Corporate abuses against workers and the environment are enshrined in "corporate rights," but these are being challenged by the rapidly growing Community Rights movement. Gaining traction across the country, the community rights movement aims not just for reforms against offenses such as toxic sludge dumps, fracking, or inequitable pay, but for the total abolition of corporate power and privilege, and the establishment of genuine local democracy. Some 200 community rights ordinances have been passed since 2000, including Oregon's first, passed by voters in Lincoln County this May. Community Rights US is being launched to suppport the movement nationwide. Host Stephanie Potter speaks with Program Director and Lead Trainer Paul Cienfuegos, and Eva Hamilton, Administrative and Research Coordinator at Community Rights US.
Paul Cienfuegos is a community rights activisit who got started in the movement in the 90's through his involvement with the pioneering work of Richard Grossman who co-directed the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD). Until then, Paul had seen nothing wrong with focusing on numerous single issues, but with POCLAD, Paul realized that almost every issue he had ever worked on "was a mere symptom of corporate rule." Paul is now the longest running community rights workshop leader in the U.S. His talks have been broadcast on KBOO as well as on David Barsamian’s nationally syndicated show ‘Alternative Radio', and he's recently taken a break from hosting his own weekly commentary. Next month (September 2017), he will be co-founding a national Community Rights support organization, Community Rights US; and he is presently working on a book, which is to be a lay person’s guide to dismantling corporate rule in the U.S.
Eva Hamilton is a musician, performer, and teacher grounded in a cultural anthropology background and about to begin her graduate studies in Counseling-Psychology. She is particularly fascinated by the intersection between consciousness, culture, and personal identity, and how our fundamental belief systems affect the way we engage with the world. Drawn to the Community Rights movement as a paradigm in activism that reclaims our sovereignty as We The People, she is motivated by the shift in consciousness necessary to place civic authority back into our own hands. Eva has been studying various healing traditions through the lenses of anthropology and psychology for 10+ years. She is excited to bring some of what she’s learned about the process of personal healing to the healing of communities and nations through the work of Community Rights.
- KBOO