conversations generated within this collection of people can be transcendent.

But the "only connect" the Forum offers is not just a matter of inspiration, but action. Engler points out the 2007 forum saw the founding of the Domestic Workers Alliance, which recently passed a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in New York State and is at work to expand this victory nationwide. Concrete action and solid organizing--most of it by people overlooked by both the media and the big non-profit organizations--came out of Atlanta, and will assuredly come out of Detroit, too. The synergy between food security and urban agriculture groups at a Saturday presentation, for instance, shows that Detroit community activists are very aware of how their work is part of the widest movements against racism and for popular democracy and human rights, and are not shy about holding more mainstream allies accountable for their own relationships with class, race, and corporate domination.

As Engler says, "at the US Social Forum, as in everyday political life, you can find plenty of things to feel cynical about. But you can also find people in whose presence it is a privilege to be. Those who leave motivated by that all-too-uncommon experience will rarely regret the effort taken to find it." The forum was a great place for democracy and governance activists to be--a big thank you to our members who helped get us and our message there this year!

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Meanwhile, in Moab...

Laird and Robin Monahan crossed into Utah early this week, taking a break from foot travel to drive 170 miles along I-70 (walking isn't allowed on the interstate). On Thursday they were at the Grand County Public Library in Moab for a "Meet the Monahans" event, and were interviewed by local media: the Richfield Reaper, community radio KZMU, and the Moab Times--you can read the Times story here.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, Move to Amend groups have been highlighting the walk and encouraging people to follow the brothers' progress online. People on the route of the walk can support them by connecting them with local media and with groups that might host speaking events, and those who are further away can leave a "thank you" comment on their blog, Lairdandrobin.org.

If you're on the east coast, keep an eye on their blog for their arrival date in DC, and join them for a rally and a day of lobbying--watch this blog, the Move to Amend site, and the AfD enews for more details (subscribe to the AfD e-news here).

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Tabling, talking, listening, connecting...

by Barbara Clancy

One of our main occupations at the US Social Forum is staffing the Move to Amend table, along with partners Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, Liberty Tree, and Progressive Democrats of America. There's been a tremendous amount of activity around the table, hundreds of signatures gathered on the Move To Amend call to action, and wide interest in a constitutional amendment against corporate personhood, both among long-time activists and people new to the fact that corporations, thanks to the courts and the ruling class, have grabbed the same rights that social movements fought for--and are still fighting for.

Outreach to people for whom this is a new idea gives us an opportunity to sharpen our "rap," but it also lets us hear people's stories--the thousand reasons why cutting corporate power off at the root is so necessary. These connections also sharpen our sense of where our work fits in terms of all the movements toward social, economic, and environmental justice here at the Forum. Listening to people is just as much of a skill as talking to (hopefully not "at") them.

There have also been a few backers of constitutional rights for corporations--mainly people who are concerned about hobbling the economy or not sure of the division between freedom of speech and freedom of the press--which nowadays is by and large a corporate conglomeration, in which the mainstream news we read and watch is brought to us by entities with interests in arms manufacturing and extractive industries. At some point we "agree to disagree" and move on, and with luck their arguments will be the basis of FAQ's for those who are coming to the issue of corporate rule fresh from the "other side" or from no side at all.

We've passed on a stack of Justice Risings, with the help of council members Nancy Price, Rick Staggenborg and Bonnie Preston, and Justice Rising editor Jim Tarbell.

More coming on workshops, connections made, and the PMAs we participated in--off to the table...

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Alliance for Democracy at the US Social Forum

Alliance for Democracy is a sponsor or collaborating organization for the following 2-hour workshops and 4-hour Peoples Movement Assemblies. We are excited to be working with several other groups on these events. Workshop topics include strategy session for keeping water accessible and in public hands, rights-based organizing around toxins in water, and teaching about corporate plunder and community resistance with the Tapestry of the Commons presentation. Peoples Movement Assemblies will focus on health care, ecojustice, and corporate personhood.

Click on the "read more" link for full descriptions, and see you in Detroit!


Workshops:
1. Water Warriors Strategy Session
People’s Water Board of Detroit and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, sponsoring organizations; AfD collaborating organization
Wednesday, June 23, 1:00 – 5:30 pm, Cobo Hall, Room D3-28

This four hour workshop will give Water Warriors from many areas an opportunity to share their struggles to obtain access to clean, affordable water and to discuss their vision and strategies for advancing those struggles. The People's Water Board is a coalition of organizations based in Detroit, Michigan that have come together to confront: 1) the devastating lack of access to water faced by thousands of low income people who have had their water shut off; 2) water pollution due to industrial irresponsibility and an aging wastewater infrastructure; and 3) the effort of corporate interests to gain control of Detroit's water system.

2. Our Democratic Right to Safe Water and Health
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, sponsor; AfD, collaborating organization
Wednesday, June 23, 10:00 – 12:00 pm, Cobo Hall, Room O2-35

Safe water for personal and domestic use is essential for health and life. New science shows how trace amounts of chemicals and heavy metals in water cause life-threatening diseases and disrupt normal cognitive, neurological and reproductive development from cradle to grave. This accumulating “body burden” of toxics creates a “precondition” for disease at any time in life, even many years after exposure. Alarmingly, research shows how a mother’s “body burden” affects fetal development and the content of milk for the nursing child. Industry, agriculture and the military, the worst offenders, lobby government to lower regulations and fight in court against fines.

