We are advocating not that each of us stops the work we're doing against corporate power, or changes organizational affiliations, but that we refocus our efforts. The concept of corporate "personhood" has been treated as unassailable. It is time to challe nge this fundamental direction of the courts. If we do not redefine corporations (and redefine ourselves), we will continue to struggle against every corporate harm one at a time, just as we have been struggling against every corporate clearcut, corporate poison, corporate downsizing, corporate manipulation of elections, one battle at a time. Until we are prepared to individually and collectively acknowledge our complicity which allows corporations to define the rules and write the laws, we will not succe ed.

Many politically progressive organizations in this country took a wrong turn many decades ago and are now paying the price in terms of their integrity and/or effectiveness:

Corporations first gained their supposed Consititutionally-protected rights as "natural persons" in California in 1886 (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad). This makes our state the birthing ground for the corporate nightmare which has since engulfed us. Perhaps this offers us an added incentive to get educated and organized and get on with the task of rebuilding an authentically democratic society. The time is ripe. What are we waiting for?

What can be done?

The key to finding the solutions is to understand that we will never win this struggle if we play by their rules because they wrote the rules. Here's a list for starters:

The possibilities are endless!

Do you have any idea how much power citizens once wielded over corporations, all of which we could reclaim if we chose to make the effort? Here's a shortlist (excerpted from 'Reclaiming Our Historic Authority' in our Resource List - see insert):

And we wouldn't have to stop there!

We could add new provisions like...

As Richard Grossman says, "We have been playing by the rules of the corporate exploiters and destroyers" for far too long. "Our challenge is to turn the tables, to begin piercing the corporate veil that has diverted and divided our movement."

Please join us.

By Johanna Parry

How many of you have basically given up the idea that you can play a key role in actively altering the direction our culture is careening? You do your recycling separation, buy organic when it's affordable and hope against hope that what's left of diverse species can be saved. Do you ever wonder what happened to the mass movements of the late 60's and 70's, actions that actually led to real change, the end of a war? Sit back for a minute and imagine with me...

You are in the living room of a friend who has invited you to a meeting. The room is crowded, and excitement is high... voices rise and fall with impassioned intonations. Whats going on? An inspirational AMWAY multi-level marketers get-rich-quick presenta tion? What could possibly get this many people together in one room, with passions and concerns peaking?

Now consider this: at the core of most major problems that face our society today - be it pollution, poverty, cancer, noise, devastation of habitat, etc. - you will find a multinational corporation as one of the major root causes. We know this, right? Wel l, if you were personally offered ideas and information that could create a solution, and you could envision the results clearly, would you want to be an active part of redefining culture and society? Of course you would! (I knew that.)

So what made those actions of the 60's and 70's so powerful anyway? NUMBERS of people like you and me, getting together with a common vision. According to David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, 24% of the US adult population (44 million people) now "embraces the values of an integral culture and are attuned to progressive social and environmental values". If we got together on an agenda and voted as a block given the number of Americans who don't vote, we could essentially dictate a new political/social/cultural agenda.

Now imagine this: all over the U.S, people like you and me are gathering to organize in living rooms of our friends and families. We have filed the ballot initiatives necessary to revoke the charters of the most destructive corporations in our local area. We, as a community of sovereign people, have repossessed corporate property and are once again operating OUR OWN manufacturing companies, making the decisions about wages, products and responsibility in our local community. Because the money we generate stays in our local area, we can now assist ourselves in creating transit systems that reduce car use and road building, decentralized energy systems which eliminate our need for petroleum, etc...all of which helps us to reclaim our local cultures and econ omies. Pretty powerful, huh? This is true democracy, the empowering of people, to govern ourselves.

We'd love to have you as a member! Clearly our actual on-the-ground work can only encompass part of northern California, so we need your assistance. Here's how you can help:

And if you live in or near Humboldt County...

And if you live in Sonoma County or the Bay Area...

We've been beyond busy the past months getting Democracy Unlimited launched. Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

Over the past four years, the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD) has been encouraging people and groups to focus beyond corporate behaviors - beyond mere symptoms of corporate power - and to confront the nature of these artificial entitie s which we the people have created. We've also been looking at the responsibility which human beings have for all the organizations that we create - business, government, civic, educational, cultural.

We've convened 60 weekend discussions around the country on "corporations and democracy" towards reassessing historical and contemporary struggles for democracy. We've also been researching corporate/legal history and people's resistance to tyrannies, as well as engaging diverse people and their organizations here and abroad on language, culture, goals, tactics, strategies, and arenas of action.

