Monday, January 12, 2014: Community Rights

Starting at the Local Level; Civil Disobedience at its Core

Click here to get MP3.

Is corporate takeover of our political system a done deal? Not according to the women in today's interview. Kate Raphael of KPFA Women's Magazine asks the hard questions.

We discuss the Community Rights framework for local citizens taking back control over their food supply, their environments and their values with Michelle Holman from Lane County, Oregon Community Rights Network and Linda of the Community Rights Network of Mendocino County.  In November, Mendocino passed California's first community rights ordinance, banning fracking.

Empowering the People:
"Point to a harm in your community whether it be fracking, GMO foods, pesticides, prisons... and follow it back. It's a corporate decision made somewhere else. All of the state's constitution give the people the right to design their lives. The system is not broken, it's rigged." says Michelle Holman.

There are over 200 communities that have passed rights-based ordinances. Community Environment Legal Defense Fund helps people work on ordinances.

In November Mendocino County passed the first anti-fracking law in California to prevent any entity from using fracking in the county. The Community Bill of Rights Fracking and Water Rights Ordinance is really a Community Rights ordinance not an anti-fracking law. Fracking is a symptom of the problem of corporations taking control over our communities. With this ordinance we have begun a process to take away control of our communities from the corporations. Community Rights Network of Mendocino worked with Community Environment Legal Defense Fund and Global Exchange and hundreds of volunteers to pass Measure S. Also check out Paul Cienfuegos.

Click here to listen to entire show. 59:50 min.

Also on today's show:
Islamophobia
Remembering Maha Abu Dayyeh

communityrightslanecounty.org