[Occupymendocino] Fwd: Popular Resistance Newsletter - Democracy, Not Corporatocracy

[DANIEL BAKER]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PopularResistance.org <info at popularresistance.org>
Date: Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 6:02 AM
Subject: Popular Resistance Newsletter - Democracy, Not Corporatocracy
To: BLACKDANTHEMAN100 at gmail.com


The World Economic Forum group of elites have been working on a plan, the
Global Redesign Initiative, to replace democracy with a corporatocracy.
This newsletter is also available
on the web here (
https://www.popularresistance.org/newsletter-democracy-not-corporatocracy/)
.
------------------------------------------------------------

The World Economic Forum ends today in Davos, Switzerland. This is where
the richest of the richest corporate executives, politicians and
celebrities meet to discuss the future of the world. Since 2010, they’ve
been working on a plan, the Global Redesign Initiative (
https://www.popularresistance.org/davos-and-its-threat-to-democracy/) , to
replace democracy with a corporatocracy. This is the fundamental struggle
of our era.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Corporate-Capitalism-is-not-Democracy.jpg

Corporatocracy versus Democracy

What does a corporatocracy look like? Klaus Schwab, the founder of the
World Economic Forum, says, “the sovereign state is obsolete.” Instead,
WEF’s goal is to give a greater role for corporations in global governance
through “40 Global Agenda Councils (
http://www.weforum.org/communities/global-agenda-councils)  and
industry-sector bodies.” In essence, the Global Redesign Initiative of the
World Economic Forum seeks to privatize government. We discuss the
initiative with two experts from the Center for Governance and
Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts in depth on Clearing The
FOG Radio (
http://clearingthefogradio.org/may-11-the-future-of-global-governance-is-this-the-end-of-the-nation-state/)
.

Do you have any confidence that multinational corporations would have the
interests of the people in mind, particularly the people they deem
disposable? And, when it comes to the planet will they protect resources or
exploit them, will they put climate change ahead of their profits? They
certainly haven’t demonstrated concern except in situations where appearing
generous works to their advantage.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Corporate-domination-e1453588356222.jpg

Paul Bucheit writes (
https://www.popularresistance.org/the-real-terrorists-the-01/)  that the
0.01% have wealth equal to the bottom 80% of people in the US and that more
than half of US corporate foreign profits are held in tax havens. Oxfam’s
newest report (
https://www.popularresistance.org/richest-62-people-as-wealthy-as-half-of-worlds-population/)
on wealth inequality finds that just 62 people have the wealth equal to the
bottom half of the global population, down from 80 the year before and 388
in 2010.

What does corporatocracy feel like? In the US,almost two-thirds of people (
https://www.popularresistance.org/two-thirds-of-americans-cant-afford-a-500-emergency/)
cannot handle an unexpected expense of $500 or more, (half don’t have any
savings). In 2011, that figure was $1,000. In cities, people of color and
of lower income are being forced out (
https://www.popularresistance.org/black-homes-matter-san-franciscos-vanishing-black-population/)
from disinvestment in their communities and gentrification.

Plutocracy in the United States is driving two major crises: the looming
financial crash and the climate crisis. We hear warnings that another
financial bubble is ready to burst that will have global impacts. Debt is
high and bonds are over-leveraged. Central banks are running out of
solutions (http://itsoureconomy.us/2016/01/central-banks-out-of-control/)
to stimulate the economy, but they won’t admit it.

Just like the financial market ‘correction,’ which started with the new
year, J.P. Sottile writes in TruthOut (
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34409-mother-nature-s-invisible-hand-strikes-back-against-the-carbon-economy)
that there will be a carbon correction:
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Climate-Change-System-Change-e1453588691513.jpg

“This mother of all market corrections is coming – and it will settle
accounts through civilization-halting floods and famines, through
population-endangering climate migrations or even through the simple loss
of breathable air. This is not just irony. This is Mother Nature’s
invisible hand correcting humankind’s foolish, short-term investment in the
distorted hydrocarbon economy.”

