corporate personhood

basic violation of our "un-alienable rights"

my new fav author

“[T]he more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”
— Paulo Freire

“…the fact that certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation, thus moving from one pole of the contradiction to the other… Theirs is a fundamental role, and has been throughout the history of this struggle. It happens, however, that as they cease to be exploiters or indifferent spectators or simply the heirs of exploitation and move to the side of the exploited, they almost always bring with them the marks of their origin: their prejudices and their deformations, which include a lack of confidence in the people’s ability to think, to want, and to know. Accordingly, these adherents to the people’s cause constantly run the risk of falling into a type of generosity as malefic as that of the oppressors. The generosity of the oppressors is nourished by an unjust order, which must be maintained in order to justify that generosity. Our converts, on the other hand, truly desire to transform the unjust order; but because of their background they believe that they must be the executors of the transformation. They talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change. A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle, than by a thousand actions in their favor without that trust.”
— Paulo Freire

 

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”
— Paulo Freire

the eternal now

CommonDreams.org
Published on Monday, September 28, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Time for Citizens to Convene

by Ralph Nader

Just when many conditions seemed ripe for a progressive political movement, the likelihood is fading fast. Concentrated corporate power over our political economy and its control over peoples lives knows few boundaries.

As Republican investor advocate leader Robert Monks puts it: “The United States is a corporatist state. This means that individuals are largely excluded both in the political and corporate spheres.”

Since Wall Street’s self-inflicted multi-trillion dollar collapse last year, the corporate supremacists have shown no remorse. They have become more aggressive: they are blocking regulatory reforms; pouring campaign donations into the governing Democrats’ coffers; and, shamelessly demanding more bailouts, subsidies and tax reductions. They also continue to block avenues for judicial justice by aggrieved people, whether they be the wrongfully injured, defrauded consumers and investors, or jettisoned workers and bilked pensioners.

The problem: large corporations have too many structural powers over the citizenry. These “artificial persons” have acquired the constitutional rights originally given in 1787 only to “natural persons.” In fact, corporations have enormously greater privileges and immunities than the people themselves because of their global control over politicians, capital, labor and technology.

Normal sanctions do not adequately deter multinational companies that can obscure their culpability, escape jurisdictions or create their own parents (holding companies) and endless progeny (subsidiaries) to evade or avoid accountability.

Even the most ardent progressives in Congress, and the most organized progressive groups, cannot begin to deal with such gigantic mismatches.

Decades ago, there was more debate about the need for different “rules of conduct,” to use conservative Frederick A. Hayek’s phrase, between corporations and human beings. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned about corporations becoming “Frankensteins.” Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft wanted to replace the permissive state chartering laws with tough federal chartering laws for large corporations.

For two generations the ever-expanding superior status of corporations has gone undiscussed in political realms. During that time, corporations and their attorneys rode roughshod over the “we the people” preamble of the Constitution. Our charter of government never mentions the word “corporation.”

Unabated, the corporate crime wave continues. The corporate welfare kings get fatter, the power disparity expands between corporations and shrinking unions, and the pull-down pressures, created by the corporate shipment of jobs and industries to repressive regimes abroad, further corrodes American work opportunities. More of government, including military functions, is being corporatized despite recurring reports of rising waste, fraud and abuse.

The federal government’s budget for auditors, investigators, inspectors and prosecutors is laughable, given the scale of looting: the defrauding of medicare; abuses of Pentagon contracts; the taking of minerals on the public lands; and the giveaways of government research and development to favored companies.

Corporate profits keep going up, except for bailout periods, while most Americans’ standards of living decline. Our country, so full of unapplied solutions, is grid locked—stuck in traffic. Record levels of poverty, unemployment, home foreclosures, consumer debt and bankruptcies, and people lacking health insurance persist, yet corporate political power has not waned. A bad sign. Indeed, it has increased, notwithstanding large majorities of Americans decrying too much corporate control over their lives. The leave-it-to-the market ideology of Big Business, and its claims of patriotism, have lost credibility in this globalized era. Yet, the myth lives on even as socialism routinely saves big capitalism from its own greed.

What can active progressives do? In Congress, amongst the Republicans and corporate Democrats, the small progressive caucus of 83 members generates little political impact. Ironically, many of those progressive legislators are busy dialing for the same commercial campaign dollars.

Outside Congress, progressive groups have been on the defensive for so many years that they have few offensive political strategies. The two parties are in the narrowest channels of self-perpetuation. They gerrymander their opponents into one-party districts and together produce a matrix of obstacles to keep competition from third parties at bay.

Both parties give preferential access to the hordes of drug, coal, banking and other industry lobbyists, who are allowed de facto to choose many of the nominees that lead the government’s departments, such as the Defense and Treasury Departments.

Enough abuses have been documented. Enough power has been concentrated to shred our democratic processes and institutions. It is time to decisively shift power from the few to the many. Democratic power is the essence of progressive political philosophy, and the precondition for the emergence of a just society nourished by higher public expectations.

How to begin? Progressives—elected, civic, labor and funders—need to come together in a national convention to aggregate the existing forces for change. Such a gathering could create a clear-eyed vision of the common good to shatter debilitating public cynicism and passivity.

