Alliance for Democracy

2017 in Review
Look to the grassroots…
From lively protests to the slow and steady work of building an economy that puts people and planet first,
this year has seen sustained resistance to the blatant corpocracy of the Trump administration and a
renewed commitment to democracy—getting big money out of our political system, raising up the rights
of communities over corporations, and sharing the good news through alternative media online and on air.

In 2017 our outreach and organizing—in municipalities and among allies—focused on policies to
democratize our financial system, protect local food and farms, decentralize media, and build a movement
to resist a faux-populist presidency based on crony capitalism, racism, sexism and contempt for our one
Mother Earth.

We accomplished a lot this year, with your help. Whether you are an Alliance for Democracy member,
work with an allied organization, or simply share our news on social media, we have you to thank for our
successes, and we look to you for continued support through 2018.

Local food: defending the rights that protect small farms

Like the 19th century founders of the Grange and the Farmers
Alliance, small farmers today are connecting democracy and food
to promote the survival of small-scale agriculture while building
community and local economies.

The Alliance’s Local Food Rules! project began in Maine, where

small farms and affordability of locally-produced meat, dairy,
baked goods and other products are threatened by corporate-
friendly regulation written for large-scale industrial farms or food
processers. In towns that have passed Local Food and
Community Self-Governance Ordinances (LFCSGOs), farmer to
customer sales are governed locally, rather than at the federal
level. Farmer/customer relationships ensure safe food and support
for the way that Maine has traditionally kept itself fed.

So far at least 20 Maine towns have passed LFCSGOs, and as of

November, some twenty-five additional towns were considering introducing ordinances at town meetings.

Still, food sovereignty has been a “two steps forward, one step back” dance. In June, the Maine legislature passed a
statewide bill, LD725, recognizing the legality of LFCSGOs. But in September, the USDA informed state officials
that unless LD725 was changed, Maine would be “noncompliant” with food inspection and safety regulations. As a
result, the state legislature changed some aspects of LD725 to require meat to be processed by state slaughterhouses
compliant with federal rules.

But despite this setback, some farm products, including dairy and dairy products, are still protected. And the Local
Food Rules! campaign is active and ready to work not only with Maine towns, but with any community in a strong
home-rule state where people are interested in the systemic economic and environmental issue of small-farm
preservation. On the national level, there is an opportunity to amend the 1967 meat inspection act to exempt small
farms, for which a national food sovereignty movement will be needed. Locally and nationally we have a lot of
work to do!

To help bring that movement together, the Alliance has begun preliminary organizing for a national food
sovereignty conference in 2018. Your membership renewal will help ensure this event is a success.

On NAFTA2.0, a call to release the text

Following on the success of the global
movement to defeat the Trans-Pacific
Partnership and our own TPP Free Zones
campaign, we continue to focus on trade.
Alliance Co-chair Nancy Price has joined
the Advisory Board of the newly-organized
California Fair Trade Coalition, where she
works alongside representatives from labor,
environmental and other groups to keep
California voters informed and the state’s
congressional delegation committed to
working for trade justice. She also made sure
that global trade deals were given attention
at the early August 2017 Democracy
Convention in Minneapolis, where she
organized the Earth Rights and Global
Democracy conference.

With NAFTA under renegotiation, we have joined the push for changes in the agreement that will lay the
foundation for stronger labor and environmental protection. Getting Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) out of
NAFTA2.0 is a must, as well as ensuring the negotiations are transparent. To that end, we’ve launched a call to
release the NAFTA2.0 text, and we’re depending on our members and allies to amplify this message in calls to
Congress and on social media. Look for background information on our website and for action alerts in your email.

We’ll also be keeping an eye on the US/EU TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade
in Services Agreement (TiSA). Trump has Fast Track authority to push all these deals through Congress, where no
amendments are permitted and only a majority vote is needed to pass.

Public Banking campaigns are part of a national push to democratize finance

Alliance members are key organizers in public banking campaigns in Portland OR, Boston, and Washington DC. In
Washington, the DC Public Banking Center, sponsored by the Alliance, has worked closely with DC Reinvest,
exposing Wells Fargo’s investments in the Dakota Access pipeline and private prisons and calling on the city to
divest from Wells Fargo and reinvest city funds in a public bank. In response, the City Council allocated $200,000
in the city budget for a public bank feasibility study. DCPBC wants the study to look at investments in affordable
housing, environmental sustainability, and small businesses to create jobs and build the local economy. Hopefully
these will all be included in the city’s RFP—subscribe to our e-news for the latest updates.

In Boston, Hub Public Banking also sponsored by the Alliance, is working with other allies to advocate for a state-
level public bank linked to local municipalities. Their bill, H3543, “An Act Establishing the Massachusetts
Infrastructure Bank,” received a legislative hearing in June, followed by a well-attended legislative briefing in
October. The briefing focused on the need for infrastructure funding, the strong support for new sources of funding
among Massachusetts mayors and city managers, and on how a public bank could help in the aftermath of a natural
disaster, climate-related or otherwise. The group is now working to build connections with local labor councils,
community development corporations, and environmental groups.

In Portland OR, work has focused on educating both elected officials and candidates on the benefits of a public
municipal bank. In early April, the Portland City Council voted to transition almost $2 billion in city investments
held in for profit corporations to non-corporate investments, primarily municipal bonds, and to consider creating a
city-owned bank to manage Portland’s portfolio. In June, three candidates who support public banking and two who
indicated an interest in knowing more were elected to various offices. Local activists have also helped bring Nichoe
Lichen, secretary of the Public Banking Institute and a principal organizer for a Santa Fe public bank, to speak at a
spring citywide organizing event in Spring, 2017.