POCLAD is also currently developing more materials to stimulate new dialogue and strategy, including a new pamphlet which will reflect the evolution of our thinking since the publishing of Taking Care of Business; an anthology of important essays and hist ory from the past 100 years from City Lights Press; and issue papers which supply analysis and strategy on topics such as personhood, social security, democracy, and campaign reform. [Editor's note: The campaign reform issue paper titled "Speaking Truth t o Power" is now available from us directly - see "Resource List" insert. And we'll stock all of the materials named above as soon as they are completed.]

(excerpted from 'Key Resources on Corporate Power' in our Resource List - see insert)

Organizations:

by Paul Cienfuegos

I was in attendance when the three Green Party members of the Arcata City Council got sworn in and began the first Green City Council meeting in US history. It was a wonderful evening! Anyway, they all had to swear that they would "support and defend the Constitution of the US and the Constitution of the State of CA against all enemies foreign and domestic"; and I just got to scheming that maybe that meant that it was their legal responsibility under oath to restore our democracy from the domestic enemy n amed 'the corporation'. Am I on to something big, or what?

This winter, yet another hundred-year storm and flood swept through California and Oregon. Corporate clearcutting has been so brutal to this region that the hillsides can no longer survive the storms and now regularly slide into homes, businesses, roads a nd bridges (not to mention the continuing devastation of salmon runs). Taxpayers are paying tens of millions of dollars annually for this ongoing corporate devastation in the form of public and private infrastructure repair. If clearcutting corporations w ere required by law to pay for the destruction they cause, they couldn't afford to log. Democracy Unlimited is co-sponsoring a major Citizens' Tribunal in late May where the public will be invited to tesify on-the-record about this ongoing corporate crime .

Judi Bari, long-time defender of the wild forests of the north coast, died of advanced breast cancer on March 2nd. Her passion for life, and rage against the corporate machine will be sorely missed by many of us.

Maxxam Corporation continues to negotiate an unacceptable deal with federal, state and local governments whereby it would be allowed to log most of the Headwaters redwoods it "owns" in exchange for setting aside a pittance of its total land base for perma nent protection. To beat this corporate/ government collusion, we need to reframe the issue from "What sort of compensation should Maxxam receive in order to protect the entire 60,000 acres?" to "What steps are necessary to challenge their Certificate of Authority to operate and own land here?" (Sidenote: When the CA Public Employees' Retirement System head warned Maxxam's owner Charles Hurwitz last month not to cut Headwaters down, Hurwitz shot back, "We understand our constitutional rights as a property owner, including our rights to just compensation for governmental assimilation of our lands, whether directly or by regulation." Our job, if we dare to accept it, is to challenge those supposed constitutional rights.

The Times Standard, the CA north coast's daily newspaper since 1854, has been sold for the second time in just four months! Last fall, Garden State Corp, owned by Media News Corp purchased the paper from Thompson Corp which had owned it for 30 years. This month they sold it to Virginia-based Media General Corp, also owned by Media News Corp. Sounds like the parent company made out like bandits!

Governor Pete Wilson signed a bill making it more difficult to prosecute corporations for minor (sic) oil spills in CA. The oil lobby started pushing for the bill after Shell Corporation was fined for three small oil spills a few years ago.

Nuclear corporations are again intensively pressuring Congress to open a high-level nuclear waste dump in Ward Valley west of Needles, CA and just 18 miles from the Colorado River. Workshops and nonviolent direct action are planned for April 25-27. Info: 800-454-3016.

(Poetry Corner)

"GIVE CHARLIE THE MOON"

I pledge resistance
to the mask
of the United States
of Somnambulism,
and to the corporations
who are destroying the land
One nation, under Grid,
with liberal injustice for all

Oh say can you see?
Man, can't you see
manufractured mountains
from sea to polluted sea
We cut spray
hack squirt
drag burn
make extinct
and earn
Money!
Money! Money! Money!

so we can rent
lease buy
distraction
while waiting for the guy
who'll put it all
back together

what if
he don't come back
what if
he forgot
what if
he liked those trees
and salmon
and spotted owl
and Pomo
and Yuki
what if
he can't get anymore
what if
it took a few millenia to create

No problem!
He'll find something!
we treated him so
special
last time

what if
just desserts
he just deserts us
it's just a desert
40 days in the desert
divided by
40 days and nights of rain
equals one world
on standby
for the next available
flight to the moon

what if
we give Hurwitz the moon;
we've got a flag and a car
up there
build him a wafer board mansion
at the edge of the lake;
a color xerox
so he can print up
all the money
and junk bonds he wants;
a deluxe edition
of the latest Monopoly game,
leather bound
with all the "get out of jail free" cards removed; so lets all turn around
and give Charlie the moon.