The most recent example of the out-of-control carbon bubble is the gas
disaster near Los Angeles. Professor Tony Ingraffea explains (
https://www.popularresistance.org/ingraffea-la-gas-disaster-is-tip-of-the-iceberg/)
the extent of the disaster telling us that the Aliso Canyon leak is the
‘tip of the iceberg.’ There are thousands of old wells across the US that
could fail and spew methane, an extremely potent Greenhouse Gas, into the
air. This is one more example of failing US infrastructure and one more
reason why the US needs an Apollo Project to transition to a carbon-free,
nuclear-free energy economy.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Baltimore-Black-Lives-Matter-not-about-one-man-structural-racism.-Source-Twitter-e1453588889721.jpg

In contrast, what would solutions that come from the people look like? The
Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) recently released its “Agenda to Build
Black Futures (
https://www.popularresistance.org/byp100-agenda-to-build-black-futures-economic-justice-plan/)
,” which focuses on repairing the damage done by centuries of systemic
oppression including the current crisis of mass incarceration and honoring
the rights of workers, especially women. And climate justice and worker
groups are collaborating on a ‘just transition (
https://www.popularresistance.org/strategies-for-climate-justice-and-a-just-transition/)
‘ to a more democratized and localized economy that incorporates resilience
to the climate crisis.

The Struggle for Democracy

This week was the sixth anniversary (
https://www.popularresistance.org/a-vision-for-a-post-citizens-united-future/)
of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling which allowed unlimited amounts
of money to be spent in support of political candidates by PACs (political
action committees). This is one manifestation of the plutocracy which
extends to the founding of this country through the Constitution, which was
written by and for the propertied white elites (
https://www.popularresistance.org/fighting-for-a-legitimate-democracy-by-and-for-the-people/)
.

The Citizens United ruling was followed in 2014 by the McCutcheon decision (
https://www.popularresistance.org/breaking-rule-of-money-gets-stronger-with-court-ruling-take-action-today/)
which removed limits on donations to candidates, parties and committees. At
the time of the decision we described it as a rallying cry for a democracy
movement (
https://www.popularresistance.org/the-mccutcheon-decision-is-our-rallying-cry/)
.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Democracy-not-a-market-dictatorship-2-e1453588970962.jpg

In “The Devastating Cost of Monetized Elections (
https://www.popularresistance.org/ralph-nader-the-devastating-cost-of-monetized-elections/)
,” Ralph Nader writes that it is up to us, the people, to change this. He
describes the money corrupted elections, controlled by corporations as a
set back to US democracy. He advises us to take the election system from
the corporate media and the corporate debate system:

“Do your homework on the parties and the candidates, form informal groups
to demand debates and agendas that you preside over, push for more choices
on the ballot, make votes count over money.”

Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign, noting there are two strands of
populism in the US – negative and positive, urges people (
https://www.popularresistance.org/reflections-on-tug-of-war-between-negative-and-positive-populism/)
to reject the negativity coming out of some of the presidential campaigns.
Instead we must come together to build community and “to build power for a
positive populism.” And Nancy Price of the Alliance for Democracy
encourages (
https://www.popularresistance.org/beyond-capitalism-a-revolution-of-values/)
us (
https://www.popularresistance.org/beyond-capitalism-a-revolution-of-values/)
to use legal strategies to build “the commons” to avoid its exploitation
for profit by the wealthy. She has been a leading proponent of the movement
across the country to create “TPP Free Zones (
http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/tppfreezones.shtml) ” at the city,
county and state
levels.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Democracy-Real-Democracy-Now-Banner-2-e1453589092310.jpg

In our rigged electoral system, what can we do? Many progressives are
excited by the Bernie Sanders campaign. And while we admire Senator Sanders
for his long history of speaking about wealth inequality and many of his
domestic politics, such as his support for single payer and labor unions
and for confronting Wall Street, we believe that social transformation
requires (
https://www.popularresistance.org/mic-check-bernie-sanders-swallows-occupys-microphone/)
building third parties that are independent of corporate money, among other
updates to the US electoral system.

George Lakey reminds us (
https://www.popularresistance.org/what-happens-to-the-bernie-sanders-movement-if-he-loses/)
that our power is not in the electoral arena because at this time,
elections are dominated by money and corporations. People power is better
wielded outside of manipulated elections in resistance campaigns. We hope
that if Sanders loses the primary, his supporters will consider Lakey’s
words:

“What if the Sanders campaigners maintained their commitment to a
progressive analysis and vision and simply acknowledged what so many
Americans already know: The system is too rigged to be changed from within.”

https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Rolling-Rebellion-Illusion-of-Democracy-e1453589575772.jpgIf
Sanders loses, it will be because the Democratic primary process is rigged
by the elite, not because his ideas don’t resonate with the people. Sanders
is articulating much of what the movement for economic, racial and
environmental justice supports. It is up to his supporters to take the
momentum built through the campaign to fight for change, not the change
chosen by the campaign, but change chosen by the people. That is democracy.

