Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.
While the Supreme Court of the United States of America recently expanded the constitutional rights of corporations (artificial legal creations of the state), the 130-member Ecuador Constitutional Assembly, elected countrywide to rewrite the country’s Constitution, voted in July, 2008 to approve articles that recognize rights for nature and ecosystems. Two months later, the people of Ecuador voted by an overwhelming majority (64%) to approve the new constitution.
Ecuador, thus, became the first nation on planet earth to bestow upon nature inalienable rights imbedded in their constitution. Quite a contract to the 5 members of the US Supreme Court which expanded constitutional rights to corpses — pieces of property.
Ecuador Adopts New Constitution - With CELDF RIGHTS of NATURE Language
http://www.celdf.org/Default.aspx?tabid=548
Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/ecuador-constitution-grants-nature-rights/
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund has developed a model “Rights of Nature Ordinance” for consideration by local communities in this country.
http://www.celdf.org/Ordinances/NewRightsofNatureOrdinance/tabid/589/Default.aspx
As the world continues to be plundered in a seemingly never-ending cycle of transforming raw materials into stuff into waste (led by transnational corporations with greater plundering powers and rights), what is more life-affirming — expanding the constitutional rights of corpses or nature?
Move to Amend
www.movetoamend.org
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Links to 4 Videos and 4 Articles on Corporate Personhood
These are all excellent resources...
Videos
Ben Manski & Lisa Graves at the March to Overrule the Court
February 17, 2010 — Ben Manski, executive director of Liberty Tree along with Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, spoke to the March to Overrule the Court, at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday, February 16th. The demonstration was organized in coordination with MovetoAmend.org and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17c5phuvNk
Talk - David Cobb & Riki Ott - Organizing Community to Abolish Corporate Personhood
Talk by David Cobb with Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County and Riki Ott, Executive Director of Ultimate Civics, on "Organizing Community to Abolish Corporate Personhood" given March 4, 2010 at Thomson Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch v=2tzWKjF3zQc&feature=PlayList&p=CAB46B18AA209A63&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1
Corporations Aren’t People – Video contest
See all 8 entries at (my favorites are #2 and #8)
http://www.wix.com/DavidAlliance/Corporations-Arent-People
CorpOrNation (an oldy but goody!)
The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio
Produced by the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgeEBV5wei0
Articles
Corporations Aren't Persons
By Matthew Rothschild, April 2010 issue
http://www.progressive.org/mrapril10.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=650&width=850
Corporations are People Too
By Ben Manski and Lisa Graves
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5544/corporations_are_people_too/
On the Supreme Court
By Richard Grossman
April 15, 2010
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/15-8
Citizens United Ruling A Windfall For Consultants, TV Stations
Ryan Grim
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/10/citizens-united-ruling-a_n_457076.html
Videos
Ben Manski & Lisa Graves at the March to Overrule the Court
February 17, 2010 — Ben Manski, executive director of Liberty Tree along with Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, spoke to the March to Overrule the Court, at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday, February 16th. The demonstration was organized in coordination with MovetoAmend.org and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17c5phuvNk
Talk - David Cobb & Riki Ott - Organizing Community to Abolish Corporate Personhood
Talk by David Cobb with Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County and Riki Ott, Executive Director of Ultimate Civics, on "Organizing Community to Abolish Corporate Personhood" given March 4, 2010 at Thomson Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch v=2tzWKjF3zQc&feature=PlayList&p=CAB46B18AA209A63&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1
Corporations Aren’t People – Video contest
See all 8 entries at (my favorites are #2 and #8)
http://www.wix.com/DavidAlliance/Corporations-Arent-People
CorpOrNation (an oldy but goody!)