This workshop will lead participants in a discussion of how to reframe this issue from one of regulation that actually permits degrees of harm to that of asserting our rights. U.S. corporations, given the rights of persons in the 19th century, have no right to harm the bodies of natural persons. We, the People, must assert our fundamental, inalienable right to be free of involuntary invasion of our bodies by disease-causing toxics. Steps for communities to take to assert this democratic right will be presented such as: adopting a Precautionary Principle Ordinance for a city to act with “precaution” to prevent harms to the environment and protect public health even when full scientific evidence about cause and effect is lacking; and passing a “Chemical Trespass Ordinance” to prohibit corporate chemical bodily trespass, establish strict liability and burden of proof standards for chemical trespass, and subordinate corporations to the people.

3. Tapestry of the Commons: Corporate Plunder vs. Community Rights
Alliance for Democracy, sponsor; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, collaborating organization
Thursday, June 24, 10:00 – 12:00 pm, UAW Building 1032

There is new focus on “the commons” as corporations and individuals commodify almost every aspect of nature and culture creation. We can not stand by as our shared “commonwealth” is turned into private property for global investors and the financial elite to profit. The central questions raised in this workshop are: what is “the commons,” what aspect of nature and culture creation should be part of the “the commons,” and what principles should apply to the use and sharing of “the commons.” Participants will create the Tapestry of the Commons by weaving together sets of ribbons that represent aspects of nature and of culture to envision how they are interwoven and interdependent.

Using interactive exercises participants will explore, how, for example, media, literature, movies, and advertising condition how we think about nature, what “rules," creations of culture, should apply to nature; who should be making these rules?

This workshop is suited to teachers looking for new, creative ways to explore these and many other questions with Elementary and Middle School students. The answers hold the keys to protecting and sharing the commons of nature on which all life depends, safeguarding our human culture, and advancing community democracy and the rights of nature over corporate plunder.

Peoples Movement Assemblies
All are held on Friday, June 25, from 1:-5:30 pm in Cobo Hall. Look for room assignments in the descriptions.

What the Health Happened and How Do We Get the Healthcare We Need?
Submitted by Healthcare-NOW with large group of collaborating organizations, including AfD Room M3-31, Cobo Hall

The national debate on health reform went from discussing the heath care we need to how to make health care an affordable, quality commodity for those who can pay for it. Groups will present to what happened in this past year that reduced an opportunity to improve our health system to a political win that restructures the broken employer-based for-profit insurance system we currently have. We will examine the recent health reform, and why the battle must continue with an understanding that the movement for the health care we need is connected to the broader movement demanding healthy food, adequate housing, the right to water and a clean environment, having control over your own life, and being able to fully participate in decisions about your community. This meeting will seek to engage those who have been organizing for an expanded and improved Medicare for All system, as well as new perspectives in the discussion to launch the movement for the right to health care in a new and transformative way uniting head, heart, and feet together to secure the health care we need. We must do it together with a broad people’s movement ready to commit to doing the work to build for the health care for people not for profit.

Climate Justice/Energy/Ecojustice and the Rights of Mother Earth
Two PMAs on this topic were submitted and are being combined; see the two descriptions below.
Room D3-28, Cobo Hall

#1: Climate Justice/Energy and Rights of Mother Earth
submitted by the Alliance for Democracy with edits by Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network and includes these collaborating organizations: Indigenous Environmental Network, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, Mountain Justice, Southern Tier Advocacy & Mitigation Project, Shaleshock Alliance, Southwest Workers Union, Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice

The 2009 Copenhagen global negotiations on climate change failed to produce a legally binding agreement when the U.S. joined forces with other countries to create an entirely new agreement called the Copenhagen Accords with weak targets and no legally binding obligations for the mitigation of climate change. The strengthening of a U.S.-based social movement to hold the U.S. accountable in national and international climate policy is critical.

From a social and environmental justice framework with intentional participation of communities of color, indigenous peoples and the poor, and communities impacted by extractive energy industries, there will be two 2-hour sessions. 1st: Report of the Global Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Cochabamba, Bolivia, its’ Peoples’ Agreement and Working Group conclusions; 2nd: to share findings/strategize ideas for building a national campaign around such issues as exposing the false solutions of national and global climate policy and cross-cutting issues ranging from, but not limited to: community rights, energy, water as a human right, food security, economic paradigms, green jobs, and others issues brought forward.

Outcome: consider a U.S.-based social movement Declaration on climate change, human rights and Mother Earth as the source of all life, creating a new system based on the principles of harmony and balance to complement the Cochabamba “Protocols,” and call for a U.S. national summit for movement building beyond the USSF and the Cancun climate conference.

#2: Ecological Justice
Initiated by Ruckus Society and including Movement Generation, Southwest Workers Union, Environmental Justice Climate Coalition, GAIA, Mothers on the Move, Women of Color United, Just Transition Alliance, Global Justice Ecology Project, Indigenous Environmental Network, Communities for a Better Environment, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, WEACT/EJ Leadership Forum on Climate Change, APEN, Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation, Institute for Policy Studies

For the last two decades, environmental justice communities have fought to win the right to live, work, play and pray free of toxins and poisons polluting our air, water, and land. Nearly twelve years after the Principles of Environmental Justice were drafted, our social movements understand that the systems that have allowed the poisoning of our communities have also stolen some of us from our lands while stealing land from others. Meanwhile, more and more of the earth’s precious resources have been stripped and misused, leaving once resilient natural systems and the earth’s climate systems on the verge of collapse.

While the US government tries to advance a carbon trading plan that brings another commonly-held resource – atmospheric space – into the market sphere, communities-of-color, Indigenous Peoples, and low-income communities will the hit first and worst by the effects of climate chaos.

In this critical moment, the USSF provides a key site for indigenous peoples, environmental justice, immigrant rights, economic justice, and other racial justice movements to come together to strategize to win community control over our lives and our resources. The voices of indigenous peoples and grassroots community organizations in impacted communities must be central to helping us foster communities of resistance and resilience that can rewrite the rules of the game based on transformed relationships – with each other and the earth.

