The Alliance for Democracy
August 14,
2008-- E-Newsletter
AfD News
- Justice Rising blogs from major party conventions
- Water Victory in Maine
- Boston/Cambridge and North Bridge chapter news
Allied actions
- Justice at last in Ohio?
- Don't despair of the anti-war movement
- Nuclear free August, nuclear-free future
AfD will “be the media” at National
Conventions
This just in...Jim Tarbell, editor of Justice
Rising will be blogging from the conventions! Jim has a press pass for AfD, so
you'll be able to read his exciting, daily eyewitness reports from inside and
outside the conventions online at the new Justice Rising blog. If you're bookmarking alternative media
sites to get the real story on the odds for either "change" or chicanery, make
sure you add us to your list.
And watch your mailbox for the latest issue
of Justice Rising with the theme: "Corporate Energy or Grassroots Power," and
featuring articles by Antonia Juhasz, Ted Nace, and others. Watch for it online
soon. Need extra paper copies? E-mail the office at afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org.
Water Victory in Maine
On June 25th, AfD’s Defending Water
for Life in Maine campaign organized a rally in front of the Kennebunk,
Kennebunkport, Wells Water Board offices to protest their scheduled vote to
approve a contract for spring water with Nestlé Waters North America. The rally
drew more than a hundred protesters from the three towns and from nearby towns
also targeted by Nestlé. AfD’s Maine organizer, Emily Posner, led the rally and
introduced speakers from the many towns.
Just last year the Water Board purchased sensitive
ecological land in Wells with spring water sources to protect its local water
supply. The Maine Nature Conservancy purchased adjacent land. One key parcel
remained. Lo and behold Nestlé proposed to pay the high price for the farm
as part of a deal with the Water Board to sell millions of gallons of water to
Nestlé. This is not the first time the close relationship between
Nestlé and the Maine Nature Conservancy has benefited
Nestlé.
The plan unraveled the day of the rally as the
Water Board voted to postpone its vote on the contract until the end of July.
Then, with increasing protest from residents, the Board met in a special session
on July 17 and voted to indefinitely postpone its decision on the
contract.
Water District Superintendent Norm Labbe hopes for dialogue with
residents outside of the “media circus.” Given the outspoken and commonsense
response of residents to the proposal, we hope that "indefinitely" means
"never."
The Defending Water for Life campaign will
continue assisting these towns as they seek to assert their rights to protect
their aquifers from Nestlé’s exploitation for profit.
To view media coverage, including the rally, go to
the AfD e-news blog, and to learn about the Maine
campaign go to the Defending Water in
Maine website.
Boston/Cambridge and North Bridge Chapter news
Chapter
member (and AfD office coordinator) Barbara Clancy writes:
There are no
dog days for democracy in Boston, thanks to BCA and North Bridge chapter
members!
First, we've started organizing for
re-introduction of the Globalization Impact Bill, designed to establish a
state-level advisory commission to assess the impact of trade agreements on
Massachusetts laws. During the last legislative session the bill went
further than ever before, and in working to pass it, we made good
connections with environmental and labor groups, which will help
with passage in 2009.
In the meantime, we're working to
strengthen the bill's language by looking at similar boards in other New England
states. Dave Lewit attended a June 25 meeting of New Hampshire trade activists,
at which two members of that state's Citizens Trade Commission were present, and
BCA member Jed Schwartz joined Dave Lewit and former State Rep. Karen O'Donnell
to observe a meeting of the trade commission in Concord, New Hampshire on July
7. We're also contacting Maine fair trade activists who helped establish a
similar board there.
Work continues on Boston/Cambridge Alliance's
Democracy Protection Project in which citizens dialogue with local law
enforcement on preserving civil rights in the face of a national emergency. The
Democracy Protection toolkit is available on the New England chapters' website,
www.newenglandalliance.org. Dave
is starting to get a group together to talk to the Boston Police Department and
we'd also like to bring the project to Cambridge. For information or to
participate, e-mail afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org,
or call 781-894-1179.
Dave Lewit and housing/forclosure
prevention activist Virginia Pratt appeared on Cambridge Community TV
recently to discuss local democracy and the corporate role in the housing
crisis. Lastly, BCA member Joanna Herlihy is putting together footage from the
2006 New England Roundtable on participatory budgeting in preparation for
another roundtable, Spring 2009. Look for video online
soon.