The Story of Citizens and Corporations in Ohio
Produced by the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgeEBV5wei0
Articles
Corporations Aren't Persons
By Matthew Rothschild, April 2010 issue
http://www.progressive.org/mrapril10.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=650&width=850
Corporations are People Too
By Ben Manski and Lisa Graves
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5544/corporations_are_people_too/
On the Supreme Court
By Richard Grossman
April 15, 2010
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/15-8
Citizens United Ruling A Windfall For Consultants, TV Stations
Ryan Grim
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/10/citizens-united-ruling-a_n_457076.html
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Forum/Conference Call/Satire/Jurists on Corporate Personhood
---------
Forum
---------
Cliff Arnebeck, Chair, Common Cause, will examine both the legal and social
implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Citizens United v.
FEC" on Wednesday, April 21st, 7PM, at the Humanist Forum at the
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus. This Supreme Court decision
extended the meaning of free political speech to corporate expenditures in
federal elections and thus granted broad First Amendment rights to corporations
under the corporate personhood doctrine.
The Fourteenth Amendment weighs heavily in the origins of corporate
personhood cases on which "Citizens United" depends, though the amendment’s
original purpose was to grant slaves the status of “person.” The presentation
will explore what the "Citizens United" decision means for social and racial justice,
the history of the Court and corporate rights within America.
Cliff Arnebeck successfully litigated against the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's
claim of a free speech right to spend corporate money to influence Ohio Supreme
Court elections. He will lead a discussion of this revolutionary Supreme Court
case and where actual persons who are real citizens can go from here.
This forum is free and open to all.
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus
93 West Weisheimer Road
Columbus, OH 43214-2544
For further information: (614) 267-4946 (church office)
---------------------
Conference Call
---------------------
Abolish Corporate Personhood Conference Call
Proposed dates: Tuesday, May 4 (8 PM) or Saturday, May 8 (10 AM)
PLEASE RESPOND TO gcoleridge@afsc.org WITH YOUR PREFERENCE
Proposed Agenda
Report on national Campaign to Legalize Democracy/Move to Amend gathering
Report on forums/educational events statewide
Name of statewide effort
Website
Local/statewide resolutions
July 4
--------
Satire
--------
Murray Hill Inc. | Murray Hill Incorporated is Running for Congress
http://murrayhillincforcongress.com:80/
SUPREME COURT: AS "PEOPLE," CORPORATIONS CAN RUN FOR PRESIDENT
Halliburton said it is narrowing its choices for vice president.
http://www.legitgov.org/shulman_corps_can_be_president_010410.html
-------------------------------------------
Jurists on Corporate Personhood
-------------------------------------------
Here’s something I put together...
STATEMENTS BY SUPREME COURT JURISTS ON CORPORATE PERSONHOOD/CITIZENS UNITED VS FEC
"A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible," Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in an 1819 case. "It possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it."
Justice Hugo Black dissents in Connecticut General Life Ins. v. Johnson [1938] “I do not believe the word ‘person’ in the Fourteenth Amendment includes corporations.”
William Rehnquist dissents in 1979 from a decision voiding Massachusetts's restriction of corporate political spending on referendums. Since corporations receive special legal and tax benefits, "it might reasonably be concluded that those properties, so beneficial in the economic sphere, pose special dangers in the political sphere,"
"Corporations have lots of knowledge about environment, transportation issues, and you are silencing them during the election," Justice Anthony Kennedy
The majority decision of the Court in Citizens United vs FEC declared “...corporate expenditures cannot corrupt.” “Influence over lawmakers is not corruption…and appearance of influence will not undermine public faith in our democracy.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “Judges created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons," she said. "There could be an argument made that that was the court's error to start with...[imbuing] a creature of state law with human characteristics."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "A corporation, after all, is not endowed by its creator with inalienable rights," she said, evoking the Declaration of Independence.
John Paul Stevens in Citizens United dissent:
The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.
In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters. The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races.
… corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “Citizens United has signaled that the problem of campaign contributions in judicial elections might get considerably worse and quite soon.”
Forum
---------
Cliff Arnebeck, Chair, Common Cause, will examine both the legal and social
implications of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in "Citizens United v.