what if
the light
inside everybody's head
went on at the same time--
and the fabric of
standing deadwood
intact watershed
and dependent species
were all known essential--
more essential than
all the money ever printed

I pledge allegiance
to the earth (First!)
and her various stages of evolution
And to the four elements
through which we stand
One planet,
whirling through space,
with liberty and justice
for all (species)

by Dan Roberts of Willits, CA (copyright)
(in honor of Charles Hurwitz of Maxxam Corporation) 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

(MEMBERSHIP FORM:)

Yes!
Sign me up for a Democracy Unlimited membership. I support your work
and want to join with others working to end corporate rule in our society. 

o $25 to $99 (Regular)
o $75 (Sponsor a month's rent in our new shared office!)
o $100 to $199 (A dear friend)
o $200+ (Backbone)
o $15 to $24 (low income, students, seniors)
   (Monthly or quarterly payment plans available for all categories)

All members receive a 20% discount to all our events (seminars, speakers,
benefits), four newsletters, 10% discount on all books we carry
(see 'Resource List'), and a bumpersticker ("People Are Sovereign Over
Corporations"). What a deal!


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Please make check or money order payable to: Democracy Unlimited, POB 27, Arcata, CA 95518


o I'd like to host a "democratic conversation" evening in my home and
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  mailing party/tabling at events/publicity/postering/ 
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Please send a free introductory newsletter to the names and addresses
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Democracy Unlimited RESOURCE LIST

Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC) is working to end corporate rule. Inspired by the Program On Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD) - which for four years has been generating materials on corporate and legal histories and conducting Rethin king the Corporation/ Rethinking Democracy meetings across the US - we lead workshops and discussions, distribute POCLAD's and other materials (everything we've produced is marked with a

Please indicate which items you would like to order by writing the quantity you want in the box to the left of each item, providing your name and address on the back of this page and mailing the entire sheet to us with checks/money orders (or cash) made o ut to Democracy Unlimited. We'll send an updated Resource List with your order. All prices include shipping. Contact us for bulk prices.

[ ] Taking Care of Business: Citizenship and the Charter of Incorporation by Richard Grossman and Frank Adams, 32 page pamphlet, 1993. How did giant corporations come to govern? This pamphlet provides a concise history of corporations and corporate law. $ 4

[ ] Abridged version of above pamphlet, from Earth Island Journal (Spring '93), 2 pages. $.25

[ ] "Revoking the Corporation", based on Richard Grossman's keynote speech at the March '96 Public Interest Environmental Law conference in Oregon, from Mendocino Environmental Center newsletter, 2 pages. $.25 (Also available as an audiotape - see back of sheet.)

[ ] "Revoking the Corporation" by Ward Morehouse (based on a workshop presentation he gave in Jan '96), from North Coast XPress (Apr/May '96), 2 pages. $.25

[ ] CA newsletter: 'A Sovereign People' - current issue (#2) $.50 - or subscribe (see order form on back)

[ ] A variety of 8-1/2 x 11" posters for easy copying & distribution, created by Paul Cienfuegos. $1 to $5 (sliding scale) gets you 5 to 10 recent posters. Great for guerrilla postering!

[ ] Excerpts from the California Constitution of 1879 (when citizens still understood that they were sovereign over corporations and acted accordingly), 8 pages. $1

[ ] NEW: "Speaking Truth to Power About Campaign Reform" by Jane Anne Morris, 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Attacking Corporate Personhood: The Future of Environmental Law" by Richard Grossman, from Wild Forest Review (April '95), 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Minorities, the Poor and Ending Corporate Rule" by Richard Grossman and Ward Morehouse, from Poverty and Race newsletter (Sep/Oct '95), 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Corporations Must Not Supplant 'We The People' " by Richard Grossman, from the Maine Sunday Telegram (4 Feb '96), 2 pages. $.25

[ ] NEW: "Reclaiming Our Historic Authority". A listing of the strict prohibitions citizens once wielded over corporations, and a vision of new limitations appropriate for the 21st century, compiled by Paul Cienfuegos, 2 pages. $.25

Produced by the Public Information Network in Seattle (also available via Internet or Disk PIN@igc.org):

[ ] Primer on Corporations (historical overview and much more!), 1997 edition, 50 pages, $6

[ ] Activist Research Manual: Sources of Information on Corporations, 1997 edition, 60 pages, $7