Building Popular Power

The struggle for democracy is difficult. We see the challenges in countries
that are more advanced in the process than the US. They all have something
in common: popular movements are essential for creating the political
environment that allows the election of candidates that reflect movements,
for holding them accountable to the movement once in office and for
protecting them from the opposition.

In Ecuador, it was a movement that elected Rafael Correa as president. The
movement created its name, the Citizen’s Revolution, and in the past nine
years has taken substantial steps (
https://www.popularresistance.org/ecuadors-citizens-revolution-retaking-power-from-old-elites/)
to reduce the wealth divide through public investment.

https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/We-the-People-DC-e1453589432732.jpgOn
February 9, an exciting new initiative, the Democracy in Europe Movement
(DiEM), is being launched in Berlin. This open letter (
https://www.popularresistance.org/yanis-varoufakis-welcome-to-the-democracy-movement/)
from John Malamatinas of Blockupy to Yanis Varoufakis, one of the
co-founders of DiEM, and his open letter  (
https://www.popularresistance.org/diem-and-movements-varoufakis-replies-to-open-letter-by-john-malamatinas/)
in reply illustrate the challenges of creating effective democracy
movements. We will follow their efforts and hope to learn from them.

There is tremendous popular power in the United States. That is clear
everyday from the small portion of it that is covered on Popular
Resistance. Just this week, there is a growing movement in Flint, Michigan
pushing for the resignation (
https://www.popularresistance.org/facing-calls-to-resign-pile-of-lawsuits-snyder-to-address-flint-crisis/)
of Governor Snyder. (EPA-whistleblower Marsha Coleman explains (
https://www.popularresistance.org/the-epas-lack-of-integrity-has-cost-the-lead-poisoned-children-of-flint-dearly/)
why the EPA is also at fault for the Flint water crisis). A coalition of
Black-led groups confronted (
https://www.popularresistance.org/dc-baltimore-blacklivesmatter-coalition-protest-us-conference-of-mayors/)
the US Conference of Mayors to demand more investment in their communities
and disinvestment in state violence. Students from a dozen high schools in
Minneapolis
(
https://www.popularresistance.org/newsletter-democracy-not-corporatocracy/%20https://www.popularresistance.org/minneapolis-hs-students-walk-out-to-protest-ice-deportations/)
walked out in protest of the rise in ICE raids and deportations. And in ten
cities, climate justice advocates protested (
https://www.popularresistance.org/epa-protested-at-10-regional-offices-over-clean-power-plan/)
the Clean Power Plan at regional EPA offices (note that there will be
another protest (
https://www.popularresistance.org/calendar1/dc-events-invisible-killer-radioactive-pollution/)
of the Clean Power Plan at the EPA in DC on Tuesday).

Our challenge is to increasingly build relationships across issues and find
opportunities to collaborate on issue campaigns and actions so that some
infrastructure will be in place for a democracy movement in the United
States that is democratic and reflects the values of the current movement.
https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/TPP-democracy-arrow-e1453589487943.jpg

One critical opportunity that is coming up is theTransPacific Partnership (
http://flushthetpp.org/)  (TPP). There is already a broad movement of
movements against the TPP because it impacts so much that we hold dear. The
Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD) writes (
https://www.popularresistance.org/tpp-the-great-grandchild-of-the-worst-of-us-constitution/)
that the TPP is a continuation of the anti-democratic US Constitution. They
urge people to make the connection so we understand not to repeat the same
mistakes.

President Obama will sign the TPP in New Zealand on February 4. This is the
earliest date that he can legally sign it. He is in a hurry to pass the TPP
before his presidency ends. The next step after signing is that he must
send implementing legislation to Congress for approval under the fast track
process. He will wait until he believes he has enough votes to pass it
before he does that. Our job is to make sure he doesn’t ever have enough
votes.

Previous successful struggles to stop similar agreements have demonstrated
that it was a visible culture of resistance, people in the streets, that
stopped them. We must do the same now. There will be actions in cities
across the US and Canada around the February 4 signing. Check the action
map here for one near you (http://www.flushthetpp.org/actions/) . More
actions are being planned for President’s week when members of Congress
will be home. And join the organizing calls on Wednesday nights. Click here
for information (http://www.flushthetpp.org/national-tpp-resistance-calls/)
.

The TPP is the next battle to stop corporate government on a global scale.
Stopping the TPP will be a tremendous victory of popular power over
corporate power. We can stop the World Economic Forum’s vision of a global
governance redesigned into a corporatocracy and create a world of popular
democracy for a livable future for everyone.

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