At this Ecological Justice PMA, we hope to advance proposals from the grassroots for shared work on climate and ecological justice rooted in an understanding of the need to transform the global systems that determine the ways each of us gets to live, work and play.

End Corporate Rule. Legalize Democracy. Move to Amend the Constitution
Collaborating Organizations: Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, Independent Progressive Politics Network, Ultimate Civics, Program on Corporations Law and Democracy, Liberty Tree: Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, Alliance for Democracy
Cobo Hall, Room W2-68

Participants will help design the Move to Amend campaign, and to participate through their regional networks and local organizations. We will break up into small groups and participants will develop Resolutions to include in the national Amendment discourse. Unelected and unaccountable corporate CEOS are not merely exercising power, they are RULING over us. Corporations make fundamental public policy decisions, while “We the People” have no opportunity for meaningful participation. And those decisions are literally destroying the planet, creating a racist, patriarchal and class-oppressive society with the plunder. Even when people’s movements build sufficient power to enact laws that actually address social injustice or environmental destruction, the wealthy elite overturn our laws in court. Often, the justification for overturning such democratically enacted laws is that those laws violate the “constitutional rights” of corporations. It’s time that we take ourselves and our movement seriously. We must not only challenge oppression itself, but the legal system that legitimizes that oppression. We must build a movement that calls for a new Constitution—one that acknowledges our RIGHT to create the peaceful, just and democratic world that we want and deserve. To do so, the legal doctrine of “Corporate Personhood” must be abolished! A multi-racial, gender balanced coalition of grassroots groups and national organizations are already working to do just that. We are calling for a series of Constitutional Amendments to make the unfulfilled promise of democracy a reality in the United States. For a complete list of coalition partners and PMA sponsors, see www.MoveToAmend.org.

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BCA Dispatch out--next issue in two months

The Boston/Cambridge Alliance "Dispatch" is out, and you can request a copy from editor Dave Lewit at dlewit@igc.org. Among the highlights: Using the Mondragon coop model to develop employee-owned businesses in Cleveland, "personal corporatehood," the repeal of Instant Runoff Voting in Burlington, VT, and building durable prosperity and democracy... in Europe.

Locally, Dave reports on groundwork for Boston participation in June's US Social Forum, following a meeting of mostly young people of color who are organizing around racism, militarism, climate, economy and education. People in the area who want to connect with the groups involved or learn more about attending with others from the area can visit Mass Global Action.

Finally, the Dispatch will now be published bi-monthly--with double the material, though, so having an extra month to read it will be a good thing! The revised schedule comes about because, as Dave writes, he "will soon be editor of a Common Good website--that's the tentative name of an institute or movement to bring together splintered, specialized movements of the left--health care, labor, women, immigration, globalization, localization, peak oil, climate change, and so on--springing from a shared philosophy. Theologian John Cobb, who reads the Dispatch, sensed in it the kind of thinking that underlies Process Theology--systemic thinking that is concerned with suffering (hell) and beauty (heaven), diversity and change, striving and realizing, community and reintegration. He and theologian-pastor Ignacio Castuera, both of the Claremont CA university community, asked Dave to join them to start the movement, with folks who are potential writers or steering committee members, or can help with technical services. " Interested? Email Dave at dlewit@igc.org.

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E-Newsletter, July 20, 2007

The Alliance for Democracy
E-Newsletter, July 20, 2007

In this issue:

National and Chapter News

• Convention 2007 in Tucson, Arizona, Nov. 1-4
• AfD at the US Social Forum
• Seattle AfD supports impeachment, educates on corporate rule
• BCA organizer supports state trade bill

Calendar

Allied Actions

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Convention 2007 in Tucson, Arizona!
Thursday, Nov. 1 – Sunday, Nov. 4

This year’s theme: “Shifting Power from Corporate Rights to the Rights of People and Nature.”
Watch your mailbox for your Convention Packet, including registration information.

Program and logistics committee members are hard at work planning for our November National Convention. The convention opens with a get-together dinner on Thursday evening. Friday will feature workshops on organizing and outreach skills, with plenty of time for members from different chapters and regions to meet together. Saturday will focus on reframing the discussion of democracy and rights with an emphasis on Alliance campaigns.

Friday evening, Thomas Linzey, Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defence Fund will be a keynote speaker and Saturday evening there will be speakers on trade, immigration and sustainable economic development.

We have reserved rooms at the very comfortable Riverpark Inn, not far from the First Christian Church where we will meet. Lunch and dinner will be held at the church. The convention concludes with a Sunday program on Hundredfold Farm, the sustainable cohousing community that co-chair Lou Hammann and regional representative Pat Hammann helped design and organize in Pennsylvania.

Prior to the convention, AfD is hosting a Democracy School taught by Tom Linzey and AfD’s Ruth Caplan (Tues, Oct. 30 – Thurs. Nov. 1). Post-convention activities include a trip to Nogales, Mexico, to learn more about the impact of NAFTA and immigration issues, sponsored by Borderlinks.

The convention represents a great opportunity to meet your fellow AfD members from across the country, to sharpen old organizing skills and acquire new ones, to be inspired to think in new ways about rights for people, our communities, and nature. You will return home with renewed energy and new ideas for joining with others to end corporate rule in your community.

Watch for the convention brochure mailing with information on the full program, pre- and post-convention events, lodging, meals, and transportation. Make plans now to be in Tucson!

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AfD at the US Social Forum: “Another World is Possible, Another US is Necessary!”

You can see the Alliance’s USSF slideshow here, and look at pictures, video and other media at the US Social Forum media site.