FEC" on Wednesday, April 21st, 7PM, at the Humanist Forum at the
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus. This Supreme Court decision
extended the meaning of free political speech to corporate expenditures in
federal elections and thus granted broad First Amendment rights to corporations
under the corporate personhood doctrine.
The Fourteenth Amendment weighs heavily in the origins of corporate
personhood cases on which "Citizens United" depends, though the amendment’s
original purpose was to grant slaves the status of “person.” The presentation
will explore what the "Citizens United" decision means for social and racial justice,
the history of the Court and corporate rights within America.
Cliff Arnebeck successfully litigated against the Ohio Chamber of Commerce's
claim of a free speech right to spend corporate money to influence Ohio Supreme
Court elections. He will lead a discussion of this revolutionary Supreme Court
case and where actual persons who are real citizens can go from here.
This forum is free and open to all.
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus
93 West Weisheimer Road
Columbus, OH 43214-2544
For further information: (614) 267-4946 (church office)
---------------------
Conference Call
---------------------
Abolish Corporate Personhood Conference Call
Proposed dates: Tuesday, May 4 (8 PM) or Saturday, May 8 (10 AM)
PLEASE RESPOND TO gcoleridge@afsc.org WITH YOUR PREFERENCE
Proposed Agenda
Report on national Campaign to Legalize Democracy/Move to Amend gathering
Report on forums/educational events statewide
Name of statewide effort
Website
Local/statewide resolutions
July 4
--------
Satire
--------
Murray Hill Inc. | Murray Hill Incorporated is Running for Congress
http://murrayhillincforcongress.com:80/
SUPREME COURT: AS "PEOPLE," CORPORATIONS CAN RUN FOR PRESIDENT
Halliburton said it is narrowing its choices for vice president.
http://www.legitgov.org/shulman_corps_can_be_president_010410.html
-------------------------------------------
Jurists on Corporate Personhood
-------------------------------------------
Here’s something I put together...
STATEMENTS BY SUPREME COURT JURISTS ON CORPORATE PERSONHOOD/CITIZENS UNITED VS FEC
"A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible," Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in an 1819 case. "It possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it."
Justice Hugo Black dissents in Connecticut General Life Ins. v. Johnson [1938] “I do not believe the word ‘person’ in the Fourteenth Amendment includes corporations.”
William Rehnquist dissents in 1979 from a decision voiding Massachusetts's restriction of corporate political spending on referendums. Since corporations receive special legal and tax benefits, "it might reasonably be concluded that those properties, so beneficial in the economic sphere, pose special dangers in the political sphere,"
"Corporations have lots of knowledge about environment, transportation issues, and you are silencing them during the election," Justice Anthony Kennedy
The majority decision of the Court in Citizens United vs FEC declared “...corporate expenditures cannot corrupt.” “Influence over lawmakers is not corruption…and appearance of influence will not undermine public faith in our democracy.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, “Judges created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons," she said. "There could be an argument made that that was the court's error to start with...[imbuing] a creature of state law with human characteristics."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "A corporation, after all, is not endowed by its creator with inalienable rights," she said, evoking the Declaration of Independence.
John Paul Stevens in Citizens United dissent:
The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.
In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters. The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races.
… corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, “Citizens United has signaled that the problem of campaign contributions in judicial elections might get considerably worse and quite soon.”
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Michel Chartrand 1916-2010
Michel Chartrand is no longer with us. He died this Monday at the age of 93. Long-time labour militant and member of the CSN, Chartrand was one of the union leaders arrested in 1972 which inspired the General Strike of that year. I remember when he spoke to a packed crowd of about 1200 in Vancouver, must have been shortly after the Quebec General Strike and he said that he was an anarchist. Now, I don't know if he really was or not, but that got a lot of cheers and true enough, at that time, the CSN was promoting workers control. He will be missed! Thanks to Dawg's Blog for making me aware of Chartrand's death.
http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2010/04/michel-chartrand-december-1916-april.html
Monday, April 5, 2010
Radio Debate on Citizens United
Tune in... Listen in... Call in...