[ ] Essential Resources for Corporate Investigations (a brief excerpt of the above), 3 pages. $.40

[ ] Key Resources on Corporate Power - a shortlist of books, magazines and organizations, 2 pages. $.25

[ ] Commentary by Richard Grossman on Justice for Sale: Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain (re how corporations have rewritten US law), from The Workbook (Fall '93), 4 pages. $.50

[ ] Interview with Richard Grossman, from Food and Water Journal (Winter '96), 4 pages. $.50

[ ] Rachel's Environment and Health Weekly - each is 2 pages. $.25

[ ] #407: "A letter to friends". A letter from grassroots activists to leaders of 15 national environmental groups about goals and tactics (15 Sep '94).

[ ] #455: "Controlling Corporations" re WMX Technologies Corp and CSX Corp (17 Aug '95).

[ ] #488: "Fixing Corporations-Part 1: Legacy of the Founding Parents" by Jane Anne Morris (4 Ap '96).

[ ] #489: " " " -Part 2: Corporations For the 7th Generation" by Jane Anne Morris (11 Ap '96).

[ ] #502: "America Needs A Law Prohibiting All Corporate Donations" by Jane Anne Morris (11 Jl '96). [ ] #535: "The Alar Rebellion of 1989" re Uniroyal Corp vs an outraged sovereign citizenry (27 Feb '97).

[ ] NEW: "Corporate Security: Monsanto's 'First Amendment' Right to Lie" by Richard Grossman, from Earth Island Journal (Winter '96/97), 1 page. $.25

[ ] "Certificate of Dissolution - Revocation of Corporate Charter of Weyerhaeuser Corporation" (18 Ap '95). Created for a demonstration at the home of George Weyerhaeuser in WA state in which activists revoked the corporation's charter in a colorful and p owerful act of street theatre. Contains a partial list of Weyerhaeuser Corporation's environmental, anti-trust, safety and labor violations, 2 pages. $.25

[ ] Leaflet created for a McDonald's action on 20 May '96, a day of nationally coordinated actions to End Corporate Control. The leaflet highlights the historic McDonald's trial now concluding in England, and encourages eaters to join our new organization. 2 pages. $.25

[ ] Fact Sheets For Students: "Fighting Corporate Power" and "Corporate Power on Campus and the Future of Student Activism" by Rob Inerfeld, 4 pages. $.50

[ ] For Lawyers and Law Students: "Asserting Democratic Control Over Corporations: A Call To Lawyers" from The National Lawyers Guild Practitioner (Fall '95), 8 pages; and "A Call to People's Lawyers: Help End Corporate Rule" from the Sugar Center newslet ter (Sep '95), 2 pages - both by Richard Grossman and Ward Morehouse. $1.25

[ ] "Getting Business Off the Public Dole: Model Laws For State and Local Governments to Curb Corporate Welfare Abuse", by Robert Benson, Loyola Law School Professor, 29 pages. $4

[ ] "Suggested Research Topics on Corporate Power" from POCLAD, 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Take Back the Corporation: A Legalese Primer" and "Grassroots Environmental Movements and Restructuring the Corporation" by Jane Anne Morris, 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Resolution to the Founding Convention of the Labor Party" (on "withdrawing rights and privileges which corporations have taken from [US citizens]") - June '96, 1 page. $.25

[ ] "The Struggle for Democratic Control of Corporations: Taking the Offensive - An Agenda for Action" and "Ending Corporate Governance", from San Diego Review (1 Oct '94), 2 pages. $.25

[ ] Richard Grossman's letter to the Progressive inviting the editor to confront the need to withdraw privileges and immunities from giant corporations (May '95), 4 pages. $.50

[ ] "Nations vs Corporations". A comparison of the size of nations' economies and the revenues of transnational corporations. A real eye-opener! 1 page. $.25

[ ] "Eleven Inherent Rules of Corporate Behavior" by Jerry Mander - excerpted from In the Absence of the Sacred, from Earth Island Journal (Winter '95), 2 pages. $.25

[ ] Bumpersticker: "People Are Sovereign Over Corporations" (black on yellow). $2

[ ] A proposal and outline for the creation of a series of 18 brochures (or a small book) for national mass distribution to more adequately support this growing movement. Do you have writing, research or editing skills? Paul Cienfuegos wants to hear from you! 2 pages. FREE

Books: lots of great titles!!!!! We have many more titles than can be listed below. Shipping: please add $2 for the 1st book, $.75 each additional. (Please write us for a list of all titles, and enclose $1 towards postage.)