In attendance must be a broad range of energetic community organizers, thinkers, the seriously generous progressive mega-rich and the heroic dynamos who have risen from their suffering to act on behalf of “liberty and justice for all.”

There is ample historic precedent for the galvanizing effect of founding social justice conventions. This proposed convocation needs to take civic and political action to unprecedented levels, powerfully fueled by committed resources and strategies to build enduring democratic institutions.

Unused knowledge, and many working models of community economics, environmental advances and educational quality exist to further the larger progressive dynamic.

Lincoln once observed the crucial importance of “public sentiment” for moving a society forward. That “public sentiment” is here, deep, widespread and ready for clearly explained “redirections.”

If a mantra is needed in the convention hall, let the eternal words of the Roman, Marcus Cicero, be emblazoned for all to see: “Freedom is participation in power.” For this aspiration places responsibility where it must always reside: on the shoulders, in the minds, and in the hearts of an empowered American people.

……………..

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book – and first novel -  is, Only The Super Wealthy Can Save Us. His most recent work of non-fiction is The Seventeen Traditions.

you got served

“I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world. I want to know what you will do about it. I do not want to know what you hope. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle.” – Robert Fulghum

Privilege Sucks!

Imported NEW post from Danimal (via old blog):

Many of us talk about privilege but do we really think about what it is and the affect it has on our world?

Privilege is preferential treatment on the part of the system towards certain individuals based on identity traits such as the color of their skin, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity or national origin, socio-economic status and other identity such traits. Privilege is generally invisible to the recipients yet starkly visible to those denied the same privileges. Privilege inherently means that some are offered these privileges while others are denied.

For privilege to sustain there much be some rational as to why the system of privilege functions in the way that it does. Generally these explanations are ubiquitous in all messages projected upon the populace. For example, the explanation of class privilege is that poor people could just pull themselves up by their boot straps, and therefore it is their fault and they are lazy, and thus wealthy people deserve to be on the top of the economic classes. One more example related to heterosexism privilege is that the bible states that homosexual relationships are immoral and thus it is acceptable to discriminate against such individuals.

As individuals who embody privilege, yet who acknowledge that the explanations are ludicrous and that the system of privilege leads to oppression and pain, we must speak out against the system and fight against the privilege that we are granted. The system of privilege certainly damages the lives of those who are denied privilege, but also wreaks havoc upon the lives of those who accept the privilege as well. An example of this is the concept of ‘White guilt,’ which is related to the long history of White privilege and has many negative effects including damaging the minds and souls of Whites, and strains relationships between Whites and People of Color.

The system of privilege is so ingrained in our thinking and in our lives that the privilege has infiltrated out laws and legislation for as long as laws and legislation have been around, at least in the USA. A current example of this is the fact that it is legal to discriminate against people who do not identify as heterosexual in housing and other realms of society. A more historic example is that we only valued Black citizens and African citizens two thirds of the value that we gave White citizens in the voting process. There were many more subtle forms of privilege related the voting process, but this was a clear and overt way to give White citizens more privilege than Black citizens.

Personally, I strive to fight privilege in my thinking, words and actions and despite my education and consideration of this issue, I still must work at it and don’t always succeed at recognizing when am accepting privilege or when it is occurring in front of me. At other times, I recognize it, but due to the systemic qualities of the practices, I sometimes find it hard to fight. But I strongly believe that my actions make a difference in the world, and I am dedicated to use my times and energy to make a positive impact on the system and the world. I believe we must speak—no shout out—about the privilege that exists. We must fervently illuminate this oppressive system that damages our collective peoples, if that means not accepting the job promotion due to privilege, or if it means shouting about this important issue from the rooftops –we must not give up!

activist resources

website with tons of groups and ideas. the main premise is creating elder/younger councils to help move our globe forward.

http://www.communityearthcouncils.org/resources.htm#Citizen

howard zinn

“I do not want to talk about what you understand about this world. I want to know what you will do about it. I do not want to know what you hope. I want to know what you will work for. I do not want your sympathy for the needs of humanity. I want your muscle.” – Robert Fulgrum

STS9

I have to say I have been thoroughly re-energized by STS9’s new stuff and the Red Rocks recordings.  Peaceblaster has some serious songs – shock doctine + empire.

Much like Lotus’s Colorado….these bands compositional abilities to convey massive amounts of imagery, feeling, etc simply blows my mind.  The conscious message behind these songs as well as the spoken word which can be found throughout the album is highly responsible.

From STS9’s Website:

Using a highly specialized process and state of the art photo equipment, Tobin created this one incredible panoramic image by methodically shooting 27 shots of the majestic amphitheatre, from rock to rock, with the Denver skyline in the distance and the starry Colorado sky above, and STS9 on stage over a period of 30 minutes. The 27 photographs were then stitched together over a period of two weeks of post production after the shows. One look at this photo and you notice you’ve never seen anything like it captured at this venue.

Because it was created from so many images, the original photograph is literally 8 feet long without any enlargement, thus, every detail is razor sharp and as vivid as you’ve ever seen before.

Fucking gorgeous…chills all up and down my body…If anybody needs a pick me up, inspiration, take it to the next level music – check this shit out.