“All Sides with Ann Fisher”
Tuesday, April 6, 11:20 AM – noon EDT
WOSU, 820 AM Columbus
The topic to be discussed: In a controversial decision this year…“Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission”…the U.S. Supreme Court struck down long-standing federal restrictions on corporate spending in federal elections….We’ll hear two points of view on the issue of corporations as “persons” deserving constitutional rights…and the constitutional basis for the ruling, with Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee Director Greg Coleridge…and Capital University Law School Professor and former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith.
“All Sides with Ann Fisher” is a live, public affairs talk show, with listener phone calls, on WOSU public radio. “All Sides” is streamed live, podcast and archived at http://www.wosu.org/allsides.
-----
School Law Clinics Face a Backlash
By IAN URBINA
Published: April 3, 2010
New York Times
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Law school students nationwide are facing growing attacks in the courts and legislatures as legal clinics at the schools increasingly take on powerful interests that few other nonprofit groups have the resources to challenge.
More at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/us/04lawschool.html
“All Sides with Ann Fisher”
Tuesday, April 6, 11:20 AM – noon EDT
WOSU, 820 AM Columbus
The topic to be discussed: In a controversial decision this year…“Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission”…the U.S. Supreme Court struck down long-standing federal restrictions on corporate spending in federal elections….We’ll hear two points of view on the issue of corporations as “persons” deserving constitutional rights…and the constitutional basis for the ruling, with Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee Director Greg Coleridge…and Capital University Law School Professor and former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith.
“All Sides with Ann Fisher” is a live, public affairs talk show, with listener phone calls, on WOSU public radio. “All Sides” is streamed live, podcast and archived at http://www.wosu.org/allsides.
-----
School Law Clinics Face a Backlash
By IAN URBINA
Published: April 3, 2010
New York Times
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Law school students nationwide are facing growing attacks in the courts and legislatures as legal clinics at the schools increasingly take on powerful interests that few other nonprofit groups have the resources to challenge.
More at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/us/04lawschool.html
Upcoming Events and Actions
4/8: Statewide Conference Call to Abolish Corporate Personhood
4/10: Corporate Personhood and Campaign Financing, Wooster
4/12: Citizens United v. FCC: Panel Discussion on Corporate Personhood, Columbus
4/17: Corporations and Democracy: The Citizens United Decision, Chagrin Falls
Statewide Conference Call to Abolish Corporate Personhood
Thursday, April 8, 8 PM – 9 PM
Call in #: 1-218-862-7200
Access Code: 744213
We’ll continue discussing and strategizing ways to respond to the Citizens United vs FEC Supreme Court decision.
Agenda items for call? Email gcoleridge@afsc.org
Corporate Personhood and Campaign Financing
A "Lunch and Learn" with Greg Coleridge of Akron Americans Friends Service Committee, who will facilitate this workshop. It will take place Saturday, April 10, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Wooster.
Fine luncheon $12 per person
Includes ~ Carnivore – Vegetarian – Vegan Choices
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 3186 Burbank Rd. Wooster OH.
SEATING LIMITED Call NOW to reserve your seat 330-749-5112
Flyer at http://www.wayneprogressives.org/pdfs/corporate-personhood.pdf
Citizens United v. FCC: Panel Discussion on Corporate Personhood
A panel discussion will examine both the legal and social implications of the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FCC, which extended the meaning of free political speech to corporate expenditures in federal elections and thus granted broad First Amendment rights to corporations under the corporate personhood doctrine. The discussion, sponsored by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, will be held on Monday, April 12, at 6 p.m., in Saxbe Auditorium at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 55 West 12th Avenue.
The Fourteenth Amendment weighs heavily in the origins of corporate personhood cases on which Citizens United depends, though the amendment’s original purpose was to grant slaves the status of “person.” Discussion will explore what the Citizens United decision means for social and racial justice, and the history of the Court and corporate rights.
