The Corporation Page #15

know this

but when I arrived I learned

what the primary job is

of the parents of the kids who

go to Columbine High School.

The number one job

in Littleton Colorado

They work

for Lockheed Martin

building weapons

of mass destruction.

But they don't

see the connect

between what

they do for a living

and what their

kids do at school

or did at school

And so I'm kind of you

know up on my high horse

thinking about this

and I thought you know

I said to my wife

we both are sons and

daughters of auto workers

in Flint Michigan.

There isn't a single one of

us back in Flint

any of us including us

who ever

stopped to think

this thing we do

for a living

the building

of automobiles

is probably

the single biggest reason

why the polar ice caps

are going to melt

and end civilization

as we know it.

There's no connect between

I'm just an assembler on an

assembly line building a car

which is good

for people and society

and it moves

them around.

But never stop to think

about the larger picture

and the larger responsibility

of what were doing.

Ultimately we have to

as individuals

accept responsibility

for our collective action

and the larger harm that it

causes you know in our world.

Today the first of two

historic town hall meetings

will get underway

in Arcata California

61 percent of Arcatans

voted in favour

of publicly discussing

whether democracy is even

possible with large corporations

...so much wealth

and power under law.

They also voted

to form a committee

to ensure democratic control

over corporations in Arcata.

Corporations are

not accountable

to the democratic

process.

That is what

this is about.

I don't want

to make decisions

about everything that goes

on in their corporation.

But I do have a

strong belief

that they don't need to be

held accountable to us.

If we don't like

certain products

if we don't like

Pepsi-Cola Bank of America

well if you don't

like what they do

don't use them.

That's the way I see

the peoples power is.

You have a lot

more money than me

You have more

votes than I do

If we use the model of boycott

and voting with your dollars

that's an

undemocratic situation.

What are we afraid of?

I mean are all the businesses

going to leave Arcata?

I don't think so.

And if they did

wed deal with it or

wed figure it out

or wed do

something different.

We're creative people.

I just don't see

why we are afraid.

If you think it's tough

making a decision

where to buy your

stuff today

how tough do you think

it is when there's only

one provider

and it's the state.

And by the way

you don't get to have

this little democracy forum

in those

communities either.

People that say that they

fear their govern meant

I really hope

that they understand

that they're allowed to

participate in their government

they're not allowed to

participate in anything

the corporations do.

So don't fear

the government.

Help it be the government

that you wont fear.

If this many people around

the country would do this

instead of watching

Super bowl Sunday

our nation would be

controlled by the people

not by the corporations.

...no more chain restaurants

in Arcata after

a long awaited decision...

Over the past decade

we have been

gaining ground.

And when I say we

I mean ordinary

people committed

to the welfare

of all humanity.

All people irrespective

of gender and class

and race

and religion.

All species

on the planet.

We managed to take

the biggest government

and one of the largest

chemical companies to court

on the case of Neemand

win a case against them.

W.R. Grace and the U.S.

Governments patent on Neem

was revoked by a case

we brought

along with the greens

of European parliament

and the international

organic agriculture movement.

We won because we

worked together.

We have overturned

nearly 99 percent

of the basmati patent

of Ricetek.

Again because we worked

as a world wide coalition

old women in Texas

scientists in India

activists sitting

in Vancouver

a little basmati

action group.

We stopped the third world

being viewed as the pirate

and we showed the corporations

were the pirate.

Look how little

it took for Gandhi

to work against the salt

laws of the British

where the British decided

the way they would

make their armies

and police forces bigger

is just

tax the salt.

And all that Gandhi did

was walk to the beach

pick up

the salt and say

nature gives it

for free.

Wanted it.

We've always made it.

We will violate

your laws.

We will continue

to make salt.

We've had a similar

commitment for

the last decade in India.

That any law that makes

it illegal to save seed

is a law not

worth following.

We will violate it because

saving seed is a duty

to the earth and

to future generations.

We thought it would

really be symbolic

It is more than symbolic.

It is becoming

a survival option.

Farmers who grow

their own seeds

save their own seeds

don't buy pesticides

have threefold

more incomes

than farmers who are locked

into the chemical treadmill

depending on

Monsanto and Cargill

We have managed

to create alternatives

that work for people.

There are many tools

for bringing back community.

But the importance is

not the tools

I mean there's litigation

there's legislation

there's direct action

there's education boycotts

social investment...

There's many many ways

to address issues

of corporate power.

But in the final analysis

what's really important

is the vision.

You have to have

abetter story

Do I know you well enough to

call you fellow plunderers?

There is not an industrial

company on earth

not an institution

of any kind

not mine not yours

not anyone's

that is sustainable.

I stand convicted by

me myself alone

not by anyone else

as a plunderer

of the earth

but not by our

civilizations definition.

By our civilization's

definition

I'm a captain

of industry.

In the eyes of many

a kind of modern-day hero.

But really really

the first industrial

revolution is flawed

it is not working.

It is unsustainable.

It is the mistake

and we must

move on to another

and better

industrial revolution

and get it right

this time.

When I think

of what could be

I visualize an

organization of people

committed to a purpose

and the purpose

is doing no harm.

I see accompany

that has severed the

umbilical cord to earth

for its raw materials

taking raw materials that

have already been extracted

and using them over

and over again

driving that process

with renewable energy.

It is our plan

it remains our plan

to climb Mount Sustainability

that mountain that is

higher than Everest

infinitely higher

than Everest

far more

difficult to scale.

That point at the top

symbolizing zero footprint...

So we've got

to undo a lot of things

in order to be smart enough

to do this really dangerous

and risky and difficult work

you know the best way

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