[P2P-F] Fwd: abolishing corporate personhood (an important concept, Michel)

Sat Jul 2 12:58:56 CEST 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Jul 2, 2011 at 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: abolishing corporate personhood (an important concept, Michel)
To: mike stagman <artemesium at yahoo.co.uk>

Dear Mike,

interesting indeed! see also here:
http://p2pfoundation.net/Personhood_of_Corporations

On Sat, Jul 2, 2011 at 5:18 PM, mike stagman <artemesium at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> *Published on Friday, July 1, 2011 by **CommonDreams.org*<http://www.commondreams.org/>
> * *
> Movement to Abolish Corporate Personhood Gaining Traction
> by Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap
> <http://www.commondreams.org/author/kaitlin-sopoci-belknap>
>  In the year and a half since the *Citizens United* decision, Americans
> from all walks of life have become concerned about corporate dominance of
> our government and our society as a whole. In *Citizens United v. FEC*,
> the U.S. Supreme Court (in an act of outrageous “judicial activism) gutted
> existing campaign finance laws by ruling that corporations, wealthy
> individuals, and other entities can spend unlimited amounts of money on
> political campaigns. <http://movetoamend.org/>
> Throughout the country people have responded by organizing against
> “corporate personhood,” a court-created precedent that illegitimately gives
> corporations rights that were intended for human beings.
> The movement is flowering not in the halls of Congress, but at the local
> level, where all real social movements start. Every day Americans experience
> the devastation caused by unaccountable corporations. Thanks to the hard
> work of local organizers, Boulder, CO could become the next community to
> officially join this growing effort. Councilmember Macon Cowles is proposing
> to place a measure on the November ballot, giving Boulder voters the
> opportunity to support an amendment to the U. S. Constitution abolishing
> corporate personhood and declaring that money is not speech.
> At the forefront of this movement is Move to Amend<http://www.movetoamend.org/>,
> a national coalition of hundreds of organizations and over 113,000
> individuals (and counting). Move to Amend is committed to building a
> grassroots movement to abolish corporate personhood, to hold corporations
> accountable to the public, and ultimately to fulfill the promise of an
> American democratic republic.
> Boulder is not alone in this fight, nor is it the first community to
> consider such a resolution. In April, voters in Madison and Dane County, WI
> overwhelmingly approved measures calling for an end to corporate personhood
> and the legal status of money as speech by 84% and 78% respectively. Similar
> resolutions have been passed in nearly thirty other cities and counties.
> Resolutions have also been introduced in the state legislatures of both
> Vermont and Washington.
> Despite the momentum, Move to Amend organizers know this won’t be an easy
> fight. Corporate America controls traditional media, and has invested
> heavily in politicians, lobbyists, and extremist groups to oppose our
> efforts. We can’t expect Congress to act, nor can we depend on the courts to
> solve a problem of their own making. We draw our strategy and inspiration
> from the great social movements of history.
> The abolition of slavery, the struggle for women’s suffrage, trade unions,
> and the civil rights movement all started with grassroots organizing. The
> ruling elites denounced these movements as un-American, and they will make
> the same accusation against this effort. Others claimed that those movements
> went “too far,” and were unrealistic. Thankfully, folks before us did not
> quit or give up. They gained traction with solid strategy, unwavering
> commitment, and moral authority.
> Move To Amend proudly identifies with this tradition of engaged citizen
> participation. Building momentum with local organizing and resolutions is
> our best chance of driving a constitutional amendment into Congress. Recent
> events in Boulder provide an example of this strategy in practice. Months of
> education, organizing, and advocacy by Boulder Move to Amend empowered
> Councilman Cowles to provide political leadership and prepared the community
> to respond.
> Awareness of corporate personhood in Boulder is now higher than ever
> before. It is widely viewed as a mainstream issue, having earned the support
> of local Democratic Party leaders. Answering critics of the measure, Boulder
> County Democratic Party Chairperson Dan Gould recently told the Daily
> Camera that corporate personhood is an issue that must be addressed locally.
> "This is as important as municipalization, this is as important as school
> bonds," he said. "This is immediate."
> Move to Amend is gaining momentum rapidly in communities throughout the
> country precisely because the problems of corporate power are most evident
> locally. Developers seeking special favors pour money into elections. Big
> polluters avoid investigations and litigation by hiding behind their
> illegitimate “rights.” Bad employers lie to the public about unfair labor
> practices with no legal consequences. People see it every day. They get it
> and they’re ready to fight back. Move to Amend is here to help them do that
> with a strategy for long-term success.
>   [image: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap]<http://www.commondreams.org/author/kaitlin-sopoci-belknap>
>  Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap serves on the Executive Committee Move to Amend<http://www.movetoamend.org/>.
> She is Field Organizing Coordinator for the campaign. She can be reached at
> kaitlin at MoveToAmend.org.
>  more Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap
> <http://www.commondreams.org/author/kaitlin-sopoci-belknap>
>

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