[ ] Action and Knowledge: Breaking the Monopoly with Participatory Action Research edited by Orlando Fals-Borda & Muhammed Anisur Rahman. $16.50

[ ] Class Warfare, Noam Chomsky interviewed by David Barsamian. $15

[ ] Corporate Power and the American Dream: Toward an Economic Agenda for Working People by The Labor Institute, with spiral binding. $9

[ ] Corporations Are Gonna Get Your Mama: Globalization and the Downsizing of the American Dream edited by Kevin Danaher (essays by Chomsky, Korten, Nader, Rifkin, etc). $15.95

[ ] Don't Lose Your Unemployment Benefits! A Handbook for Workers and the Unemployed by Jose Portela (for the thousands of victims of corporate downsizing). $12.95

[ ] Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision Making by Sam Kaner. $24.95 [ ] Fear at Work: Job Blackmail, Labor and the Environment by Richard Kazis and Richard Grossman. $12 (reduced from $14.95

[ ] Futures by Design: The Practice of Ecological Planning edited by Doug Aberley. $14.95

[ ] Grassroots and Non-profit Leadership: A Guide for Organizations in Changing Times by Berit & George Lakey, Rod Napier, & Janice Robinson. $16.95

[ ] (The) Green Alternative: Creating an Ecological Future by Brian Tokar. $14.95

[ ] Home: A Bioregional Reader edited by Van Andruss & others. $16.95

[ ] In the Tiger's Mouth: An Empowerment Guide for Social Action by Katrina Shields. $14.95

[ ] Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky & the Media (a companion to the film) by Mark Achbar. $20

[ ] (The) Maximum Wage: A Common-Sense Prescription for Revitalizing America - By Taxing the Very Rich by Sam Pizzigati. $11.95

[ ] Merchants of Misery: How Corporate America Profits from Poverty edited by Michael Hudson. $14.95

[ ] Putting Power in its Place: Create Community Control edited by Judith & Christopher Plant. $9.95

[ ] Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber & Sheldon Rampton. $16.95

[ ] Toxic Struggles: The Theory & Practice of Environmental Justice edited by Richard Hofrichter. $16.95

[ ] Turtle Talk: Voices for a Sustainable Future edited by Christopher & Judith Plant. $9.95

[ ] We Build the Road As We Travel (re the Mondragon coops in Spain which have built a resilient network of 170 worker-owned and managed businesses employing 21,000 people), by Roy Morrison. $16.95

[ ] When Workers Decide: Workplace Democracy Takes Root in North America edited by Len Krimerman & Frank Lindenfeld. $16.95

[ ] Whose Common Future? Reclaiming the Commons by The Ecologist. $14.95

Audiotapes:

[ ] NEW: "Corporation, Corporation", a 4-part radio series on the hidden legal history and nature of giant corporations, and new efforts to redefine them, based on an interview with Richard Grossman, produced by the Virtual Radio Network, 102" on 2 audiot apes. $15 AND........ Nine audiotapes (each 90") on Dismantling Corporate Power: a program of nine seminars (provocative talks by three or four activists/organizers/labor historians/radical lawyers/etc.) plus a keynote address by Richard Grossman - all organized by POCLAD - at the annual Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, OR (March '96). $6 each or $40 for all nine.

[ ] 1. Student organizing inside college and university corporations [ ] 2. Corporate violence and lawlessness against workers, political activists & the environment

[ ] 3. Corporate lawyers and judges transforming the law [ ] 4. Giant corporations acting as political bodies [ ] 5. Citizen struggles against corporate power in the 20th century [ ] 6. Alternatives to giant corporations [ ] 7. Rethinking Property/Regulat ory and Administrative Law as corporate shields

[ ] 8. People's lawyers in popular offensives against corporate rule / Withdrawing Constitutional protections from corporations [ ] 9. Building a Planetary Corporate Disempowerment/Dismantling movement (just 20 minutes of presentations), plus Richard Gros sman's keynote address at the banquet: Revoking the Corporation: Law, Democracy and the Sovereign People

(March '97)

NAME:


ADDRESS:


PHONE/FAX/E-MAIL:


Here's the total for the items listed above: . . . .  $_____________ 

I wish to join Democracy Unlimited: $25
(or $15 low-income, students, seniors). . . . . . . . $_____________ 

Members receive four newsletters, bumpersticker ("People Are Sovereign
Over Corporations"), 20% discount at all our events, and 10% discount on
all books listed above. What a deal!


TOTAL: $___________

Please make all checks or money orders payable to:
Democracy Unlimited, POB 27, Arcata, CA 95518

*