Between outreach at the Water Tent, attending and presenting workshops, conducting interviews, and networking with other groups, the Alliance’s US Social Forum crew spent five very busy (and hot!) days at the US Social Forum in Atlanta.

AfD presented seven workshops on different aspects of corporate rule, peace, international trade (including the new Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America - SPP) and protection of rights and resources, working with several allied groups.

Susan Bee of the South Puget Sound Chapter conducted a third season’s worth of interviews for the Chapter’s “Reclaiming Democracy” television show. (at the link you can check out past shows online and learn how you can sponsor the show on your own community tv station.)

And we introduced people to the concept of the Commons through the Tapestry of the Commons frame that we set up at the Water Tent, the beautiful banners that Jan Edwards designed (see the USSF slide show link), and the workshop Jan gave with Karen Coulter of POCLAD. We also distributed Jan’s two-minute Tapestry of the Commons radio spots to the local and national media at the Social Forum (you can listen or download them from the link at the Tapestry of the Commons website, or request a cd from Jan Edwards at janedwards@mcn.org to take to your local community radio station.)

A major focus of our outreach efforts at the Water Tent was building awareness of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) - a “NAFTA-on-steroids” nightmare - that calls for the construction of super-corridors, eight-lanes to transport goods from deepwater ports in Canada and Mexico. These corridors will have parallel pipelines for gas, oil and yes, water - to bring Canadian water south to water-scarce areas of the U.S. and northern Mexico. For info, follow the link from the AfD home page. We petitioned, asking state government take action against the SPP, and asked people to take information on the agreement to share with others. We’ll be following up with the petition-signers and working to build opposition. You can download a petition here, or contact the national office for more information.

Upcoming action: the Council of Canadians is planning a protest at the August 21-22 SPP summit in Montebello, Ontario. The action is being planned despite organizers being told by Canadian police and the US Army that the Council of Canadians cannot hold a forum on SPP in a nearby town (security forces claim they need the hall planned for the forum) or protest within 25 kilometers of the meeting site. Visit the Council of Canadians site for updates.

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Seattle Chapter helps build support for impeachment, educates on corporate rule
Rebecca Wolfe writes:
The Seattle AfD chapter is helping to make Washington State a national leader in the impeachment movement. Working with several other groups (World Can’t Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime, Eastside Fellowship of Reconciliation, Progressive Democrats of America, Washington for Impeachment, and others), our group has helped gather over 25,000 signatures in support of impeachment. We are focused on supporting Dennis Kucinich’s bill, “H. Res. 333” and have convinced Rep. Jim McDermott, whose district includes Seattle, to co-sponsor it. We’ve met with Rep. Jay Inslee and his staffers and feel hopeful that he, too, will support the bill. See www.WashingtonforImpeachment.org for more information.

On June 24 our combined efforts produced a terrific forum featuring authors who are experts on the Constitution and impeachment: Elizabeth de la Vega, Phil Burk, and David Lindorff. A workshop to train the trainers, “Constitution in Crisis: A Call to Action” followed the forum. More than 200 people attended, most of whom want to help build “Impeachment Summer” by holding house parties and speaking to groups about impeachment.

Other Greater Seattle activities include appearances by “Maximilian Bucks,” our corporate candidate, who delivers the corporate stance at every opportunity. Maxi Bucks is a satirical character who is principally the creation of one member, Rebecca Em Campbell. She has a commanding knowledge of corporate or investor-owned companies, their histories, and the many issues associated with them. This idea was inspired by the Portland, Oregon chapter whose corporate candidate, Rich Corporateson, was being groomed to run for Governor of Oregon. (After all, if a corporation is a person, shouldn’t that person be able to run for office?) We are hoping that, in being denied a place on the ballot for NOT being a person, we will begin to unravel the legal fiction of corporate personhood. At progressive events, Maxi (dressed very conservatively) challenges speakers on their talking points, representing always the corporate worldview. It’s great fun and conveys our message better than any lecture ever could.

With help from Susan Bee, president of the South Puget Sound AfD, we are now certified by SCAN (the Seattle Community Area Network), our local access TV station, and supplied with over a dozen locally produced videos that we can air there to help educate the public about the failure of corporate law, the history of how corporations came to control our government, and related topics.

Building relationships and alliances is helping our chapter grow into a vibrant organization. Our greatest challenge is that our leaders are all extremely busy in so many ways that we’ve been long on events but short on meetings. We’re working to correct that in the months ahead.

(A note from the national office: Rep. Kucinich’s bill continues to attract co-sponsors. If you support it, you can let your Congress members know at The People’s Email Network, www.usalone.org . When you sign their on-line petition, you may also request a free “Impeach Cheney?” baseball cap (see http://www.usalone.com/impeach_cheney_cap.php ). (If you like, you can pick out the stitching in the question mark!) And “Bill Moyers’ Journal” recently aired “Tough Talk on Impeachment,” with the conservative constitutional scholar Bruce Fein and journalist John Nichols of the The Nation. Read the transcript at www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/transcript2.html or listen at www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/071307/profile.html . A DVD of the show may not be released until late September, but you may purchase it now at www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2792209 )

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Boston Cambridge Alliance organizer testifies in favor of state trade bill
Massachusetts legislators are considering a bill to create a commission to evaluate the impact of multinational trade agreements on the state’s laws, regulatory powers, and economy. At a public hearing this month, the bill received support from David Lewit, organizer of the Boston/Cambridge Alliance and Co-Chair of AfD’s Campaign on Corporate Globalization and Positive Alternatives.

Lewit said the commission would “ensure that we question the alluring but dangerous directions which the federal government is forcing upon us, and evaluate the impacts of those federal requirements upon our naturally endowed region and our control over our commonwealth and our lives.” The need for such a commission is even more pressing with the proposed Security and Prosperity Partnership, he noted.

