It will be three days of discussions around short term goals, long term strategies, and broad visions for a post corporate/ post capitalist world.
It will be the first(?) of it's kind in some regards, to try to bring together all the the writers, thinkers and NGO based strategists with the "front line" activists -if any differentiation is even appropriate- to discuss future goals and strategies in confronting corporate power here at home in the US. There will likely not be as much discussion of the various trade agreements and bodies that we have prioritized up to now in our efforts, but more discussion of how to take our efforts forward to the heart of the matter- corporate structure, power, and excess.
The final structure of all three days is still undergoing some revisions, but it is based on a democratic spokes council model rather than any teach-in style conference that has been more typical up to now for this content. Everyone who comes participates on an equal footing.
We are specifically not proposing this as a one time conference, but with a (hopeful) stated goal of coming out of these three days with some agreements that lay the groundwork for future gatherings of this kind that share this specific agenda. Hopefully another city's local progressive coalition will agree to host the next meeting of this kind, and perhaps we will even consense to create a newly named alliance to further this work, if that seems necessary.
best regards,
Kevin Skvorak
NYC Summit working group
Attention All Anti-Corporate Globalization, Pro-Democracy Activists! In response to the global call for actions at major international financial centers to protest the Fourth WTO Ministerial meetings, Nov 9-13th in Qatar, a broad-based coalition of student, grass-roots, labor and activist organizations is planning a week of events in New York City with direct actions focused on Wall Street.
A critical part of our actions is this call for a USA STRATEGY SUMMIT.
We believe the time is NOW, to create a strategic vision to help us conclusively terminate corporate dominion over our politics, economics, media and consciousness right here in the USA. We must undertake this both in self-defense against the Fortune 2000's attacks on our own democracy, communities and environment, and in solidarity with people's movements throughout the globe that are fighting the plunder and pillage corporate power perpetrates everywhere.
We all want to expand our strategies and continue to build momentum. To do so we need to create a space where diverse groups within the anti-corporate globalization movement can find common ground and work together. Ending corporate rule here at home will help to liberate billions abroad. We propose this summit to explore how we may work in unison to disable the IMF, WTO, FTAA, NAFTA and all the other alphabet arms of the corporate coup, and even more, to explore strategies to disarm their masters- the corporations themselves.
Popular sovereignty, democratic control, and basic human rights are fundamental to this discussion. The NYC "No More Walls" Coalition preparing for the November actions is inviting your energetic participation in this important and timely strategy summit. We request your attendance for the duration.
The form and structure of the summit is being worked out by the NY summit working group. Below is the outline we have developed in consultation with scholars and activists from across the USA. Your feedback is invited and essential.
November 8, Part One: UNDERSTANDING AND UPROOTING CORPORATE POWER:
We will explore the legal,political, social and historical sources of corporate power and consider how to disarm this corporate octopus and end its rule. Examples include: Exploring corporate charters---what are they, can they be challenged, what forgotten powers do we retain?--Repudiating corporate "personhood" - how have corporations assumed more rights than natural persons and how can that absurdity be undone? --Rethinking campaign finance reform - where did corporate pseudo-citizens get "free speech" and political rights in the first place, and how can they be revoked? --Challenging deregulation and corporate command of their own oversight agencies (EPA, FCC, etc.) Broadening the National Labor Relations Board mandate to enshrine workers human rights both in the workplace and out.
November 9 Part Two: STRATEGIES FOR ABATING IMMEDIATE CORPORATE HARM :
Activists will share information from the most successful methods of ongoing campaigns in the context of how those lessons can inform national strategies for reining in corporate power. Our hope is that activists from diverse groups in the United States such as the living wage campaign, the anti-sweatshop movement, anti-biodevastation campaigns, the campaign against the prison industrial complex and the corporatization of our schools, etc, will join with legal and social policy scholars to brainstorm new ideas that can make all our collective struggles more successful. The goal is to identify new grassroots allies, strengthen existing networks, and develop the tools and tactics we need to prevail on a national level that has international ramifications.
November 10, Part Three: PREPARING/CREATING THE POST-CORPORATE WORLD, LIVING THE NEW SOCIETY INTO BEING :
Activists and scholars, radicals and reformers will outline ways we can individually and collectively, bring our visions to life. Examples include : --Participatory economics and models for worker-owned business. --Direct Democracy, and the potential of decentralized, consensus based forms of decision-making. --New egalitarian paradigms for local, national and global production\distribution\ organization. Plenary: Immediate Next Steps. Reports from each of the three topic areas will suggest our possible next steps, and how we can support each other every step of the way. Plans will be made for a follow-up encounter.
We have set up a listserv to facilitate development of the summit's content and structure. If you would like to participate in the online discussion, you can subscribe to the list by sending a blank email to wto-nyc-summit-subscribe@topica.com
We have already enlisted support from a wide range of grassroots activists and progressive policy experts. A list of endorsers is forthcoming. Please lend us your support in any form possible and help make this USA strategy building summit against the WTO and all forms of corporate governance yet another watershed in our liberation from corporate rule.
Thank You,
The Summit working group of the NYC No More Walls coalition.
Global Action against WTO
The PGA call to action against the WTO
AGP