Apr 16, 2013

9 Strategies to End Corporate Rule

By Yes! Magazine contributors / yesmagazine.org

Corporate power is behind the politics of climate denial, Wall Street bailouts, union busting, and media consolidation, to name just a few. And policies advocated by the 1 percent are bankrupting the middle class. But real people have power, too. Here are some of their most successful strategies.

What To Do

1. Amend the constitution to end corporate personhood.

Occupier photo by Joseph Holmes

Rights Are For Real People

Where the infamous Citizens United Supreme Court decision came from and how to overturn it.

 
 

Monopoly Illustration

Lobbying's Big Payoff

For corporations, paying for policy is still the best investment around.

 

 

 

2. Dive into grassroots campaigns.

Ben Gotschall photo by Alex Matzke

 

A Bold Win Against Big Oil

How people power stopped the Keystone XL Pipeline.

VIDEO:  Bill McKibben: "The Biggest Fight of Our Time": In which one of the world’s best-known climate activists gets personal about the enormous task of saving our planet.

Nurses for Tax Justice photo by SJSEEM

Nurses Mobilize For a Dose
of ­Financial Justice

Before there was Occupy, thousands of nurses were already taking on Wall Street to demand a financial transaction tax.

 

 

Vermont Health Care photo courtesy of Jobs with Justice

Single-Payer Success: Vermont Shows How to Cover Everyone

The state’s progressive health care model has already bolstered campaigns in more than 20 other places.

 

 

 

3. Hold corporations accountable to our laws.

EPA Protest photo courtesy of Rainforest Action Network

 


Revoke Their Charters

... and other legal tools to hold corporations accountable to our laws.

 

 

 

 

4. Get Past the Propaganda

Guy Fawkes photo by Stephen O'Byrne

 

 

3 Things Everybody Knows—and Why They're Wrong

"Social security is broke," and other scare tactics.

 

 

 

 

 

5. Support independent media and keep the Internet free.

Laptop Media photo by Mik Nei

 

The People's Media

Keeping freedom of speech alive on the Internet.


VIDEO:  A Magna Carta Moment for Internet Freedom: Why we must fight for our online rights—before they’re sold, legislated, and programmed away.

 

 

6. Protect the Commons

Boulder photo by Zane Selvans

How Boulder Freed Its Electric Company

Citizens take over the power in a bid to kick coal.

 

 

Robin Hood photo courtesy of Oxfam International

A People's History of Robin Hood

For hundreds of years, he's fought tax injustice, tyranny, and the seizure of the commons. Why we still need him today.

 

 

 

7. Vote. Protect our democracy.

Crowd with American Flag photo by Ted Fu

 

 

Four Ways to Flex Our Electoral Muscles

What we can do right now to strengthen our democracy.

Keeping It Clean: Maine's Fight for Fair Elections

 

 

 

8. Make your dollars matter.

Dump Your Bank photo by Jonathan Clark

Watch Us Move Our Millions

Cities, churches, and universities take their money away from Wall Street.

VIDEO:  A Separation of Church and Bank
Why one San Diego church said goodbye to their bank—and took $3 million dollars with them.
 

#61 Poster

8 Ways to De-Corporatize Your Money

Debit or credit? How to keep your money out of corporate clutches.

5 Ways to Make Your Dollars Make Sense
Concerned about Wall Street’s devastating impact on communities? Then invest in yourself—the most local investment of all.

 

 

9. Get creative to raise awareness.

Reverend Billy photo courtesy of Reverend Billy

The Importance of Being Sassy

How Occupiers, pranksters, and artists speak louder than money.

VIDEO: 5 Acts of Creative Disruption
From mic checks in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to flash mobs at Target, expressing dissent has never been more colorful.
 

George Siemon photo courtesy of Organic Valley

Can There Be “Good” Corporations?

Instead of fighting corporations, reinvent them. When companies are owned by workers and the community—instead of Wall Street financiers—everything changes.

PHOTO ESSAY: California's New Triple Bottom Line
Best in the world? Try best for the world: The Golden State welcomes a new kind of corporation.

 

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