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Calendar:
August 5, Olympia, WA: South Puget Sound chapter First Annual Membership Meeting. Enjoy music, food and friends; meet the new board, discuss building the organization, and attend the Town Hall Picnic and Candidate Forum. For information, see www.sounddemocracy.org, or email afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org.

August 10-12, Eureka, CA: “Community Organizing for Deep Democracy Retreat” sponsored by Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County. Participants will learn the history, analysis, networks, and legal and educational strategies for local democracy organizing. For information on registration and tuition, see www.duhc.org/deepdemocracy.html

August 25-28, Denver, CO: Festival of Democracy and Days of Resistance at the Democratic National Convention. For info on planning and events, see www.recreate68.org

October 21-23, Washington, DC: “No War, No Warming: National Intervention on Global Warming.” Non-violent civil disobedience on Capitol Hill to send the war in Iraq and halt the climate crisis. For info, see www.NoWarNoWarming.org

October 27, Regionally: One week before the US Social Forum, United for Peace with Justice held its 3rd national assembly outside Chicago. The almost 200 member groups represented agreed to call for a day of regional antiwar demonstrations in six to eight cities nationwide on Saturday, October 27. Other actions in the campaign to end the war include working to end congressional support for the war in Iraq, counter-recruitment, support for resisters, veterans, and military families, teaching on the economic costs of war and the military budget, campaigning in 2008 for a peace and justice agenda, education, skills-building, and challenging war profiteers. www.unitedforpeace.org

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Allied Actions:
Support Low-power FM
Low-power FM radio has the potential to bring community-based and alternative-viewpoint programming to an enormously wide audience—almost everyone has a radio! Corporate media has fought the expansion of low-power FM for years, but activists have mobilized support and put new stations on the air. Help expand low power FM by supporting the Local Community Radio Act of 2007 (HR 2802/SB 1675), sponsored by Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, and Reps Lee Terry and Mike Doyle. For info, visit www.prometheusradio.org/take_action/lpfm_in_congress .

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E-Newsletter, June 18, 2007

The Alliance for Democracy
E-Newsletter, June 18, 2007

In this issue:

National news:

• Countdown to the US Social Forum
• Plan now to declare "Independence from Corporate Rule"

Chapter news:
AfD West:

• South Puget Sound: confronting corporate power and building coalitions
• Greater Seattle chapter co-sponsors impeachment event

AfD East:

• New York AfD supports clean money elections
• North Bridge Alliance starts dialog on localization
• Boston-area chapters host Justice Rising editor Jim Tarbell

AfD Mid-west: AfD member works on water resolution

Calendar: Before July 15: Tell Congress to keep postal rates friendly to small journals

Allied Actions:

• Web resource: Impact of "free" trade on public health
• SiCKO sneak preview at US Social Forum

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National and chapter news:

Countdown to the US Social Forum
The US Social Forum begins next week, and we're happy to report that all seven workshops proposed by AfD activists were approved. We look forward to sharing AfD's work and our perspective at the Forum and building the people's movement under the banner, "Another World is Possible--Another U.S. is Necessary!" For a complete list of workshops and descriptions, see http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/html/eng/2463-AA.shtml

In addition, we've created a "Petition to Elected State Officials's on the Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP)" to be signed by visitors at our tables in the Democracy and Water Tents. It requests that the U.S. withdraw immediately from any further participation in the SPP and that all agreements, regulatory changes, and other actions already underway must be immediately voided and further action cease. View a PowerPoint on the SPP at http://www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/water/WaterThreatsNAFTASPPAtlantica.pdf

Thanks to all the members who have given to our Spring appeal. We can still use your help to support all that we are doing at the US Social Forum--such as shared costs for the Democracy and Water Tents, table displays, materials and banners. So if your appeal letter is still sitting on your desk, please mail it today. Or contribute online at www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/join.html (not a member yet? Support our work by joining today!)

Plan now to declare "Independence from Corporate Rule"
This July 4th marks the 10th anniversary of the "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule," written by AfD founder Ronnie Dugger and former council member Al Krebs and read in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.

For this Independence Day get together with other AfD members or other groups and write your own short "Declaration." Read it in front of City Hall. A simple action might be to declare independence from specific corporations. Write their names on large cardboard and rip-up as you call out their names. Call the press, let them know what you plan to do--where and when. For inspiration read: About AfD at http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/about.html and Ronnie's "A Call to Citizens: Real Populists Please Stand Up!" http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/html/eng/1270-AA.shtml

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AfD West

South Puget Sound: Confronting corporate power and building coalitions
Susan Bee, South Puget Sound (Olympia, WA) chapter president, will be attending the US Social Forum as a member of the Sierra Club's Confronting Corporate Power Task Force for a workshop on corporate power and democracy, and working in the Democracy Tent. Chapter member Rus Geh is also planning to attend to film more episodes of the Reclaiming Democracy T.V. with Susan. For information on how you can support the show or get DVDs of past programs, see http://www.sounddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=34

This chapter is also starting a ten-session study group on challenging corporate power and creating authentic democracy in June, led by chapter member Monica Hoover, assisted by Terry Macinata, and featuring materials by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. (see http://www.sounddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=55)

In August, the chapter is planning a progressive picnic with the Thurston County Progressive Network to celebrate, provide a time and space for other groups to have an annual meeting, and to focus on what groups could do locally to work together on the underlying common problems that all single issue groups share. The chapter is also planning a local elections candidate forum, and support the current campaign for publicly financed campaigns in Washington state.