Speakers will include john a. powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute and Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law; Greg Coleridge, director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee; and Cliff Arnebeck, chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of Common Cause Ohio and national co-chair and attorney for The Alliance for Democracy.
This event is free and open to the public.
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity was established in 2003 as a center for interdisciplinary research at The Ohio State University. The Kirwan Institute partners with people, communities, and institutions worldwide to think about, talk about, and act on race in ways that create and expand opportunity for all. For more information about the Kirwan Institute, go to: http://kirwaninstitute.org/.
Flyer at http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/CitizensUnitedFlyer-final.pdf
Corporations' perversion of civil rights law - Interested in writing about it for Race-Talk?
The 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FCC was just another manifestation of a perversion of civil rights law since the Reconstruction amendments after the Civil War. Originally intended to protect newly freed slaves from virulent white racism, the 14th Amendment’s protections were quickly usurped, not by other people, but by American corporations. Indeed, of all the 14th Amendment cases between 1890 and 1910, 19 were filed by individuals seeking protection and 288 were filed by businesses.
Importantly, the expansion of corporate rights made possible by this perversion of the 14th Amendment was coterminous with the gutting of rights of the individual and in particular, of the African American individual. This continues today through our nations' system of structural disadvantages. Think about Citizens United like this: the idea behind the Kennedy opinion is that you can’t discriminate against a speaker based on its corporate status (even when corporate status here mostly means vast and deep pockets of wealth looking to keep even more wealth through conservative government).
He believes this speech is the same as your political speech, protected because it is all part of the marketplace of ideas. In that fictional marketplace, buyers, when confronted with all available ideas, move closer to truth and naturally pick the best ideas. This is simply never going to be the case. Big money and flashy ideas always win.
Corporations will always have more spending power than individuals; they already have more lobbyists. Just as equality demands that we account for structural forces that make it easier for a wealthy white male to go to college than an impoverished Latina, so does it demand that we view Wal-Mart or Halliburton's "free speech" as grossly disproportional to and fundamentally different than the free speech of individual (human) citizens. Allowing corporations unlimited amounts of spending power for campaign commercials of dubious truth can only further diminish and drown out the voices of the public. And all this in the name of equal protection . . .
In short, the perversion of equal rights by corporations is an affront to any true commitment on the part of this country to the civil rights envisioned by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment.
If you are interested in writing for Race-Talk view our submission requirements.
Caitlin Watt
Legal Research Associate
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
The Ohio State University
(614) 247-1964
www.race-talk.org
Corporations and Democracy: The Citizens United Decision
Saturday, April 17
10 AM – Noon
Chagrin Falls Public Library
100 East Orange Street, Chagrin Fall
Presentation and discussion
Sponsored by Patriots for Change
http://www.patriotsforchange.org/
4/10: Corporate Personhood and Campaign Financing, Wooster
4/12: Citizens United v. FCC: Panel Discussion on Corporate Personhood, Columbus
4/17: Corporations and Democracy: The Citizens United Decision, Chagrin Falls
Statewide Conference Call to Abolish Corporate Personhood
Thursday, April 8, 8 PM – 9 PM
Call in #: 1-218-862-7200
Access Code: 744213
We’ll continue discussing and strategizing ways to respond to the Citizens United vs FEC Supreme Court decision.
Agenda items for call? Email gcoleridge@afsc.org
Corporate Personhood and Campaign Financing
A "Lunch and Learn" with Greg Coleridge of Akron Americans Friends Service Committee, who will facilitate this workshop. It will take place Saturday, April 10, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Wooster.
Fine luncheon $12 per person
Includes ~ Carnivore – Vegetarian – Vegan Choices
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 3186 Burbank Rd. Wooster OH.
