[Occupymendocino] Reasserting Community Rights: Going Beyond Single Issue Activism

[Jessie Lee VanSant]

Dear folks,

Please send this to any lists you have.

Thanks 
Ed Oberweiser
OPC Chair


Title: Reasserting Community Rights: Going Beyond Single Issue Activism

Are you frustrated by the apparent inability of local communities to stop corporate destruction of the natural world (unnecessary road building, fracking, sludge dumping on farmland, bottling and removal of water from local rivers, use of toxic pesticides in forests, oil drilling in pristine areas, etc.)? Are you wondering why the public seems to be powerless to stop these abuses of corporate power? 

This workshop will illuminate how and why the law has been used to progressively expand corporate powers. It will also provide a new and proven way to reestablish community rights, the power of community self-determination, and the power to stop destructive practices through local ordinance writing. Used in more than 160 communities in ten states across the USA, local ordinances are enabling local communities to assert their right to protect
themselves and nature from corporate domination and control. 

The California Constitution says:"All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people; and they have the right to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it."

Well-known community rights organizer, and partner with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF.org), Paul Cienfuegos will be leading this intensive two-day workshop at the Community Center of Mendocino (998 School St., in the town of Mendocino), on President’s Day weekend -- February 15-16, 2014. This two full day event includes two potluck lunches. Paul is the founder of Democracy Unlimited in Humboldt County, which models new ways of working on a variety of ecological and social justice issues such as forest clear-cutting, weakening organic food labeling standards, and big box store take-over of local business. He also co-founded CommunityRightsPDX.org, which is Portland Oregon’s first community rights organization. More information about his 38 years of local activism, and the many workshops and presentations that he has delivered across the country, can be found at PaulCienfuegos.com.

The last workshop delivered by Paul, a few months ago in Willits, was over-subscribed and filled up fast. To make sure you have a place in this one, you must register in advance. There is a sliding scale fee based on income, ranging from $60 to $260. To sign-up, contact Charles Cresson Wood, with Mendocino Coast Transition Towns, at ccwood at ix.netcom.com or 707-937-5572. This event is co-sponsored by the Alliance for Democracy, Mendocino Coast Chapter of Move to Amend,  Community Rights Organization Willits (CROW) and the Ocean Protection Coalition.
...........................

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.mcn.org/pipermail/occupymendocino/attachments/20140102/22b91f9a/attachment.html