Greater Seattle chapter co-sponsors impeachment event
The Greater Seattle AfD chapter is co-sponsoring a forum and workshop on impeachment later this month, featuring author and former Prosecuting Attorney, Elizabeth de la Vega, journalist David Lindorff, and constitutional scholar Phil Burk. Local activists in the "Washington for Impeachment" movement will also be featured. The event takes place Sunday, June 24, in Pigott Auditorium at Seattle University, and will feature a "train the trainer" workshop on impeachment and a take-home "constitution kit" for participants, for outreach after the event. For info, contact Rebecca Wolfe at rr.wolfe@comcast.net.

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AfD East

New York AfD supports clean money elections
Ethel Silverberg, of the Capital District (NY) chapter writes:
Progress is being made in Albany. With the support of Governor Spitzer whose platform included clean money initiatives, New Yorkers can expect a clean money bill before session ends this month.

Citizen Action has lead a statewide campaign to pressure the NY State Assembly to support full publicly financed elections with the cooperation of numerous not-for-profits. The Alliance for Democracy has been at the forefront with continual lobbying and asking legislators to sign a "Dear Colleague" letter which asks them to indicate their backing for these campaign reforms. In addition, Citizen Action is holding Town Hall meetings all over the state with each local district's legislators attending.

My guess (writes Ethel) is that there will be a bill, but loopholes may need to be plugged in other years. Resistance has come from Joe Bruno the State senate leader who said voters don't "give a hoot" about campaign finance. At present he is under scrutiny for some shady dealings but still was re-elected to head the Senate. Sheldon Silver, a very powerful leader of the Assembly, has for some years promoted a bill featuring partial public financing. This has been implemented in New York City for certain offices and was quite progressive for the time. However, those "partial" contributions will still come from special interests. We'll see what comes of this major push but the press--or lack thereof--doesn't help.

North Bridge Alliance starts dialog on localization
The North Bridge Alliance for Democracy chapter's film series presented an encore screening of "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" with the Concord Unitarian Universalist Green Sanctuary Committee. Discussion after the film focused on protecting and promoting local agriculture, with material on hand from the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association. Many participants learned about the event through Concord's agricultural commission. Plans are being made to continue meeting through the summer to discuss promoting a local economy.

Boston-area chapters host Justice Rising editor Jim Tarbell
North Bridge and Boston-Cambridge chapters took the occasion of a visit to our area by Jim Tarbell, editor of the Alliance's quarterly newsletter Justice Rising, and his wife, Judy, to throw a potluck in his honor. Former AfD council member Mary White's home in Concord was full of lively conversation over appetizers and dinner for several hours on a beautiful evening. Afterwards members met with Jim who started the discussion with a history of how he had become involved with the issue of corporatization of the world economy. Then he called for comments on the newsletter. All seemed to be pleased with the current format. Several suggestions were made for topics to be covered in future editions including democracy and energy. Then there was a lively discussion of how to get the message out to those "beyond the choir". One suggestion was to send out a two page email to an extended list such as Tom Wodetzki's in Mendocino. Another was to write a letter to the editor that could be sent to such a list so that others could submit the letter to their local newspapers. Jim said he already had ideas of groups to whom he would like to send copies of Justice Rising. Members were delighted to have the opportunity to meet Jim and Judy.

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AfD Mid-West

AfD member works on water resolution
June Rusten, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, renewed her membership recently with a note about organizing on behalf of a local resolution to ban bottled water at city council meetings and promote the use of municipal water. The resolution, entitled "Drinking Tap Water is Thinking Green" was introduced to the City Council by the Panthers for Social Justice of Washtenaw (MI, the county of Ann Arbor). It passed unanimously in early June.

June wrote, "Your letter of May 10 encouraged me to let you know of our efforts to counteract the efforts of Nestle to continue to make huge profits from taking Michigan water for bottled water. We hope that you can let conferees at the June Social Forum in Atlanta--especially in the water tent, know of our Resolution to Drink Tap Water and Think Green! We hope our resolution catches on throughout the US. Please share it."

If your community has a municipal water system, consider passing a resolution promoting your local water. Convincing people to "tap into" this local resource is an important part of protecting both natural water resources and local public water infrastructure from commercial exploitation. For information on the Ann Arbor resolution, email June at junear5575@sbcglobal.net

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Calendar:

Before July 15: Tell Congress to keep postal rates friendly to small journals
New postage rates could gut the budgets of small-press magazines across the nation and the political spectrum, thanks to government adoption of postal regulations written, in part, by media giant Time Warner. But there's still time to protest.

No one argues that the US Postal Service has to cover costs. But rate hikes shouldn't be determined by big publishers. Most magazines, which knew a rate hike was coming, budgeted for a 10 to 12 percent increase. But the Time-Warner plan calls for big hikes for small publishers and discounts for big ones. Now small publishers find they may face postage costs going up by as much as 30 percent.

Many small-press and progressive magazine publishers are spreading the word about this hike. Read more at the Democracy Now! Website at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/24/1446244 , and respond to Congress from several magazine and media websites, including The Nation, at http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070604/moyers1 , and FreePress.net, at http://action.freepress.net/freepress/postal_explanation.html.

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Allied Actions

The impact of "free" trade on public health
If you are concerned about the threat that international trade agreements pose to public health, check out http://www.cpath.org/id29.html , the news and update page for the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health. You can read reports on attempts to improve provisions to protect health, labor and the environment in proposed trade agreements with Peru, Columbia, Panama, Malaysia, and South Korea. With a national movement building to repeal "fast-track" authority for trade agreements now is a good time to pick up talking points on the impact these agreements have had on everything from tobacco use to drug prices to regulations covering safe drinking water.