SEATING LIMITED Call NOW to reserve your seat 330-749-5112
Flyer at http://www.wayneprogressives.org/pdfs/corporate-personhood.pdf
Citizens United v. FCC: Panel Discussion on Corporate Personhood
A panel discussion will examine both the legal and social implications of the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FCC, which extended the meaning of free political speech to corporate expenditures in federal elections and thus granted broad First Amendment rights to corporations under the corporate personhood doctrine. The discussion, sponsored by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, will be held on Monday, April 12, at 6 p.m., in Saxbe Auditorium at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, 55 West 12th Avenue.
The Fourteenth Amendment weighs heavily in the origins of corporate personhood cases on which Citizens United depends, though the amendment’s original purpose was to grant slaves the status of “person.” Discussion will explore what the Citizens United decision means for social and racial justice, and the history of the Court and corporate rights.
Speakers will include john a. powell, executive director of the Kirwan Institute and Gregory H. Williams Chair in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Moritz College of Law; Greg Coleridge, director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee; and Cliff Arnebeck, chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of Common Cause Ohio and national co-chair and attorney for The Alliance for Democracy.
This event is free and open to the public.
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity was established in 2003 as a center for interdisciplinary research at The Ohio State University. The Kirwan Institute partners with people, communities, and institutions worldwide to think about, talk about, and act on race in ways that create and expand opportunity for all. For more information about the Kirwan Institute, go to: http://kirwaninstitute.org/.
Flyer at http://www.afsc.net/PDFFiles/CitizensUnitedFlyer-final.pdf
Corporations' perversion of civil rights law - Interested in writing about it for Race-Talk?
The 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FCC was just another manifestation of a perversion of civil rights law since the Reconstruction amendments after the Civil War. Originally intended to protect newly freed slaves from virulent white racism, the 14th Amendment’s protections were quickly usurped, not by other people, but by American corporations. Indeed, of all the 14th Amendment cases between 1890 and 1910, 19 were filed by individuals seeking protection and 288 were filed by businesses.
Importantly, the expansion of corporate rights made possible by this perversion of the 14th Amendment was coterminous with the gutting of rights of the individual and in particular, of the African American individual. This continues today through our nations' system of structural disadvantages. Think about Citizens United like this: the idea behind the Kennedy opinion is that you can’t discriminate against a speaker based on its corporate status (even when corporate status here mostly means vast and deep pockets of wealth looking to keep even more wealth through conservative government).
He believes this speech is the same as your political speech, protected because it is all part of the marketplace of ideas. In that fictional marketplace, buyers, when confronted with all available ideas, move closer to truth and naturally pick the best ideas. This is simply never going to be the case. Big money and flashy ideas always win.
Corporations will always have more spending power than individuals; they already have more lobbyists. Just as equality demands that we account for structural forces that make it easier for a wealthy white male to go to college than an impoverished Latina, so does it demand that we view Wal-Mart or Halliburton's "free speech" as grossly disproportional to and fundamentally different than the free speech of individual (human) citizens. Allowing corporations unlimited amounts of spending power for campaign commercials of dubious truth can only further diminish and drown out the voices of the public. And all this in the name of equal protection . . .
In short, the perversion of equal rights by corporations is an affront to any true commitment on the part of this country to the civil rights envisioned by the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment.
If you are interested in writing for Race-Talk view our submission requirements.
Caitlin Watt
Legal Research Associate
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
The Ohio State University
(614) 247-1964
www.race-talk.org
Corporations and Democracy: The Citizens United Decision
Saturday, April 17
10 AM – Noon
Chagrin Falls Public Library
100 East Orange Street, Chagrin Fall
Presentation and discussion
Sponsored by Patriots for Change
http://www.patriotsforchange.org/
Thursday, April 1, 2010
15,000 Demonstrate Against Neo-liberalism in Montreal
Ninety five different popular organizations comprising some 15,000 people demonstrated April 1 against the Charest Government's neo-liberal budget. For pictures see
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10060289@N05/sets/72157623625976023/show/ Thanks to the UCL -
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