Allied Actions
Election Justice in Ohio?
Four years
after the 2004 election, the case against former Ohio Secretary of State Ken
Blackwell filed by the King-Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association is
starting to move forward with some serious allegations as to how electronic
votes were stolen to throw the state to George Bush. VelvetRevolution.us is
calling for citizens to demand a Congressional investigation into
Whistleblowers have stepped forward, including computer security expert
Stephen Spoonamore, who has reported on vote fixing in Georgia (you can read
about it on the web at Raw Story.) More web coverage has focused on the
role played by Republican computer expert Mike Connell. In an interview with
Velvet Revolution, Bob Fitrakis called Connell "a high IQ Forrest Gump. It's
like everything important--2000 election Florida; 2004 Ohio; firewall in
Congress--he happens to show up and be the builder of these [im]penetrable
forces and also may know who has the key to get in." (A transcription of the
interview is available on the BradBlog, here.
More recently, Cliff has said that there are credible threats
that Karl Rove will engineer lobby law violation charges against Connell's wife
unless Connell "takes the fall" for irregularities in Ohio. Cliff has asked for
federal and state protection for the Connells "from this reported attempt to
intimidate a witness." Read more on the BradBlog and ePluribus Media, and listen to Cliff, Brad, and
radio host Peter B. Collins discuss the case and what's next here.
VelvetRevolution.us is asking that people contact their members
of Congress to demand an investigation into attacks on Democratic candidates,
funded by corporate money channeled through web-based front groups, the misuse
of the Justice Department to prosecute opposition candidates, and the use of
web-based networks to alter election results. Lots of great information is
available at their site, here.
Speaking Out – the anti-war movement makes a
difference!
The anti-war movement may be stronger than it
thinks it is, says Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and
Policy Research. Writing in Alternet, Weisbrot notes the grassroots reaction to
H. Con. Res. 362, a bill introduced in May that all but called for a blockade of
Iran-an act of war. In June, "this bill was zipping through Congress" and on
target to appear on the House Suspension Calendar, which would allow the House
to pass it without amendments, debate, or procedural votes.
But peace
groups, writes Weisbrot, "sprang into action, including Peace Action, United for
Peace and Justice, the National Iranian-American Council, the Friends Committee
on National Legislation, Code Pink, and Just Foreign Policy to generate tens of
thousands of emails, letters, phone calls, and other contacts with members of
Congress and their staff." Some co-sponsors withdrew their support, including
Barney Frank (D-MA) and Robert Wexler, (D-FL). Some mainstream media
editorialized against the resolution as well. End result: speaking out, in
determined numbers, has worked-so far. As Weisbrot notes, "a dangerous piece of
legislation, primed to pass through the House without debate, stopped in its
tracks by an anti-war movement. And some Members of Congress are going to be a
bit more careful about doing things that could move the country down the road to
another war."
Read the full editoral here.
This month: nuclear-free month, nuclear-free future
As we
mark the anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we
urge you to join with United for Peace and Justice to make August "Nuclear-Free
Future Month." The Alliance for Democracy is a member organization of
UFPJ.
The specter of nuclear weapons in the hands of "rogue" states has
become one of the top U.S. excuses for waging war, yet the US continues to rely
on the threatened first use of nuclear weapons as the cornerstone of its
national security policy. We must raise awareness about the ever-increasing
threat from nuclear weapons.
We must also raise the alarm about the
dangers of proliferation and environmental pollution posed by the global nuclear
power "renaissance,” that former AfD Council Member Dorothy Boberg writes about
in “No More Nuclear Power” in the most recent Justice Rising.
These
issues have to be put in front of voters in the presidential and congressional
elections. For information, ideas for actions, resources, and listings of
planned activities, please see www.nuclearfreefuture.org
There's more on the e-News blog!
In a theatre near you!
Stealing America: Vote by Vote Schedule for screenings nationwide of this
important film about vote theft
Atlantica: Myths and Realities A short video
summary of what the Atlantica section of the Security and Prosperity Partnership
means for New England and Maritime Canada's local economies.
And on
Afd-headlines.blogspot.com...
Heads up on a bad
bill--NYT editorializes against
Feinstein-Bennett
The Rove CyberGate campaign
Ecuador recognizes rights
of nature
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