"Sicko" sneak preview at US Social Forum
The Healthcare-NOW Coalition will host a special preview showing of Michael Moore’s new film “SiCKO” June 28 at the US Social Forum, to support their work bringing a simple, comprehensive, non-bureaucratic single payer health care system to Americans. This is, after all, the insurance system that most Americans say they want, and the one they believe would deliver the best care to the greatest number of people, but it would mean an end to the for-profit healthcare and health insurance industry, and an end to the cash they pump into election campaigns.

SiCKO was screened in Sacramento earlier this month in support of single-payer health care. The film opens nationwide on June 29. For more information on Healthcare-NOW’s programs, visit www.healthcare-now.org.

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E-Newsletter, May 14, 2007

The Alliance for Democracy
E-Newsletter, May 14, 2007

Dear AfD members and supporters,
Please share this e-newsletter with your friends to let them know about the Alliance and our work. We hope you and others will take the time and respond to some of the actions below. Momentum is building for peace, holding the administration accountable, and building a people’s movement in this country.

Please invite your friends and family to look at our website, and let Barbara Clancy, our office manager, know if she might send them an invitation to join the Alliance.

Thank you, Lou Hammann and Nancy Price, Co-chairs

Alliance News:

• Justice Rising to be mailed soon!
• Getting ready for the US Social Forum
• Colonel Ann Wright speaks in Mendocino on ending war
• Ohio updates at AfD website

Action Alerts for Corporate Globalization and Honest Election Campaigns

Allied Actions and Events:

• Climate Crisis Coalition organizer says "Time Is Short"
• Beyond the gas boycott
• California democrats pass impeachment resolution
• Bring back COOL for informed consumer choice

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Alliance News
Justice Rising to be mailed soon
The upcoming issue of Justice Rising, titled "Corporate Destruction of the Environment and Grassroots Solutions to Save the Planet," will be mailed out in the next few weeks. Don't miss this issue--please join AfD or renew your membership today. You can renew online quickly and securely. Please e-mail the office if you have questions about your membership.

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Getting ready for the US Social Forum
The US Social Forum takes place in Atlanta from Wednesday, June 27 to Sunday, July 1. Everything you need to know about attending (and more) is online at www.USSF2007.org Click on workshops and marvel at the diversity of organizations submitting proposals and topics. We are building a people's movement right here at home.

Main events, plenaries, concerts, etc., will take place at the Convention Center. Over 600 workshops will talk place in many venues in and around the center as well. There will be 12 large tents set up, dedicated to specific themes, and many different organizations that focus on these themes will have tables in those tents. AfD is taking part in the Democracy Tent and the Water Tent. The Alliance has submitted four workshop proposals and is the co-sponsor of two others. To date, two have been accepted, and we will post the complete list in the June eNewsletter.

The full schedule of events will be up on the forum website soon. Here's the basic schedule:
Wednesday, June 27: registration; 2-4 pm, Opening March; 6-10 pm, Opening Ceremony with welcome, purpose, speeches, performances.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday: Workshops. Every morning there will be a Opening Plenary at the Civic Center from 8:30-10 am; workshops from 10 am on; and an Evening Plenary at the Civic Center from 6 to 9 pm.
Sunday: July 1: People's Assembly to focus on next stages and building alliances, and Closing Plenary until 3 p.m.

Look for our Spring appeal letter, coming to you soon, and please respond generously to help us start a "growing season" of organizing, beginning at the US Social Forum. You may also make a secure donation online as well.

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Colonel Ann Wright on Ending the War
Colonel Wright, who resigned from a 29-year career in the army to protest Bush's plans to attack Iraq, spoke in Fort Bragg, California on April 27, sponsored by the Alliance for Democracy. Her talk was inspiring and full of news about progress to end the war and throw the liars who dragged us into it out of office. She told everyone to keep the pressure on their Congressional representatives. They are listening and responding.
Thanks for all who helped produce the event, donated funds and attended.
Tom Wodetzki, Alliance for Democracy, Mendocino CA

To end the war and corporate rule, Col. Wright suggests:

• E-mail or call your congressional delegation
• If you want a topic investigated, contact House Oversight chief Henry Waxman
• Come to Washington DC and lobby with us (contact Ann at microann@yahoo.com)
• If you can't come to D.C., donate your frequent flier miles to someone who can. Groups like Codepink, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, and Gold Star Families for Peace all have members with time, but no funds to get to DC

Pick a topic of concern and make it your personal focus by organizing panels about it, hearings, campaigns, signs, weekly vigils, etc. Possible topics: end war funding, stop torture, close Guantanamo, end extraordinary rendition, stop eavesdropping, prevent war against Iran, support military resisters, and impeachment.

The Alliance for Democracy asks you to seize this opportunity to really change America by taking more action. Get involved with local organizations, including your local Alliance chapter. Start a local AfD chapter. Begin with just one issue, but do pick one and start working on it!

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Ohio Updates at AfD website
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman of The Free Press write on the possibility that Karl Rove's missing e-mails may relate not just to the firing of eight federal prosecutors, but to vote manipulation in the Ohio presidential election. The same web-hosting firm that handled the Republican National Committee site also hosted former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's official site, used to report the Ohio vote count. Could that have been where totals were cooked to hand the state and the election to Bush? Under whose order?

Thanks to a suit brought by Ohio civil rights activists, the ballots and other records from the election, which Blackwell sought to destroy, have been preserved. Fitrakis and Wasserman write that exhaustive recount could show who really did win the presidential election of 2004. And, they add, it may also be possible to learn what roles--electronic or otherwise--Karl Rove and J. Kenneth Blackwell really did play "during those crucial 90 minutes in the deep night, when the presidency somehow slipped from John Kerry to George W. Bush."

You can read about the missing emails, and other articles on the Ohio election and its aftermath, from links at the top of our website home page, www.thealliancefordemocracy.org .