In addition to local campaigns, the Alliance has continued to make its Public Banking edition of Justice Rising
available to groups that want a comprehensive primer on more democratic alternatives to our current banking
system. We also made sure that public banking was part of the Earth Democracy conference at the 2017 Democracy
Convention in Minneapolis this summer. And both “Populist Dialogues” community TV and “Corporations and
Democracy” radio have produced shows on public banking and the new economy. We are educating for local and
state-level action designed to undercut not just Wall Street’s power over Main Street, but the fossil fuels and
environmental destruction that big banks fund as well.

Stepping up for community defense of water over corporate exploitation

Over the years, the Alliance for Democracy
has worked together with community groups
to stop bottled water corporations, particularly
Nestlé, from mining groundwater for private
profit. We’ve assisted towns in New
Hampshire and Maine to pass local ordinances
blocking the taking of water and granting
ecosystems legal standing apart from their
status as private property. These
groundbreaking Rights of Nature ordinances
are also being used to protect people and land
from fracking and other extractive industries
here in the US and overseas.

More recently, we supported the efforts of

Hood River County residents, east of Portland OR, to prevent Nestlé from accessing state spring water and building
a large bottling plant in the town of Cascade Locks. Those efforts have now been successful with Nestlé closing
their office after their nine-year effort. Nestlé has now left Oregon, but wherever they go next, residents who have
learned from and been inspired by the fight in Cascade Locks will be ready to meet them.

Now we are supporting activists in Mt. Shasta City and Weed, CA to protect local water from further exploitation
by Crystal Geyser bottled water, owned by a Japanese pharmaceutical corporation. Keep an eye on the Alliance for
Democracy website and eNews for updates, especially if you are a California resident.

Our water commons and public drinking water and sanitation services are threatened by accelerated oil and gas
development, expanded bottled water operations and privatization of public water services. But water could be
further commodified under trade deals such as NAFTA2.0, compromising our ability to prevent bulk export across
national boundaries. Such exports are a real threat as US industrial agriculture looks to Canada for fresh water
supplies. Whether in a new NAFTA or another trade deal, we will work to expose and counter this threat.
The Grassroots Institute: education for action
The Alliance for Democracy’s determination
to create grassroots actions challenging
corporate power has inspired the creation of
the Grassroots Institute: Progressive Solutions
for the Common Good. Located in Mendocino
County, California, the Institute is preparing
to put a study guide online for our 14-class
course, “Grassroots Solutions and Corporate
Power,” which has been taught for several
years at Mendocino College. Using AfD’s
Justice Rising issues as the primary text, the Grassroots Institute curriculum can be the basis of a series of classes,
an ongoing study group, or a workshop where you live.

The 14-class course is divided into four sections:

Part 1 — Corporations, Democracy, & The Rise Of Grassroots Popular Power: Elections, Public Financing, Policy
Making for the Corporate Good or the Common Good, Courts v the People
Part 2 — Economic Democracy Or Corporate Hegemony?: Economic Crises, New Economic Visions, Systemic
Problems, 2008, Public Banking & Other Solutions
Part 3 — Saving The Environment From Corporate Destruction: Climate Change, Resource Depletion & Global
Pollution, Community Rights, The Commons, Health & Food
Part 4 — Global Governance: Who Or What Will Rule The World: Global Corporatization, Subsidiarity,
Corporatized Military, Peace, Imperial Press, Migration, Earth Consciousness

Our current focus is on helping local communities challenge corporate power by identifying the entities that are
already creating the alternative economy we need to ensure a vibrant future for people and the planet. We take a
broad view of economy from the old Greek Ekonomia — “household management.” We help identify local entities
that are working to create a better world, from environmental groups to B Corporations to participants in the local
food system to worker-owned businesses and co-ops. We can help you put them on a map with the goal of tying all
of the entities together to show that the next economic system is already happening. We have begun by mapping
these entities in Mendocino County. The Grassroots Institute is here to help your community thrive into the future.

Producing alternative media, promoting alternative views

This year, AfD’s “Corporations and Democracy” radio show featured outstanding programs and guests. Topics
included the emerging new economy with Gar Alperovitz, a look at the grassroots activism that transformed
Richmond CA with author Steve Early, and shows on community rights with Paul Cinefuegos of
Communityrights.us, and Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. “Corporations
and Democracy” currently airs on the second Tuesday of the month and is streamed live on KZYX.org at 1 p.m.
Pacific, 4 p.m. Eastern. Podcasts are also available online at afdradio.org. KZYX is part of the National Public
radio network.

And in Portland, OR, the Alliance chapter returned to the community TV studio with David Delk hosting their
interview program, “Populist Dialogues.” Guests represented a wide range of causes and interests, including trade
justice, environmental protection, the peace movement, affordable housing, and single-payer health care.

You can help build an audience for these shows by sharing them on local independent radio and community access
television. Contact us in the office at afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org to find out more.

Your support enables our accomplishments—thank you for being a member of the Alliance for Democracy!
www.thealliancefordemocracy.org  afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org
21 Main St., Hudson MA 01749  978-333-7971  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@EndCorpRule)