KEEP AN EYE OUT LATER THIS WEEK!
An eAlert will go out with links, both the link to WILPF’s fifteen-minute video introduction to the film – including helpful background plus highlights of WILPF’s work – and the link to view the film!
Wednesday, July 21 at 7 pm EDT: Webinar with Writer & WILPF Panel – An Important Evening!
We ask that you prepare for the 21st by watching the WILPF introduction and the film in advance – then, please join us for a dynamic night of programing and presentations confronting corporate power starting at 7 pm ET/6 pm CT/5 pm MT/4 pm PT with author of The New Corporation, Joel Bakan, and followed immediately by a distinguished Women, Money & Democracy (W$D) Committee panel at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT/ 6 pm MT/ 5 pm PT.
Both of these events will be available with the same Zoom link, but you must register here to get the link.
These presentations will contextualize the decades of WILPF US work educating and organizing about corporate power. That power is notably expressed in corporate personhood, namely, “The fiction that an object is a human being,” with Constitutionally protected, “rights.” Dating to the post-Civil War era, corporate rights are entangled with our nation’s history of racial injustice. Corporations, rather than the freed slaves, claimed legal rights arising from the 14th Amendment.
July 21 is an excellent opportunity to invite friends, family and the public-at-large and engage new people in this critically important material. Prepare to settle-in with friends or have a viewing party with snacks!
In recognition of WILPF’s groundbreaking pro-democracy work confronting corporate power, Joel Bakan, the author of the book and co-director of the film, The New Corporations: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, is offering us this pro-bono special appearance! Marybeth Gardam, chair of the W$D Committee, will introduce Bakan and facilitate Q&A in this one-hour program. Bakan’s talk will dovetail with the W$D panel presentation, starting at 8 pm EDT / 5 pm PDT.
The panel commemorates this year as the 50th anniversary of the notorious Powell Memorandum (see more below). Written by Lewis Powell, who was subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court, this memorandum advocated for an activist judiciary and initiated the move by corporations to shape public attitudes in favor of corporations and corporate power.
The W$D Panel – Time to STOP 50 Years of Increasing Corporate Power!
The W$D committee, with some 25 years of activism around corporate power, has many distinguished former members. Among those emeritus members are some of the original writers of WILPF’s groundbreaking work, confronting corporate power including: Virginia Rasmussen, Molly Morgan, Jan Edwards, and Jim and Tomi Allison – along with Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, director of Move to Amend, an ally organization. This past May 2021, Move to Amend, re-introduced the joint resolution to Congress to amend the Constitution saying corporations are not people, money is not speech, and campaign finance can be regulated on the federal, state and local levels.
The panel will discuss work by Jan Edwards and Molly Morgan in developing the “Timeline of Corporate Personhood”, which showed how, when people challenged and advanced human rights, the courts overturned those rights, in favor of corporations. To better understand how corporate power works, W$D formed a national study group open to new members; its content will be discussed.
The Powell Memorandum
This damaging corporate power roadmap laid out a plan to prioritize corporate profits over the voices of people and the protection of planet. Powell wrote this memorandum before his appointment to the Supreme Court. Once there, he influenced the majority on the Buckley v. Valeo ruling, which legally equated “money” and “speech” as synonymous terms. This decision helped to pave the way for money to legally buy elections.
Even before then, the language of the Powell Memorandum motivated corporations to build influential structures like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute to influence media, politicians and donors.
Learn more and help make a difference by getting involved with W$D.