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Action Alerts: Urgent action needed
Don't be Fooled: "The Trade Deal" is a bad deal!
Activists who have worked for trade reform were shocked when last Thursday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans in charge of trade to announce a deal to facilitate passage of Bush's NAFTA expansions for Peru and Panama, a move that could lead to more bad trade deals passing soon.

According to Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, this deal involves adding stronger labor and environmental standards to the Peru and Panama agreements, but falls way short of de-NAFTA-fying them by removing bans on anti-offshoring and Buy American policies, or the outrageous foreign investor rights that facilitate attacks on health and environmental laws.

Public Citizen says that if members of Congress are tricked into this deal it would pave the way for later passage of Colombian and South Korea trade agreements, and even Fast Track authority renewal.

This deal is already being applauded by corporate lobbyists, including the president of the US Chamber of Commerce, who said he is pleased that new labor provisions seem toothless. Unions, environmental groups, small businesses and most congress members were excluded from negotiations and had no notice on the deal, and the final text of the agreement is still being held secret.

Take action now: send a letter to your Representative and two Senators to voice your concerns at http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=11354

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Honest Election Campaign: Ask your senators to back S.1285
“We need to buy back our democracy by replacing special interest funded elections with publicly funded elections.” Thus did Senator Richard Durbin paraphrase President Teddy Roosevelt’s 1907 State of the Union address when he introduced the Fair Elections Now Act (S.1285) to the US senate in March. Senators Specter, Feingold and Obama are co-sponsors. (Listen to Sen. Durbin's speech on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBrr-t-5Jvo ) A public funding proposal by Rep. John Tierney has also been presented to the House of Representatives (HR 1614).

Sen. Durbin noted that the average cost of running a Senate election went up 80% between 2002 and 2006. For the 10 most expensive races, costs averaged $34 million. Such spending is unsustainable, unfair and anti-democratic. The public is shut out and turned off when our political leaders are determined by big money special interests.

The Fair Elections Now Act would provide senatorial candidates limited public funds once they show wide public support by receiving a specific number of $5 contributions, based on state population. Candidates would also promise not to accept any private funds.

Ending the money chase means Senate candidates would belong to “We the People” and not to big money special interests. Programs in Arizona, Maine, and Portland OR already show that this legislation can work.

Please also ask that the bills be changed so that all political party candidates are treated equally. In the current bills, third and minor party candidates must meet a more difficult standard before receiving public funds. Such discrimination is unneeded and undemocratic.

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Allied Actions:
Climate Crisis Coalition organizer says "Time Is Short"
Beginning in early September, Ted Glick writes, activists will undertake a weeks-long, water-only Climate Fast. He hopes many others will join the fast, either in Washington D.C. or in their home community or state capitol. If we're facing a planetary emergency, he writes, "our actions need to match that reality. We must drastically reduce emissions, enact a moratorium on any new coal plants, and provide at least $25 billion annually, for energy conservation, efficiencies, and clean and safe renewables."

The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) targets a range of between 450 to 650 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to stabilize the climate, even though some scientists say accepting anything higher than 400 ppm means a high risk of runaway global heating. And the current level of greenhouse gasses, using the IPCC's formula, is already 459 ppm. Read this and Glick's previous columns at www.ippn.org , and contact him at usajointheworld@igc.org.

The Alliance for Democracy is a member of the Climate Crisis Coalition.

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May 15: One-day "Gas Out"
There's some internet buzz for a one-day "gas out" on May 15. With a gallon of gas running $3 and way up, a one-day boycott could cost the oil companies almost $3 billion dollars.

Unfortunately, most of us will, at some point, need gas, so the oil companies will get that $3 billion sooner or later.
So don't fill up on the 15th. But don't stop there. We need grassroots advocacy for policies that will help get us off our oil addiction - funds for renewables, research, and public transportation at the federal level; and smart growth, planning and localized economies for our own towns and cities.

AfD's "Other Voices" media campaign recommends a DVD by Community Solutions, featuring a talk by Michael Shuman, author of Going Local, on the benefits of local economies versus globalization - a call for building alternatives to export-oriented and oil-hungry economies. For more information, e-mail the office

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California Democrats Pass Impeachment Resolution
The California Democratic Party recently passed a resolution calling on Congress to use its subpoena power to investigate misdeeds of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and to hold the administration accountable "with appropriate remedies and punishment, including impeachment." For more info on the California vote, see http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050107L.shtml

The California resolution is one of several calls for impeachment investigations, including the Vermont Senate's and Rep. Dennis Kucinich's introduction of Articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney.

Now you can vote in a national poll on impeachment of Dick Cheney at www.usalone.com/cheney_impeachment.php . You can also send a message to Congress on impeachment as you vote.

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Bring back COOL labels for informed consumer choice
Polls indicate that 80% of American consumers want to know where their food is coming from. Concerns over long distance food transportation, global warming, and recent pet food poisoning scandals have taken away many Americans' appetites for cheap imported foods. Shocked at media reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is inspecting approximately one percent of all imported food, consumers are demanding that Congress implement mandatory Country of Origin Labels (COOL) labels on food.

Federal farm policy theoretically requires Country of Origin Labeling for food. COOL was incorporated into the 2002 Farm Bill and was to go into effect in September 2004. But, corporate agribusiness, Wal-Mart, and the supermarket chains bribed an ethically-impaired Congress with millions of dollars to block implementation of COOL labels. As a result, Americans are buying billions of dollars of imported foods without knowing it.

To promote health and sustainability, and save North American family farms, we need to restore our right to know where our food is coming from. Tell Congress we want COOL "Country of Origin" labels for both conventional and organic food. For more info, see http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/cool.htm

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